Journal of Creative Arts & Minds, Vol. 2, No. 1-June 2016-v6 by Jumbo Arts International

Journal of Creative Arts & Minds Vol.2, No.1, June 2016 An Original Publication of Jumbo Arts International Red Springs, North Carolina, USA

ISBN: 978-0-9965432-2-4 / ISSN: Pending Jumbo Arts International

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Journal of Creative Arts and Minds Published by

Margie Labadie, President John Antoine Labadie, Senior Editor Larry Arnold, Board Member

Electronic Links https://www.facebook.com/JournalofCreativeArtsandMinds http://www.jumboartsinternational.org

Jumbo Arts International Contact Information 217 South Edinborough St. Red Springs, North Carolina 28377-1233 01.910.734.3223 Editorial: John Antoine Labadie & Margie Labadie Design â&#x20AC;&#x201C; The JCAM Team of Jumbo Arts International

The Journal of Creative Arts and Minds is a publication of Jumbo Arts International. This electronic publication is free. The views and opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

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Journal of Creative Arts & Minds Vol.2, No.1, June 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Jumbo Arts International President’s Message – 7 JCAM Editor’s Message – 9 VISUAL ARTIST PROFILES Alberto Rodriguez Miguelez – 14 Alexander Donskoi – 22 Aphrodite Kyriazi – 33 Carl Billingsley – 43 Catherine Billingsley – 56 Evgeny Titov – 68 Golmei Gandumpu – 80 Hong Jin-Hee – 89 Josef Luňáček – 101 Joy A. McGugan – 112 Nitasha Jaini – 124 Om Soorya – 135 Pablo Solari – 144 Pankaj Verma – 156 Paulo Fernando Da Silva Cunha – 165 Saroj Kumar Singh – 176 Vadim Ryakhovskiy – 189 Valentin Gonzalez – 203 CREATIVE PROJECTS Shankar Barua – 215 Sara Mascia – 221 Information for Potential Submitters – 226

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President’s Message While I was considering my President’s message for this issue of the JCAM, John reminded me that we have something in common with the creative individuals you, our readers, are about to meet in these pages. We are both active, exhibiting, visual artists. To know this is to understand that our points of view as Editor and Publisher are from both the Creative and the Journalistic side. Each of us can identify with the questions we ask our participating artists. Throughout our professional careers each of us has answered similar questions many times. We really do care about the state of present day creative artists and writers and we are humbled to have so many of them put their faith and hard work into supporting our editorial process. With this third issue, the JCAM has reached a total of more than 600 pages of creative works published with the cooperation and support of more than 50 artists and writers. We seek to give each contributor his or her own voice in the interviews and articles we publish. We value our roles and we pledge to improve and evolve the JCAM with each succeeding issue. As our title suggests, the “Journal of Creative Arts & Minds” simply seeks to bring excellent creative works to those interested in seeing and reading about them. We want to celebrate creative lives and are pleased to be able to share this information with our readers. In this issue, we have also shared details of our own artwork on these opening pages in our effort to demonstrate that this is a journal of, for and by creative folks! And as one of our artist contributors states in his interview, “Such an attitude from others you cannot buy.” Enjoy!

Margie Labadie President, Jumbo Arts International jumboartsinternational@gmail.com

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Margie Labadie “Seeing Stars” (Detail) / Digital Collage 2016

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A Message from the Senior Editor It is June of 2016 and we are very pleased to publish Vol.2, No. 1 of Jumbo Arts International’s “Journal of Creative Arts and Minds.” This is our second year of publishing the JCAM and we are thrilled to bring this evolved and improved edition to our readership. As with the other projects offered to the public by Jumbo, the JCAM has evolved over time and is directly connected to our mission to support the arts, creativity, and improved mutual understanding of life ways and creative passions on an international level. As with the 2015 JCAM publications the content for the 2016 issues has been developed entirely through social media. The JCAM has been grown though text messaging and emails, built through cloud storage, published online, and is available as a free PDF download without restrictions. Perhaps only a decade ago this process would have been difficult for many and unthinkable for most. But none of us take the possibilities of the early twenty-first century electronic publishing for granted as this will continue to evolve and improve. The visual artists whose works are included in the June 2016 issue of JCAM represent a wider range of countries, cultures, media, ages, and levels of experience than either of our 2015 publications. Additionally, as with our previous issues, each submission is held as unique and is allowed to evolve unhindered given the technical limitations of our current publishing format. The JCAM receives questions about our submission process every week. The initial interaction with each of the visual artists expressing interest in being published in JCAM is based solely on a dialogue about the artist’s artwork. After the initial dialogue all submissions of visual images are subjected to review process. It is only after the editors and/or a panel of reviewers have juried a submission that an offer for publication is extended. The “interview” process moving toward a publishable article is then begun.

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The June 2016 issue brought along some editorial challenges that were interesting and educational for both submitters and staff. For example, the editors received many more submissions of narrative not forwarded to us in English. But, the electronic tools to translate from one language, or alphabet, to another seem to be improving almost on a daily basis. Using a variety of such tools, and engaging in a sometimes extended backand-forth dialogue with certain submitters, allowed for the publication of “translated” articles that we might not have attempted a year ago. The narrative portion of all articles is, as much as possible, cast in the original “voice” of the artist-submitter. Works originally sent to JCAM in Korean, Russian, Hindi, Italian and Spanish have, through no small editorial effort, been published – in English – in this issue. We see this as part of the mission of Jumbo, and intend to improve and evolve this editorial service to potential submitters over time. Jumbo Arts International’s JCAM publishing project is a well organized, highly collaborative, and time consuming endeavor. Our small staff works diligently to gain the most from all our efforts. As such Jumbo continuously seeks to identify and publish original creative work from local, regional, national and international sources that are known to us. Our outreach in this regard has greatly expanded our network since last year. Certainly, we will continue this process in the issues to come. In this June 2016 issue we are also beginning to offer reviews of creative projects with which we have had the good fortune to interact. Some of these project have been a part of our lives for years, and some connections are more recent. It is hoped that readers will enjoy and be informed by this feature. As artists ourselves, the JCAM staff is happy to be able to share some of our successful creative connections with readers. Our readers are our best way to network out into creative communities. Do you know of a visual artist or creative writer JCAM should hear about? Email us at the address below. First, enjoy our latest publication!

John Antoine Labadie Senior Editor Journal of Creative Arts and Minds jcam.jal@gmail.com

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John Antoine Labadie “A Day in the Fall” / Mixed Media & Digital Currently exhibited in the “19th International Conference on Information Visualisation” at the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, in Lisbon, Portugal

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Alberto Rodriguez Miguelez JCAM: What is your professional name? ARM: I usually put on my canvas Alberto Rodriguez and, sometimes, I put my personal symbol too which is a square with a dot into the middle. JCAM: Where were you born and does that place still influence you? ARM: I was born in Madrid, Spain. Madrid. To me it’s not a place that influences me today because thanks to the latest politicians which ran the city, Madrid, was a dead place without a contemporary art culture. So I’ve been more inspired with other cities of Europe like Rotterdam or Brussels. In my opinion, to be an artist in this city it’s kind of difficult, because, family culture still looks at this job like a hobby that you can do on your free time until you earn money with other kind of careers. For many people the culture to be an artist is like just in this place. JCAM: Where do you live now and how does that place influence you? ARM: I live outside of the city in a small town called Colmenarejo and this place influences me because it is peaceful and it is quiet. Those qualities help me to concentrate more on my work. JCAM: Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make a difference in your life? ARM: Yes, I do. Now my mother and girlfriend support my work. But in the past I did not have any kind of support to do what I always wanted – to be an artist. My family culture always saw this job of “artist” as a hobby, but my mother gave me painting classes. That was during my free time of course. JCAM: When and how did you start making art? ARM: Well, I started when I had 4 years old and I suppose it was a form of escape from reality. Curiously my first painting was one that was abstract. But it’s

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one thing to start to paint, and another to make art which you can say, “I´m proud of it”! That’s another thing altogether. This second point of view is recently what has come to me. When I got my studio, for me that was a really fresh start and a way to be reborn. My studio is the one place where I can make my art without limits. It´s like total freedom. And this happened last summer only in 2015. JCAM: Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do? ARM: Hmmm … I only thought that I had to make art because I had never see life without it. It’s just that simple. Last summer I took the opportunity to have an studio because I was unemployed. JCAM: How has your work changed or developed over time? When I went to painting classes my point of view of art changed radically. Why? Because I thought that art was perhaps just landscape, or maybe still life in oil. These kinds of thoughts made me blind and I couldn’t see another types of art. And when I got out of my painting classes my art changed radically, because, I could be more open minded. Being open-minded is how I could work more with the ideas of surrealism and abstraction. JCAM: What are you trying to communicate with your art? ARM: I try to communicate the interactions of persons whose lives are lived in the world today. From my point of view, abstraction is the most direct path toward understanding how the individual moves through and lives in the world every day. Abstraction is the way for me to try to express these interactions because it helps me to paint people in the ways they cross, explode, cut, or crash into each other either accidentally or on purpose. JCAM: Of the artworks published in this article, is there one of you are which most proud? If so, why? ARM: For me “Pollock’s Lines” is the artwork I feel most proud, because, I could express what I want to represent with my art. Additionally, I made a technique that reminded me of Pollock, and for me it was an honor to made him a tribute. JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? ARM: Yes, I do have a ritual. My ritual is this: I am fascinated to watch the thickness of the paint by putting in glue or water and mixing these elements together. That’s why my name “Cooking Art’s” came from this singular process that I always performed before starting to paint.

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JCAM: What element(s) of art making do you enjoy the most and why? ARM: What I enjoy most is the use of domestic objects like a broom or a mop. I like to to use them as my brush to paint on the canvas, because, this makes my imagination soar and it helps me to discover new techniques. JCAM: What is your most important artist tool(s) and why? ARM: My most important tools are sticks and spoons, because with them I start the ritual that I described before. JCAM: How do you know when a work is finished? ARM: I think the canvas is a pathway with many directions. When I see my own direction is when an art work is done. It’s like trying to train a horse. You know when you have. JCAM: What are the art making tools you use now? ARM: At this moment what I used the most are: sticks, spoons, mops, brooms, brushes and painting buckets. And to make the “Wood Canvas” I use a saw and drill. JCAM: What new creative medium would you love to pursue? ARM: I would like to explore the sculpture, and particularly cement, because I would like to transport my canvas ideas into a 3D image so you can touch it, dig into it, and enjoy my ideas with your hands as well as your eyes. JCAM: What's the first artwork you ever sold? Do you make a living from your art? ARM: The first artwork I sold was on 2015 called “Russian Kid.” And no I don’t yet make enough money from my art to live off it. But it’s still my dream and that’s why, right now, I do cheaper works, so everyone can have a piece of my art. JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life? ARM: My future goal is to paint whatever happens (bad or good) and also focus on being recognized in the art world. JCAM: What interesting project are you working on at the moment?

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ARM: The project that I’m working on is to try, with a singular object, to make a 3D painting. One of the things that I most admire from Miró is that with any kind of objects found on streets or beach he could made a sculpture or an art work. JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist? ARM: What inspires me the most is to go to museums and exhibitions. And the artists that inspire me the most are Constant (Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys), Bacon, Pollock, Tàpies, Picasso and Miró. JCAM: What work of art do you wish you owned and why? ARM: I would like to have any painting by Miró from his series “antipainting.” Why? Because with this series I think Miró tried to express more about imagination than painting. JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? ARM: At exhibitions and museums I certainly find ideas new to me. But my ideas come from my subconscious and also from improvisations. JCAM: What does “being creative” mean to you? ARM: For me it means to achieve everything that you have in mind and make it real and, also, to renovate works as many times as possible to learn new techniques and different points of view. What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative? ARM: My best advice is to work very hard and spend a lot of time at the studio or the place where you create so you can familiarize with tools and to not be afraid of destroy a canvas that you think is not perfect. If you feel the impulse to burn or rip the canvas then be free of it ... there’s no limit. And let me conclude with a quote that inspires me the most. It is from Picasso: “Inspirations exists, but it has to find you working.”

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Alberto Rodriguez “Another Red” / Painting

Alberto Rodriguez “Phoenix” / Painting

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Alberto Rodriguez “Zigzag” / Painting

Alberto Rodriguez “Schema” / Painting

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Alberto Rodriguez “Puzzle” / Painting

Alberto Rodriguez “Refugees Welcome” / Painting

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Alberto Rodriguez “Picasso’s Cells” / Painting

Alberto Rodriguez “Pollack’s Lines” / Painting

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Alexander Donskoi JCAM: What is your professional name? Where were you born and does that place still influence you? Where do you live now and how does that place influence you? Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make a difference in your life? AD: My name is Alexander Donskoi. www.alexanderdonskoi.com I was born in one of the unique, mystical, enigmatic places on earth â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the Far East of Russia. A very long time ago it was very powerful, strong kingdom called Balhae. The earliest extant recorded mention of Balhae comes from the Old Book of Tang, which was compiled between 941 to 945 BCE. The 13th century census of Northern China by the Mongols distinguished Balhae from other ethnic groups such as Goryeo, Khitan and Jurchen. Most descendants of Balhae are today in China. Siberia and the Russian Far East are home to some of the most profoundly beautiful wilderness areas left on earth. Russia's diverse landscapes support incredible biodiversity, including one-fifth of the world's forests, and endangered species such as the Amur leopard, Siberian tiger, and Western Pacific Gray Whale. Lake Baikal alone holds 20 percent of the world's unfrozen fresh water, and it is the oldest and deepest lake in the world. Japan Sea with their magical flying islands. All of this quickly woke up my imagination as early as four years old and gave me the strongest impulse to create art. The only person who supporting me, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s my wife for 20 years! She is my real inspiration and the reason for what I do! JCAM: When and how did you start making art? Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do? Why do you make art now? How has your work changed or developed over time? What are you trying to communicate with your art? Of the artworks published in this article, is there one of you are which most proud? If so, why?

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AD: At a young age I began the long process of my education, self-acknowledgment, experiments with different medias, self-realizations and the study from the greatest masters of the fine art in the College of Art and then University of Fine Art in Russia. By the time I reach my twenty’s the creation and studies of art completely swallowed me. I was in state of craziness. My life become a destiny to the creation and study fine art. For the next ten years I worked for 18-20 hours a day, traveling, visiting the world’s greatest museums and gallery’s. At the same time constantly studied ancient history of the art, philosophy and religions, cultures of the ancient civilizations. In 1991 I moved to Canada, where I continue working on my drawings and paintings, studying and become fascinating by Early Netherlandish/Flemish artist, Italians, and the greatest Surrealist artists. During the past 20 years I have had many solo and group shows. I have had several publications and interviews with a TV programs, as well as my art work was sold to some important private collections around the globe. JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? What element(s) of art making do you enjoy the most and why? What is your most important artist tool(s) and why? How do you know when a work is finished? What are the art making tools you use now? What new creative medium would you love to pursue? AD: My creative patterns start with every day wake up at 4:00am and starting making a lots of sketches. I have “elements of joy” when I start putting my ideas into canvas or paper. At this time usually I am dancing, because from the beginning I can already see the end result – my master pieces! My artist tools does not change for centuries, I am an old fashion, modest guy. It’s a pencil, paper, canvas and paints. About new creative medium: I think I will probably try every medium in my life. But I do have a dream, I would like to create a big altar pieces or mural for the church. JCAM: What's the first artwork you ever sold? Do you make a living from your art? AD: My first art work I sold at 16 years old, on a street art show. I am a full time artist and I do make a living from my art. JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life? What interesting project are you working on at the moment? AD: The most significant past project I have had was the international exhibition in Otaru, Japan in 1998. It was called “Salvador Dali and Fantastic Realism.” There I had the honor to represent Canada with my surrealistic drawings and paintings. Also there was an exhibition called “The Flying Islands” project, along with international artists like Ernest Fuchs, H.R. Geiger and 12 of the most profound surrealistic artist. This exhibition alone allowed me to be a recognized in high-end artistic word, sharing and demonstrated my goals and endless ideas! As I become more mature and experienced I realized that to be a Master of the Fine Art,

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it is not enough only to create art, but become a passionate Art Advocate. For many years I been a promoter of the Neo-Renaissance, but you have to understand that is not my artistic style, it is the call to all artists for the restoration, renovation, and rebirth of REAL FINE ART creations. Unfortunately human nature seems more about destroying symptoms of art making than it is about creating and building The Divine Art for the present and for future generations. Enough wars! Enough destroying each other! It’s time to build and create the most beautiful art possible so the next generation will not be ashamed of what we did in the past and will continue to live, prosper, and have peaceful life in harmony with each other. We should move ahead with a deep understanding and appreciation of the past and good prosperous foundation for the present and future. JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential – living artist? What work of art do you wish you owned and why? When addressing a particular work to be published in this interview: Can you explain what inspired this particular piece or idea? AD: My inspiration come from everywhere, from everyday life. But my favorite artists comes from 14th-15th centuries. Unfortunately there is no living artists who could influence me. Early Netherlandish/Flemish artist, Italians were powerful artists. Along with these creative genius artists I admire the greatest of surrealist artists such as Ernest Fuchs, H.R. Geiger. As it comes to any of my art, the most important thing for the public is to understand is that each of my art works (drawings or paintings) contains metaphorical symbolism and other messages. Here’s what I can tell you: Pay attention to all the details before to you think you see the whole picture! When it comes to particular work to be published in this interview, you could pay attention to my latest diptych, “The Shop-Window in 15th century. Oops.” This is an oil on canvas at the size of 56” x 42.” My inspiration for such works comes from everyday life. Even so, I cannot really say that this is a dialog between two centuries, more of a conflict between two eras and its representatives. This is what I have visualized. Despite the fact that people do not change (well, maybe just the entourage and technology) it is still a conflict. It is the ordinary person and his common voices that I have in mind. Ignorance, greed, deception and lying in the name of Profit, Ego-these are all the things I am describing here, expressing their most vivid characteristics through images of animals, birds and etc. Not everyone can see this in my art. Perhaps it’s because a lot pf people are brainwashed. I believe they brainwash themselves by creating various emotions and

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acting on them. I always turn to symbolism and metaphors. It helps me identify and express various characteristics in a powerful way, sometimes get even beyond that. And HUMOR! Humor is another useful tool, of course …. Imagine taking a group of people, just random people from the street outside of your window, various characters, and transferring them to 15th century or vice versa …. This should help you understand, at least in some way, my point in the artworks I make today. JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does “being creative” mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative? AD: The foundation of my artistic creativity is about defining the absolute relationship among forms, objects, creatures, time, action, events and expanses while preserving the individuality in all of them. At the same time there certainly exists a world of differences beyond unity, forms and emptiness. This is a world where there are connections, but these are constantly developing into and along two aspects of one reality. Existing in this conflicted relationship is an unambiguous whirlwind of relationships without beginning or end, yet offering an eternity of differing motions and emotions. I ride this wind! The true artist must be always striving to reach “The Greatest Heights” – to get to the highest-altitude, to the Divine! And if he can achieve that, then he definitely will get “The Blessing from the Heaven” and by that he will be able to broaden his artistic framework to embrace the infinity by the implementation of the endless – in the total end – in transforming this ending in to the vessel for the infinity; temporary-in to transmitter of eternity in grasping intuitional stream of movements right into the deep, in meaning to the High-altitude to the Absolute Reality. Here, and only here, where the Ocean merges into the single drop does one find the emergence of the true creation – art! Artistic creativity is where the inner vision of freedom from arbitrary rules, where the Divine, the Spiritual, and boundless energies are pouring into the inner sanctum of artistic vision. This is where supernatural reality reflects on human consciousness. Creativity is where all images, objects, and processes extraordinarily (and really) come to life – because they are operating everywhere, but in and through creativity is where is the reality is topical and manageable. My goal is this: The Active image. This is the symbol of spiritual vision and it is real. Where at the end of everything, the artist is representing a quasi-symbolic or multidimensional realization. This is my art.

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Alexander Donskoi “Babylonian Tower” / Drawing

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Alexander Donskoi “Navigator” / Painting

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Alexander Donskoi “The Shop-windows in 21th Century” (left part of diptych) / Painting

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Alexander Donskoi “The Shop-windows in 21th Century” (right part of diptych) / Painting

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Alexander Donskoi “Power and Prosperity” / Painting

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Alexander Donskoi “The Artist and Merchants” / Painting

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Alexander Donskoi “The Presentation of Gifts” / Painting

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Aphrodite Kyriazi JCAM: What is your professional name? Where were you born and does that place influence you? Do you have family, friends, or fellow artists who support you in your work, life and art making and how do they make difference in your life. AK: My name is Aphrodite Kyriazi. I was born and grew up in a very beautiful coastal town in Greece. Greece is a country in Southern Europe and Kalamata,the town I grew up in, is located in the Southern Greece. Kalamata is a place that whatever you seed, will flourish. So I trusted my city, I put my roots deep into the soil and I saw my talent evolving and my goals succeeding. Today I continue to live in Kalamata, where my family lives as well. We are a family with strong bonds always working as a fist – together as one. My father, working as a physicist and teacher and my mother as a painter. We were – me and my brother – very lucky children, because we grew up in a very healthy environment. Our parents taught us that the potential of every human being is unlimited. The only thing one needs is to believe in oneself. Since I was two years old, I was watching my mother silently and intently while she was painting. I grew up with the smell of oils and the colors of nature. Nature and especially flowers was my mother’s main art theme. Apart from my mother, all the rest of her family were great talents on painting. Take this into account, it was inevitable for me to have an innate talent in painting. JCAM: When and how did you start making art? Can you describe the time when you first realized that creating was something you absolutely had to do? Why do you make art now? How has your work changed or developed over time? What are you trying to communicate with your art? Of the artworks published in this article, is there one of you are which most proud? If so, why?

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AK: Since I was a little girl, I usually spent my time cutting images out of magazines with my scissors instead of playing with dolls. When my parents were finishing their jobs, we used to sit together and make collages with the images. Basically, we were finishing together the work I had begun. When I was four years old I effortlessly managed to paint my teddy bear and my mother’s sunglasses, in correct proportions and in an absolute perspective with my paint brush. It was then I heard my mother saying that I have an innate talent on painting and that one day I would become a good painter. But I realized that creativity was within me, a part of me that was giving me peace and joy. I became a better person through this process. My main theme in painting had to do with old vehicles, cars and scooters (vespas). Since I remember myself I cannot forget my family’s love and respect for the old-classic objects. It was always making me feel nostalgia for the past but also optimism for the future. It’s a sense that follows me until now and is intently reflected in my paintings. Although my vehicles look abandoned, the truth is that they are not alone, because they are embraced with the colors of nature. This in turn gives them a feeling of protection and of dreaming about the future. I see it this way: Vehicles and environment exchange colors and materials – balance –with that way vehicles manage to live again and again in any upcoming season. My art gives the message about having respect for the environment, the harmonious coexistence between nature and artificial, about recycling and the reuse of resources. My vehicles, in combination with the color range that I use, express for me freedom and imagination; freedom because my vehicles constantly travel and imagination because they are daydreaming. Painting has always been in my life even during my studies in architecture. I tend to be more an artist-architect than engineer. I would prefer to work on the concept and the composition – the form – than deal with the functional aspects of a building. Working on a miniature model was always my best (and favorite) part of any building project. Most of the times my models looked like an art sculpture and my blueprints an art painting. The financial crisis that erupted in Greece not so long ago caused a plummeting of the construction and building industries and made me find solace in painting. Day by day one finds me spending endless hours relieving my creativity on that, I was absorbed entirely mind and soul. It didn’t take me long to realize that painting would be a one way path for me. With discipline, inspiration and daily work I am evolving myself and my job at the same time. It doesn’t mean that my work is better now. My first art series do not compare well to the new ones. I want to say that I continue to invent ways to express myself and society through art. For instance, tensions of recent days in my country are translated with a lot of color in my paintings. Hence, despite the difficult situations we are going through here in Greece, I pass a message of optimism for the future.

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For all my artworks I am equally proud because they are all pieces of myself. I courageously face myself every day and I express that openly on canvas. My brushstrokes and I converse on a canvas, and during our conversation we are both improving. JCAM: Do you have any creative patterns, routines or rituals associated with your art making? What elements of art making do you enjoy the most and why? What is your most important artist tool and why? How do you know when a work is finished? What are the art making tools you use now? What new creative medium would you love to pursue? AK: My themes are mainly vehicles wandering into surreal landscapes. In my art, vehicle and environment exchange colors and materials – the main subject integrates into the background Symbolizing a harmonious coexistence of natural and artificial is a goal for my art making. What I enjoy the most every time I paint is when I drop the first stroke of color on a pure white canvas. It's like I start up my car engine and go ahead to the unknown. However, one of the most interesting things of all is that all of my artworks are intentionally incomplete ... they never arrive at their final destination. On purpose, they are devoid of their last strokes. That way my vehicles never reach their destination but endlessly “Travel.” My art sometimes is characterized by strong colorful strokes and some other times the strokes are more lyrical. I usually work mixed media on canvas, but my favorite medium is acrylic. I use several tools in my paintings. With my brushes, my spatula and sometimes even with my fingers I compose my paintings. JCAM: What’s the first artwork you ever sold? AK: The first person I met on the first day at the University of Thessaly Department of Architecture, was the first person who bought a painting from me. A painting with the title “Not only Red” which depicts an old red Volkswagen Beetle car was the first one that I sold. The same friend who is still one of my best friends was my model for a portrait that I had to do as an exercise for one of the art courses during my studies. The same person was the one that I chose to paint as the first portrait as a painter. She is my dear Sophia who did the best start for me! JCAM: What are your goals for the future, for both work and life? What interesting project are you working on at the moment? AK: My goal is to evolve myself through my art. I want to make a family because I believe that family is the greatest creation of all. That is balance for me. A recipe for a happy life is the balance. JCAM: What or who inspires you? Do you have a favorite – or influential –living artist? When addressing a particular work to be published in this interview: can you explain what inspired this particular piece or idea?

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AK: There are many artists that I admire their work. They are all so special and unique. I cannot distinguish one from another. There are many foreign and Greek artists who do excellent works of art. In 2016 – in Greece and abroad – the first web Greek art platform, the Hellenic art Vioma (www.artvioma.gr) was designed and presented to the public. In this web site apart from my work you can find artists and artworks representatives of the Greek culture. They are all so unique. I cannot distinguish, I repeat. Can you? The painting ''Red Rain'' was created in January 2016. It depicts a classic red beetle car. It is the second time that I approached artistically a red Beetle. “It was one of those unforgettable moments, a rainy afternoon in Volos. You asked me if I would ever paint a red beetle. I did not reply. We were in another red car then.” Volos of Thessaly Greece is the Town where I studied architecture was the inspiration for this piece. JCAM: Where do you find ideas for your creative work? What does being creative mean to you? What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative? AK: Just being yourself, trust your uniqueness, rejoice and be excited for every moment of your life. Even for the simple daily things. My mother once told me to have faith in myself. I believe in myself, I believe in people. These are some of the components of my magic filter. One teaspoon of that every morning and then inspiration comes!

Aphrodite Kyriazi “Vespa Sweden” Painting

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Aphrodite Kyriazi “Beetle in a Mood” / Painting

Aphrodite Kyriazi “Bored on a Monday” / Digital

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Aphrodite Kyriazi “Drawn into the Sea” / Painting

Aphrodite Kyriazi “Forgotten Beauty” / Digital

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Aphrodite Kyriazi “Vespa Alasca” / Digital

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Aphrodite Kyriazi “Vespa Athens” / Digital

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Aphrodite Kyriazi “Vespa Brooklyn” / Painting

Aphrodite Kyriazi “Vespa Tokyo” / Digital

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Aphrodite Kyriazi “Red Rain” / Painting

Aphrodite Kyriazi “Rorschach's Butterfly” / Digital

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Carl Billingsley My name is Carl Billingsley. I was born in Oklahoma and spent the first few years of my life there. My father was a sergeant in the Army. He enlisted at Ft. Sill Oklahoma, which was and still is the headquarters of the army artillery. During my childhood, career military personnel were given a home base from which they were assigned as needed and to which they were reassigned. So as my dad was transferred from base to base we often moved with him. I lived in many different places and learned to accept and even to prefer the status of ‘outsider’. My older brother and I were often referred to as ‘army brats’. I believe that we learned to be more independent, self confident and willing to resist the pressure to be like everybody else as a result of our itinerant status. I still feel that I am a plainsman at heart and miss the open prairies and rolling terrain of the Southwest. Ft. Sill itself is adjacent to one of the first National Wildlife Refuges in the country, the Wichita Mountains. Those mountains were our playgrounds whenever we were back in Oklahoma. Buffalo and Longhorns were as common to us as short horn cattle and horses. The two most influential places that I experienced aside from the Wichita Mountains were Germany, where we lived for 3 years, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I ended up in high school. Post war Germany was an amazing place for a young boy. The cities still had many blocks of rubble left from the bombing of WWII, evidence of the war was everywhere, most Germans got around on public transportation or by bicycle since they had no cars, and we youngsters were free to roam about almost at will! We weren’t just outsiders, we were foreigners and our sense of place expanded beyond anything we had experienced before. By the time the family ended up in Milwaukee, my brother William had joined the Army and my sister was still in grade school. When Dad was transferred to Kansas, I elected to remain in Milwaukee to finish school.

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I also wanted to stay close to the girl that I eventually married. Catherine was as different from me as one could imagine. Her life had been spent entirely in Milwaukee. Her father was a Professor of Art at the University and she was an honor student. I determined to make something of myself and started to attend the community college at night while working full time during the day. Eventually, Catherine and I married and we both became full time university students. After trying a wide variety of majors, we both ended up as Art students, Catherine in Textiles and me in Sculpture. We have been partners in life and in art ever since. I initially resisted the idea of becoming an art student because I believed that one had to have a special ability to be an artist. I accepted the old notion that artists are born not made. That idea proved to be very valuable because it made my frequent failures and disappointments in various media almost to be expected. It came as a bit of a shock when I realized that I was happiest and made my best work when I was in the Sculpture studio. In retrospect, I realize that many years spent at the elbow of my Grandfather the carpenter had provided me with the very skills and abilities needed. My growing success in the studio began to convince me that I had made the right choice. I was immediately drawn to the foundry and I will never give up the fun and challenge of casting metal. Iron casting became a preoccupation that drives me still. Six years after we got our BFAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s we had our first child, Benjamin, and four years later our daughter Rachel was born. I worked at anything I could to support our family. I worked in factories, as a carpenter, a construction laborer, painting houses, even for a few weeks as a stevedore. Finally, I realized that I had to do better so I started graduate school. My goal was an MFA but I decided to take some education courses as well. With the idea in mind that I would probably teach at some level, I determined to master as many skills and processes as possible so that my teaching would be from a strong base of knowledge and experience. I was finishing my final course in education when I learned of a position at the new School of Architecture at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. I got the job, as manager of the wood shop, and that was the beginning of my career as a teacher even though I was not hired to teach. I loved that job and never turned down an opportunity to assist with a studio class, to take on students for independent projects and to expand the range of our facilities. We added a metal working shop to the school and I started teaching some courses of my own such as model building and construction practices. I became close to several faculty who believed in the necessity for Architecture students to learn about materials and process and to actually build things with their own hands in order to fully understand their profession. I still adhere to that philosophy and took the same approach with my own students when I began to

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teach Sculpture and Design at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I am fully committed to the idea that a concept needs to be realized in three dimensions in actual material to succeed as a sculpture. At the same time that I decided to return to school I determined that I had to build a record of exhibitions. I systematically applied to every opportunity that fit my budget and travel limitations. Entering competitive shows meant that I had to have work to show so I was forced to make time for working in the studio (at that time a small room in the basement of our rented house.) I established a pattern of working every day on sculpture or other design projects that I have maintained ever since. The reality of an artists’ life is that it is one of ceaseless work. The only ‘ritual’ that applies to my studio/artistic process is that I find that I am most productive and motivated when I clean and organize my studio space before beginning a new sculpture or project. Cleaning up and preparing the workspace seems to provide me with a quiet time for my mind to organize itself. I also believe that simply working, even if it is only cleaning, sweeping the floor or doing some maintenance on my vehicle or trailer or power equipment is all that I need to get me going. I don’t need a grand idea or inspiration to start creating I just have to get going and the ideas appear. There are so many thoughts that one has while working that it seems impossible to find oneself without an idea or notion to try. When I am too tired to work in the studio I draw. I make sketches or diagrams on grid-paper that act as reminders for me of the three-dimensional forms that the drawings evoke in my mind. These drawings usually result in cardboard models that I can make rapidly and that then present a myriad of new possibilities. I have tried to learn and use digital media to create models and to develop concepts but the learning curve is too steep for me. I admire those who have been able to adapt to this new way of working and I even envy the seeming ease with which these images can be created and manipulated. I would love to be able to rotate images of my ideas in the imaginary space of the computer screen but I am afraid that I am stuck with my old organic processor and its antiquated output mechanism, the hand. In any case, I manage to keep busy and I don’t limit my expression to one medium or approach. Most recently I was selected to participate in the Sculpture by the Sea Bondi exhibition in Sydney, Australia. Sculpture by the Sea is considered to be the most viewed public sculpture exhibition in the world and it is very competitive. My work that was selected for the 2014 SxS exhibition was an installation of survey flags. These small vinyl flags are used around the world to mark everything from water lines to construction boundaries. I designed an installation, which responded to the particular Australia landscape that I had experienced on a previous trip down under. Called “Red Center”, the installation was composed of 8,000 flags that were installed on Tamarama Beach. “Red

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Center” won the Andrea Stretton Award, which included an invitation to exhibit at Sculpture by the Sea–Cottesloe outside of Perth in 2015. I enlisted my grandson Walker Bixby to assist me with this installation, so he now claims credit for collaborating with me on a major public sculpture at the age of 10! I seem to have started something. I don’t remember the first artwork that I ever sold but it was probably a carving that I made while in Germany. I discovered that pine bark made an ideal medium for shaping toy soldiers, horses, etc. with my pocketknife. I spent many a happy hour carving these things, which I then traded with other kids for candy bars, marbles, or other valuable goods. What I am doing now isn’t so very different. The problem that I have presently is that I haven’t enough time to deal with all of my projects. I am finishing work on a major public memorial for Onslow County, NC. “Reflected in Their Eyes” is a memorial for first responders in Onslow County, which includes Jacksonville, NC, home to the Marine Corps, Camp Lejune. This sculpture is made of 1-inch thick stainless steel, which has been polished to a mirror finish. The Memorial is composed of three panels of stainless. The central panel is 20 feet long and has the figures of three responders cut out in silhouette. A firefighter, EMS tech and a law enforcement person are represented by their absence. Two information panels that have the Dedication and the Honor Roll, flank the central panel. This sculpture is part of the great tradition of Sculpture that serves a public function. I am also continuing to make sculptures for the “Lodestone Project” that utilize massive iron casting to mark significant locations on the globe. These sculptures reference the ancient way-finding knowledge of mankind as well as the development of metallurgy. I cast replicas of existing stones from specific locations in iron and then place these castings as sculptures or leave them anonymously in places that have special significance in history. In 2012 I cast a Lodestone in Wales that will eventually be placed somewhere on the Prime Meridian in the UK. It is important that the original stone from which I pulled the mold was found in the Preseli Hills, which is where the Bluestones of Stonehenge are thought to have originated. Other Lodestones are placed as sculptures in Pedvale Open Air Museum and Sculpture Park in Latvia and at Josephine Sculpture Park near Frankfort, KY. The Wichita Lodestone is placed somewhere in the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma. Additional information about this project can be found on my website: billingsleyatelier.com. My most recent endeavor is the Sculptures @ Schools Project. I have started to offer original abstract sculptures to public schools at nominal cost as an educational tool. Very few students in America encounter art on a regular basis as part of their ordinary environment. Sculptures @Schools is designed to be utilized as part of a comprehensive Art Curriculum. Each participating school will have as a permanent part of their campus an original abstract sculpture. These sculptures will offer a variety of educational opportunities to generation after

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generation of students. Lesson plans and extra curricula activities suggestions are included with each sculpture that is placed at a participating school. Sculptures @ Schools is a Social Enterprise with the goal of being self-sustaining and does not seek to make profit. The goal is to provide sculptures to an evergrowing population at cost. Sculptures @ Schools is in the formative stage and welcomes support and suggestions for development. This part of my interview addresses issues of inspiration. While considering these questions I found an earlier interview that I had done for the Public Art Program in Salina Kansas. The questions and my answers seem to fit so I will use the interview as part of this much more inclusive interview: WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO CREATE ART? For me sculpture is a special means of communication. It is a way for me to express some of my thoughts and ideas about the human condition. I usually create abstract sculptures that don’t represent objects, persons or creatures. More likely, the sculptures are about human activities and ideas that have preoccupied our species for millennia. Ideas such as way-finding, discovery of the materials and processes that have enabled us to build modern civilization and how those activities and materials are still in use today. I often reference history, technical processes and I always try to show something about how the sculpture was created. In a casting, for instance, I will often leave mold lines visible so that the viewers can understand that the sculpture was cast. When I carve stone or wood I leave tool marks. I guess that I am inspired by my connection as an artist to all artists that have gone before me and all those who will follow. We are part of a great continuum of human history. WHAT MATERIALS DO YOU USE?: I still use the traditional materials and methods of sculpture such as stone and woodcarving. I model in clay and I cast sculptures in aluminum, bronze and iron. I do a considerable amount of welding and metal fabrication and will sometimes use more than one material and technique in a single sculpture. For the past several years I have also created site-specific earth works and installations. WHY, IN YOUR OPINION, IS PUBLIC ART IMPORTANT?: Public art is important because it helps to define a place. It offers moments of reflection, beauty, mystery, celebration, fun, remembrance, wonder, insight, pleasure and surprise. It acts for the community in the same way as landmark buildings, monuments and spaces. Like natural elements of the environment such as rivers, hills, horizons, green spaces, forests and flowers, sculpture offers respite from the ordinary, the commercial, the necessary hardware of the street and the endless signage of our urban environment. It doesn’t ask for anything but your time to look and perhaps a moment of thought or pleasure. Public Art isn’t confined in a museum, held close by a collector, offered to view for a few days or weeks, it is available for each individual to consider, like, dislike, re-visit, ignore, celebrate, enjoy, re-visit and finally to miss when it is gone.

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HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT SCULPTURE TOUR SALINA, AND WHY DID YOU ENTER?: I have been exhibiting my work in public venues such as Salina for more than 20 years. I know of most such opportunities and am always happy to see another community join the ranks of cities that demonstrate their commitment to making art part of the fabric of their communities. One reason that I continue to enter competitions like this is because it offers me the chance to have my work evaluated and considered by a variety of jurors and citizens along with the work of many other artists. This is really a form of peer review, expert criticism, objective comparison and public acceptance. WHAT DO YOU HOPE SALINA WILL GAIN BY HAVING THIS ANNUAL SCULPTURE TOUR?: I don’t HOPE for positive results I am CERTAIN of them! The citizens of Salina gain the opportunity to view a variety of contemporary sculpture from across the country, to live with these works for a year and to discover things about their habits, thoughts, ideas and attitudes that sometimes surprise them. They can explore the world of contemporary art with its rich variety and discover that the old is still as relevant as the new. All of this just by looking! They will find things that they never expected to like and things that they hate but come to understand. They are free to have any opinion that they want and lucky to be able to change their minds if they choose to. They might even find a public artwork that needs to be a permanent part of their community. I find most writing about creativity to be off the mark. The question shouldn’t be how to be more creative. The question should be why does our culture, our educational system and our public attitude regard creativity as something special? Any serious review of Human History reveals that we are innately, as a species, creative. Innovation, creativity, the thirst for knowledge are built–in, what is NOT natural to our species is the prevalence given to FEAR. Only those who fear change are resistant to creativity. Creativity represents freedom and that alone is the difference between artists and everybody else. Artists choose to take a chance, they exercise their FREEDOM to be different, to fail as often as they succeed and to find new ways to communicate.

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Carl Billingsley “Aspiration” / Sculpture / Location: Costa Rica

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Carl Billingsley “Iron Bolt” / Sculpture / Location: Pedvale, Latvia

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Carl Billingsley “Plane Warp” / Sculpture / Location: Chattanooga, Tennessee

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Carl Billingsley “Quadrant Stone” / Sculpture / Location: Pedvale, Latvia

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Carl Billingsley (Shown) “P C Column” / Sculpture / Location: Oxford, Mississippi

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Carl Billingsley “Keystone of Space” Sculpture

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Carl Billingsley “Midsummer Gate” Sculpture

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Catherine Billingsley I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and grew up in a creative family. My mother was a voracious reader and aspiring writer, and my father was a Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He taught ceramics but he was first and foremost a painter and had in fact been a WPA painter back in the 1930’s. My older brother became an art educator as well. My brother and I were nurtured in many ways as children, and our father saw to it that we always had plenty of art materials to work with. I remember running a little cottage industry weaving pot holders from colored loopers and selling them door to door when I was about 9 or 10. I recorded the patterns and color combinations I used in a small spiral notebook, and for a while I thought I had invented “hounds tooth.” When I was in seventh and eighth grade, I took sewing in school. My parents bought me my first sewing machine when I graduated from eighth grade, and I began sewing many of my own clothes and clothes for my mother. I loved the idea of taking lots of different pieces and putting them together into something whole. I spent my early college years resisting being like everyone in my family; I wanted to be different. I tried many directions, early childhood education, English, journalism, but feeling frustrated, I took a crafts class, just for fun, and eventually earned a BFA in Weaving and Textile Arts. The apple hadn’t fall far from the tree after all. In 1965, while still in college, I married Carl Billingsley. We had gone to high school together and started dating each other when we were seniors. Carl was pursuing his Bachelors degree in sculpture. We graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee together in 1969, and my parents bought me a used loom so I could work at home. Everywhere we have ever lived, I have had a loom either in the living room or in an adjoining room. And I currently have multiple looms.

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Our lives were shaped very much by the events and attitudes of the 60’s. We embraced the “Back to the Land” philosophy and mastered many do-it-yourself skills. I felt grateful that I could pursue weaving at home while dealing with the demands of two children by day and then teach continuing education weaving classes at the community college at night. Carl ultimately earned his Masters degree in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and in 1986 he began his college teaching career at the University of North CarolinaGreensboro, followed by a move in 1992 to East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina from which he retired in 2014. Ten years after Carl got his MFA, our son Benjamin got his MFA in painting and printmaking. Ben has been teaching drawing, painting, printmaking, and art history for the past 15 years at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, North Carolina. Our daughter Rachel, who is married and has 2 young children, has become a fiber artist in her own right, challenging herself with complicated knitting techniques. I have always thought of Carl as the “engine” of our family, the force that drives us all. Most of the experiences we have had, especially regarding foreign travel, have been the direct result of Carl’s efforts. And it was while Carl was teaching at ECU, that I had an opportunity to pursue my MFA; I entered graduate school at the age of 56 and graduated three years later (2003) with a concentration in Weaving and Textile Arts. Graduate school really broadened my skills and my sense of how my work fit into contemporary art. Using what weaving skills I already had, I learned how to combine them with surface design techniques such as embroidery and applique. My work became more layered, deeper, and conceptually richer. I also learned techniques that were completely new to me such as bead weaving, fabric dyeing and piecing, and digital printing all of which I used in my thesis work as well as in post graduate work. I began making work in series rather than singularly, and doors were opening for me that had not been opened before. My thesis work was based on foreign travel to Japan, Eastern Europe, Israel, and Ghana. I wove a large panel (roughly 3’ x 5’) that represented each of these locations, and I worked from photographs as my inspiration. I wove a background fabric and then additional fabrics that I cut and shaped and appliqued to the background. I finished each panel with hand embroidery on the surface. The work “Toya, Japan” combines handwoven appliques with leaves cut from commercially woven fabric. When I was in Ghana, I worked directly with African master weavers and printmakers and studied Kente cloth, or strip weaving, firsthand. Kente cloth had been an interest of mine for years, and “An American in Ghana” reflects the affects of that experience. It is a three-part, freestanding piece consisting of

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long, narrow 4” wide double woven strips that are wrapped around steel frames. The pieces are arranged so that the viewer can stand at one end and look through the openings and see parts of the pieces behind. Travel continued as a theme with the first piece I made post grad school. An 8” by 10” bead weaving depicting a row of houses on the canal in Amsterdam hangs in front of the same image embroidered on the woven background panel in “Amsterdam.” The bead weaving consists of 24,000 glass seed beads. Digital printing dominated my attention while I produced a series of 2 dozen pieces based on my own routine medical imagery; many were presented as small quilts. I started with images of the back of my eye, then added various orthopedics x-rays (“Underlying Shooting Pain” was made using a hip x-ray), chest x-rays, mammograms, bone density tests, and ultrasound images. Except for a couple of the pieces, I did all the printing myself using my Epson desktop printer. I manipulated my images using Photoshop, pieced the prints together, and embroidered the surfaces using machine embroidery. I was most interested in the abstract nature I could create by repeating and manipulating these images. “Hand-Eye Coordination” exemplifies this idea. “Ode to Titanium” was one piece I had printed by Spoonflower in Raleigh; in the designing process I aligned the images side by side and was able to eliminate the need to piece the images together later. A textile friend who was also working with digital medical imagery and I had a very successful two-person exhibit that ran for the whole summer of 2011 at the Laupus Health Sciences Library on the Medical Campus of East Carolina University. Our work garnered attention from the medical community as well as the art community. For the first five years after graduate school, I taught part-time for the School of Art and Design at ECU. I taught all levels of weaving, textile survey, and color and design. I taught, exhibited, lectured, worked collaboratively with other artists, and did commission work. I also did my first solo exhibitions and my first on-line exhibit, was asked to write several articles for a national textile magazine and designed my own website (catherinebillingsley.com). My world definitely felt larger than ever before. I was especially honored to share an exhibit in 2008 at the Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with my ECU textile colleagues Christine Zoller and Jan Ru Wan. I created three of the largest pieces I have ever made specifically for this show. My favorite of these pieces is called “What Goes Around Comes Around” which measures 7’ W x 5’ H. It is woven of wools arranged in the order of the spectrum and uses a simple weave structure, putting the focus on the color interactions. I started by weaving a short section, then advanced a length of unwoven warp, and then wove another section twice the length of the first section. When the work was off the loom, I hemmed the ends and brought the two woven sections together and seamed them together using Velcro. The sweep of unwoven warp hangs loosely below the woven part. A reviewer of the

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show paid me the highest compliment when she said the piece challenged her to figure out how it was made. Further she said my works were dramatic, pleasant to look at, and the overlapping sequential colors created a pointillist effect, the results of which were meditative. “Cool Knot Warm” and “Go with the Flow” were the other pieces woven specifically for this exhibit. But even though I’d say that I might be proudest of that particular piece more than any other, the truth is my best piece is always the next piece. While I am weaving, my mind is racing ahead to what else I can do with this idea, with this pattern, with this technique, with this color combination. Making art is an evolutionary process; if you don’t learn anything new, why do it? Weaving is a systematic, sequential process that employs logic in much the same way as mathematics. Some of the same vocabulary is common to both: chosen limits, grid, intersect, odd/even progression, order, pattern, random, repeat, sequence, theory, and variables. When I am planning a weaving, I like to challenge myself by imposing a system or a set of limits within which I must work. I love working with the spectrum, and I have used that arrangement of color in much of my work going back to the 80’s. My colorful “Overshot Gamp” is a good example. It combines overshot patterning with the spectrum color arrangement. I have also used Fibonacci sequencing quite a lot, both in my thesis work and in many of the color pieces I have done. The Fibonacci system is a progressive sequence starting with 1 plus 1, where the next number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two numbers: 1-1-2-3-5-8-13, etc. One finds Fibonacci numbers in the growth patterns of plants and animals, and because of the pleasing visual quality of these numbers and their relationship to one another, they appeal to our sense of beauty and proportion. Pattern weaving has always been an attraction for me. I enjoy seeing a pattern develop and repeat, but manipulating pattern has also intrigued me. In “Pioneer Trail Meets Wandering Vine,” I wove strips of the two patterns side by side. After the piece was woven, I accordion folded it along the lines between patterns. If you stand to the left side of the weaving, you can see one pattern in its entirety, and when you stand to the right you can see the other. Carl made the plexiglass frame for me. Another technique I use quite often in my work is a weaving technique called “name draft.” “Name draft” is a way of encoding a message into the woven cloth. To create a “name draft,” the letters of a phrase are converted into numbers (1-4), which correspond to the number of harnesses on the loom. The alphabet can be divided in an infinite number of ways, letter by letter (A=1, B=2. C=3, D=4, E=1, etc.) or by groups of letters (ABC=1, DEF=2, etc.). The letters are assigned their respective numbers and from the numbers, a one-of-a-kind weaving pattern is created. The same phrase will generate a different pattern for each alphabetical system used. However, some “name draft” patterns are more

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visually interesting than others. Although you cannot “read” the messages, they add another layer of meaning to the cloth. My self portrait name draft is titled “Catherine Billingsley: weaver, mother, book and baseball lover” and it shows 4 different systems threaded side by side and each woven in sequence; the same phrase is used for each system, but each system has generated a different pattern. For each of the four major panels in my thesis show, the titles of the panels are the name draft phrases I used when weaving the applique fabrics. Japan and Ghana are included here; Toya, Japan, mentioned earlier, is titled, “You cannot travel on the path before you have become the path itself. Buddha” and Ghana is titled, “All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes.” My digital printing was not the first time I had used technology in my work. I can go back to the 80’s when I made “Portrait of Ben and Rachel” shown with my inspiration, a computerized image of my kids that was printed on a dot matrix printer. The technique I used was a continuous knotting technique called Swedish Knot Tapestry. I also use a computer program to work out my name draft patterns quickly and a computer program to digitize images for my bead weavings. I have always found it interesting to combine current technology along with such a traditional process as weaving. I enjoy the feeling of serenity I experience working at my loom and find satisfaction in “building” cloth, one row at a time. I take pleasure in creating unlimited color combinations and find comfort in the rhythm of repetition. In metaphorical terms, weaving is a part of everyone’s life. We each weave the fabric of our own lives, and every life tells a story woven together one day at a time, row upon row. If we are lucky, our lives have some constant “thread” that ties us to the past and leads us to the future. Currently I am continuing my work with the spectrum (“Variation on a Theme, Part I”) and trying to find different ways to manipulate the cloth I am weaving, experimenting with some origami techniques. Although weaving will always be my greatest preoccupation, I have recently joined the Greenville Quilt Guild with the hopes of learning how to do free-motion quilting. I find this particular group of women inspirational. They are very productive and creative and most of all generous. In some respects, I feel as though I have come full circle, back to those early pleasures of piecing patterns and bringing order to the whole. The truth is I have never been far from these pleasures my entire life of 70 plus years. I know how fortunate I have been both by fate and by choice. My parents set my journey in motion, and my 50-year partnership with Carl has carried me to places I never dreamed of going. We have lived what feels like a charmed life, but we have also worked hard to provide for the needs of each of us, including our children. In spite of not working in the same field, Carl and I have always supported each other in our individual pursuits. We talk with each other about our ideas, and we respect each other’s opinions and insight. Carl has made every frame I have ever

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needed and cut every rod. We have exhibited our work together and on several occasions we have even put together 3-generation shows, including work by my father and Ben. And what seems to be happening, after all these years together, is that Carl’s sculpture is getting more colorful and my weaving is getting more dimensional. The influence was inevitable.

Catherine Billingsley “What Goes Around Comes Around” / Textile / Weaving

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Catherine Billingsley “Go With The Flow” Textile / Weaving

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Catherine Billingsley “Right Hand Eye Coordination” Textile / Weaving

Catherine Billingsley “Toya, Japan” / Textile / Weaving

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Catherine Billingsley “Self Portrait” Textile / Weaving

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Catherine Billingsley “Variation on a Theme – Part 1” Textile / Weaving

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Catherine Billingsley “Overshot Gamp” Textile / Weaving

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Catherine Billingsley “Shooting Pain” Textile / Weaving

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Evgeny Titov My name is Evgeny Titov. I was born in a small village where the living conditions instilled in me an ethic of hard work and a love of nature and good living. Now I live in St. Petersburg, Russia. This is a city with a great culture, and also with a great art school which I attended and learned much. My early paintings came from trial and error. I wanted to look carefully at the world around me and then share it with others through my art. I first started painting as a child, then made art in school, and then in college. Finally I came to the Academy where I began studying the historical documentaries of other artists who have come before me. I learned how they worked and why they made their art. I looked at the study of this information as a truthful and objective way to understand my artistic predecessors. One ritual I have is to make work. I am in my workshop as much as possible. I work making my art almost every day. I am amazed by the â&#x20AC;&#x153;birthâ&#x20AC;? of each new work and celebrate it as one does with the launch of a new boat. My working tool of choice is a brush and my medium is oil paint. My work is done (complete) when it begins to live on its own, when it is not necessary to add anything more. Stopping at this time is necessary otherwise you can spoil a work. My occupation is this: I am an artist. Art has now become my profession and my passion as well. My art has always sold well even in my student years. These days my sales are regular and I am happy to say I make a living from my art work. For the immediate future my plans are to work on a large solo exhibition in a reasonably good museum. My long term plans including showing my work in one-man exhibitions regularly. I want to use solo exhibitions to take my work further out into the public and also to bring joy to people. I am inspired by my memories of my childhood: the great joy of communicating with interesting people. In our world there are so many interesting artists. But I tend to follow one of the commandments of Moses "DO NOT MAKE YOURSELF ON IDOL." I take the ideas of the life that surrounds me. Being creative is an interesting idea. Being creative to me means that I strive to be different from anyone else in my work. Even so,

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I must be recognizable as an artist. In my work I pose questions about life from my personal perspective. For example, in this article I present my picture "THE BLIND" Which asks these questions: “Who are we? And how and why did we come to this sinful world?” When a young artist asks me the question, “How can I be more creative?” I answer them like this: “Being creative means being yourself and being different from other artists but being recognizable.” This is what I say to young artists. I think that perhaps the best advice on being an artist comes from the life one lives. My life tells me this: Don't be afraid to do things. Do not be afraid to open your soul to people. Your art will resonate if you are honest.

Evgeny Titov “The Song” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “Harvest” Painting

Titov Evgeny “Walk Across the Sky” Painting

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Evgeny Titov “Promenade” / Painting

Evgeny Titov “ The fishing” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “The Wedding” / Painting

Evgeny Titov “At the Crossroads” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “Sand Castles” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “Torrent” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “They Liked Each Other” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “Ripe Apple” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “Market” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “The White Crow” / Painting

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Evgeny Titov “On the Russian Stove” / Painting

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Golmei Gandumpu My name is Golmei Gandumpu and I live in Singjamei, Imphal East, Manipur, India. I belong to the Kabui Communities. The Kabui’s are singular among the populations of North East India. I love my Kabui culture and tradition. The Kabui Communities are fading away day by day. I therefore want to preserve the tradition and culture of my Communities through my artworks. With my painting I am trying to expose my beautiful, colorful traditional costumes have been worn proudly for many hundreds of years. From my childhood I was always interested to do drawings and paintings. This work has been a life long source of interest for me. After my high school I joined the Imphal Art College to further my studies in art. I received a 5th year diploma from that institute in 1993. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in Fine Arts - Painting from the Imphal Art College, Imphal, Manipur. At this time I am a professional artist. My work has been shown in many juried and invited exhibitions in India and I have attended art workshops. As an artist I am trying to keep myself away from the many “isms” which have been set out by various masters over the many centuries in the history of art. Through my artworks I am not trying to reveal the details of the dance or the specific dancer as I capture in my photographs. Instead I am always trying to show the movements and costumes by using different strokes and different brushes as well as sober blues, greens and brown as needed to convey the proper feelings to the audience. Here is a specific example of the Kabui culture in celebrating the Gaan Ngai. The Gaan Ngai is the post-harvest festival. Therefore, in the distant past, it was observed in October. However, in 1947 the Zelianrong Community leaders decided that it be held on the 13th day of the Metei month of Wakching which tallies with Pousa month of Sakanda of the Indian era. The Ngai was to held on the same day in the states of Manipur, Nagaland and Assam. Since 1998 the government of Manipur declared Gaan Ngai as a general holiday. The coming of Gaan Ngai is announced on the first day of the month of Wakching/Pousa bowing the horns of cattle. This is called Gaan Shanmei. The

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Gaan Ngai is also celebrated as the worship of God, and for giving men a good harvest, and as an expression of thanksgiving of man to God. To show the power of and beauty of these celebrations I like to use bold brush strokes and semi-abstract elements for making my paintings. I enjoy sketching and doing preliminary studies for paintings too. I think that choosing good colors and carefully choosing the brushes for each canvas is very important for an artist. I can justify the cost of my Winsor & Newton paints as these are the tools that feel best for me. I also very much like the new acrylic colors and various mediums available now. I love to work with these materials.

The Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Studio

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