Hello! This is Jackson and welcome to the 26th interview for my blog 3 Art Questions With Jackson. This time I interviewed the amazing and multi-talented artist Alyssa Baguss. She also sends me cards to let me know when she has a new show which is very nice. I really liked her answers a lot and I think you will too. Thanks for reading!
Jackson: I only make paintings. You make lots of different kinds of art. How do you get your ideas? What motivates you?
Alyssa: Jackson, this is such a great question! There are so many ways to live a creative life. While I would say that at heart I am a drawer, my practice shifts from 2D artwork to installation to public art projects and back again (or sometimes all at once). I love variety and using creative processes to explore things I'm wondering about. It's pretty rare that I get my ideas when I'm in the studio. Instead, I spend a lot of my time talking to people, exploring places and chasing the things I love. If I do this with the right energy (because it makes me happy) I bubble with ideas and wonderings that lead to my artwork. I call it following my joy compass. It rarely steers me wrong.
I also make a lot of things that never end up in a gallery or art project. I try hard not to judge these makings as good or bad. Making and experimenting with materials fuels my practice - they're little boosts of energy that propel me forward.
Jackson: What made you want to be an artist? Did something or someone inspire you?
Alyssa: I was raised in a small rural town in Iowa where I wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember. I didn't know any artists or really know what the path was to become one but drawing always made me feel like my true self. Most of my childhood memories involve drawing in a sketch book or building things with my grandfather and I was always referred to as the creative one. I didn't go to art school until I was in my mid/late twenties after spending years working jobs that weren't fulfilling. People discouraged me from pursuing an art career at that age but I knew that I would live a miserable life if I didn't. I'm so grateful to be doing what I love every day.
Jackson: If you could meet any artist living or dead, who would it be and why?
Alyssa: I would love to have coffee with composer Wendy Carlos. She is so interesting! She's a trans composer who became famous through her pioneering work with synthesizer music in the 1960s. She was born in 1939 and studied physics and music at Brown University. With her expertise in computers and interest in musical timbre, she collaborated with Robert Moog to develop early synthesizers. Some of her early compositions involved a combination of classical music and electronic music and later she created the soundtrack for movies including the A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Tron and many others. Her personal interests include drawing maps and traveling the world to experience total solar eclipses (she's seen 18!). I admire her enthusiasm for anything she puts her mind to and I think it would be fun to listen to her stories about her life.
