Elaine Rutherford, Artist and Fine Arts Professor

Hello! This is Jackson and welcome to the fourth interview on my art blog, 3 Art Questions With Jackson. This time I interviewed Elaine Rutherford. She is an excellent artist and also a fine arts professor. I recently met her and she is a nice person.



Jackson: How old were you when you first realized you wanted to be an artist?

Elaine: I don’t remember a time when I didn't want to be an artist Jackson. I was always drawing as a kid, back then it was horses and fashion designs, and then when I was about 7 I had a longish stint in the hospital and so spent a lot of time drawing. So I don’t think I ever really seriously considered doing anything else.

Jackson: How is art in Scotland different from art in the United States?


Elaine: Hmm, that’s a tough one. I’m not sure if it is. I mean I think that artists everywhere are processing and reflecting the world that they live in and their environment so some things are more universal, like questions of the human condition. Others might be more location specific and I do think that the climate and the culture have an effect on the art made so maybe that is how we might see differences? I’m not sure.


Jackson: Where do you get the ideas for your cool art?


Elaine: Well first of all, thank you for thinking that it is cool, I am flattered! My ideas come from thinking about the place that I came from, my homeland of Scotland. I think about the light and the landscape there, I think about how wherever you are you are always close to the sea. I love the sea because it makes me feel small and insignificant. I love landscapes that are bleak but beautiful, that are rugged and not easy to live in. I like to feel the elements. In my work I am always thinking about these things and then also about being lost, not in a sad or negative way but how we discover things when we take the wrong road or veer off of the map that we would never otherwise know. I love being lost when I am in a beautiful landscape. Being lost while driving is just a pain. 

Carolyn Payne, Executive Director and Chief Instigator at SooVAC

Hello! This is Jackson and welcome to the third interview and first interview of 2017 on my art blog, 3 Art Questions With Jackson. This time I interviewed Carolyn Payne. She is Executive Director and Chief Instigator at SooVAC and a nice person. I have known her for a long time.


Jackson: How old were you when you first realized that art was important to you?

Carolyn: Oh, that’s a hard one. My mother is an artist and my grandmother was an artist and I grew up going to museums and looking at art books. I probably didn’t start going to anything on my own until I was a teenager and haven’t stopped since. I found so much solace hanging out at the MIA as a teen when I was a bit of a misfit and I think that’s probably when I started to realize how much art meant to me.

  

Jackson: What is the best part of working in an art gallery?

Carolyn: I love working with artists and getting to know their work in a deeper way. And of course, to be surrounded by art all the time. I also really love designing and installing shows. My coworker, Alison Hiltner, and I have developed our own language and the days we spend laying out shows that have been in the works for a year or more are some of my favorites.

Jackson: I like to paint but I like installation art best. What kind of art do you like best?

Carolyn: I don’t know if I have a favorite medium. I seem to be drawn to painting lately, especially watercolor and gouache. I just curated a show that included a lot of paintings by Lindsay Smith at a CITIES Market Studios, one of our outside exhibition spaces, and I still can’t stop thinking about them. I become so immersed in the layers of color and feel transported into those places she has created.