Interview with February’s Featured Artist, Miriam Schaer >> ...
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Interview with February’s Featured Artist, Miriam Schaer Posted by Danielle Chapman -- 2/1/2011
“Books and paper are where it starts. I can feel them coming to life in my hands, like clay to a potter,” says Miriam Schaer, whose work is featured in our banner this month. Schaer is a lecturer in the Interdisciplinary MFA Program in Book and Paper at Columbia College Chicago and a successful artist whose work is built out of books, paper, and other materials. Q: When did you begin creating book sculptures? Has sculpture always been your main artistic practice, or did you start working in some other medium and transition along the way? “A book structures class in my last year of art school, where I specialized in fiber, triggered my interest in books. Later, in New York, I discovered the Center for Book Arts, the first center in the U.S. dedicated to contemporary interpretations of the art of the book, and the book as art object. I studied there with a number of remarkable artists, and also worked as a volunteer for a couple years in the bindery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Books, as I make them, took over my life! Q: What attracts you to working with books and paper? “I like the idea of using these materials as jumping off points for ideas, and questions about all sorts of issues. I also use a lot of other materials, but books and paper are where it starts. I can feel them coming to life in my hands, like clay to a potter.” Q: Your artwork often involves both the physical form of a book or paper and words themselves. Could you talk a bit about your decision to include words in your work? “I use text when it feels right—my own writing, texts by others, living or not, advertising copy, fairy tales, poems (Emily Dickinson’s a favorite), whatever works for a project; mentally, I’m a magpie. I think of my artist books as a kind of Narrative Sculpture, but otherwise leave labels to others. The line between visual art and literature is really more like a big net that scoops up everything in its path.” Q: You’re currently a lecturer at Columbia College Chicago. What kind of classes do you teach? Do you enjoy your work? What is the best part about teaching at Columbia? “I lead classes in book structures, focused on multiples, unique books, and boxes; also, a teaching seminar, and classes in alternative photo processes and professional practices. Frankly, I love teaching at Columbia College Chicago. The facilities are the best in the country, and my students and colleagues are wonderful to work with. “The best aspect of teaching there is being a part of an interdisciplinary community of artists. The faculty and students are involved with so many different approaches to making art that they’ve broadened my own book-centric perspective. The interdisciplinary approach is a large part of what makes the school’s program unique and successful.” Q: What was the inspiration behind the piece “Batter My Heart: A Wall Street Valentine?” “‘Batter My Heart: A Wall Street Valentine’ is a response to the imploding economy, which still affects so many. The text, by 17th century poet John Donne, questions his own faith in God. In the shadow of Wall Street’s crash, it seems freshly appropriate since capitalism and our belief in the value of the dollar, which has no intrinsic worth other than people’s faith in it, is the country’s true religion, and the church to which, against all reason, we remain devoted.” Q: What current projects are you working on? “I’m working on a series of pieces called ‘Baby (Not) On Board: The Final Prejudice?’ that explores society’s views about women without children. Using red thread, I have hand-embroidered quotes about this subject onto white baby dresses. I collected the comments (including “Childless Women Lack an Essential Humanity”) from interviews with women, things people have said to me, and online article research. Visitors can see the first eight dresses in the series on Nanomajority.com. Finally, our questionnaire for all interviewees: Q: What is your all-time, favorite book? “WAS by Geoff Ryman—a riveting, ravishing, revisionist riff on themes from The Wizard of Oz and the life of young Frances Gumm (a.k.a. Judy Garland), proving you really shouldn’t go home again.
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Interview with February’s Featured Artist, Miriam Schaer >> ...
http://www.chicagopublishes.com/2011/02/interview-with-febru...
Q: What was the last book that you read? “Barren in the Promised Land: Childless Americans and the Pursuit of Happiness by Elaine Tyler May, a provocative study of reproduction as a tool for political and social control. It’s part of my research for ‘Baby Not On Board: The Last Prejudice?’” Q: What one word do you love? “Discombobulate.” Q: What one word do you despise? “Party, used as a verb.” Q: Often, when crafting a piece of work, artists and writers strive to please or impress a very specific one-person audience, be it their mother, their spouse, or a high school teacher. Who were you thinking of in this way when you were working on “Batter My Heart: A Wall Street Valentine?” “I make these things for myself, and am surprised and pleased when others connect to what I’ve done. My work is often a way of trying to answer questions that usually have no clear answers. When I made ‘Batter My Heart: A Wall Street Valentine’, the economy was falling to pieces, the government was bailing out the likes of Goldman Sachs and AIG, and crooked lenders were blaming tens of thousands of foreclosures on individuals who were the victims of their predatory mortgage practices. If anything, Batter My Heart… is an ode to those who played by the rules, and still believe in the American dream.” Thanks so much, Miriam.
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