what even is art?

THE COMET WHAT EVEN IS ART? LOCAL creatives WEIGH IN

The infamous Andy Warhol “Brillo Box” from 1964 - often brought up in ‘what is art’ discussions. This one sold for over 3 million dollars in a 2010 Christie’s auction.

by ron evans

What is art?

I hate the question on some level. But it comes up a lot in the arts community, at coffee shops, galleries and late night semidrunken ramblings over Negronis. And while I don’t love the question itself, I do like how the answers tend to steer the dialog into a thought-provoking discussion on creativity.

When RadarStation was still in my house in East Wenatchee several years back there was an incident that has stuck with me concerning this question. It was during the second opening for our Forms: Invasion of The Naked Humans show which was an eclectic showcase of nude sketches, paintings, photography and even a few live nude humans hanging around. Literally. Toward the end of the evening a local artist walked into the show. After a perusal of the creative offerings on exhibit this person began to (rather noticeably) chastise the show, the artists involved and the gallery itself. passionate voice of dissent. Any collection of art is fair game for criticism after all. But the tone seemed to be getting a bit more spicy - at one point he used the word vacuous to describe the show and I almost stepped into the conversation. Although I had to look it up to see if them was fightin’ words first.

vac·u·ous

/ˈvakyooəs/

adjective : having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless.

Why, them are fightin’ words!

But then I noticed some of the artists gathering around this person to engage in a discussion about art so I held back and let it play out. Ultimately the discourse ended with a bit of an agree to disagree settlement. But not before the conversation had gotten quite deep and philosophical on the topic of art for art’s sake, and the exchange ended up being one of my favorite memories about that era of running the gallery. of their works. Some felt compelled to defend and explain RadarStation itself. Some of them were simply curious what this person found so objectionable about the show - the nudity didn’t seem to be a factor. But they all calmly engaged in a chat about what art even was.

At some point the young man turned to me and asked “Why are you even an artist?” It’s not the first time I’d been asked this and I gave my usual answer which is “I don’t know if I am an artist. I just like to make shit.” I realize this is a bit of a copout answer, but it also happens to be a true (albeit simplified) account of how I look at my creative output. I’m a maker. A designer. A curious tinkerer of miscellaneous mediums. And maybe an artist. He seemed satisfied with that response and moved on. But it got another round of conversation going. Why are you an artist? Why make art? But most of all...what even is art?

As it’s a frequent point of conversation amongst artists and art enthusiasts alike, I wanted to delve a little deeper into this question. Rather than wax on about the topic myself, I reached out to see what members of our local arts community had to say on this. Some of them responded immediately with a thoughtful but succinct mission statement. Some took several days to ponder such a vague yet grand question. And a few admitted they couldn’t really find the words to sum up their thoughts on something so ethereal. What I love most about the responses is they almost read like a collection of poems. Maybe this is poetry? What is poetry? No, no...that’s for another article.

“What is art? I picture a panel of academics and historians deliberating all sorts of ideas here, but I think it’s quite simple. Art is the language of the collective experience. Art is found in a million places every day...it could be how you cut the banana for your kid, compose an e-mail, or prune the tree. Some of us make a practice of expressing how the world feels to us (we’re called artists) but all of us communicate what we’re experiencing in some way - and we experience much, much more than we’re conscious of. I prefer the question, ‘What is art for?’, to which I’d answer, ‘Art creates empathy.’”

- Lindsay Breidenthal painter, muralist

necessity to communicate. It’s an urge to create. I believe it is a genetic function of the human brain. We are all artists, we are all creators. As children we draw sometimes before we talk. But as we grow up our creativity is truncated, erased, stopped, usually we become embarrassed by our drawings or someone made us feel inept, stupid disenfranchised by our own visual expressions. Even though our dreaming mind continues to form images and colors but we forget or disown when we are awakened. Art is an expression of our feelings. I called myself an expressionist because my feelings are affected by the events going on in the world and that becomes my images, my color, my forms. I don’t deprive my art of the significant and natural means of expression. I sell my art for very little because to me the joy of expressing the transformation of my feelings into images and the power of awakening these emotions and inventing color is worth gold. To take a blank canvas and start a journey into the unknown brings me great joy, calms down my busy mind, it brings me into a meditative stage which I love.”

- Martha Flores painter, poet, sculptor

“Art can be many things. It can tell us who we are, or make us question why we are. At its best it can bring joy and wonder, at its worst it can be boring or invoke anger. Art has no membership, no invitation or exclusion. There is no reason to make art, to look at art, to care about art. But we surround ourselves with it, formally or not. And even though we could live without it, why would we?”

- Chad Yenney collage artist, owner/curator Collapse Gallery

“If I told you there was a lens in which to view the functionality of the world, would you pick the most useful one? The most economical? The prettiest? Perhaps one rich in your own personal history, making everything jaded and dysfunctional to prove a point? Art is vocabulary. You might choose to sow corn in rows for the highest yield, or maybe we throw the old washing machine out in the front yard out of laziness, but it nevertheless displays a message. Art is the tangible conversation of that message. Everyone does it, some people just have enough time to think about it.”

- Kristen Acesta mixed-media artist, owner Salt Creek Apothecary

“Art is a way of being; thinking, seeing, making, doing, and is the outcome of those efforts. It is the sum total of thousands of little decisions applied to, and translated within a chosen medium by a maker. It is the interpretation of experience and ideas that are formalized within the defined content of medium and setting. Art results from deliberate acts of human intervention in the gathering, arranging, organizing and presenting discrete parts into new perceptions of objects and experiences that can be measured by the six senses of touch, taste, smell, awareness of space, sound, and sight. Done well, art challenges those senses to see and experience something fully, differently in a manner that transcends medium, time, content, context and setting. Good art asks something of the viewer and acts as a bridge between the efforts of the maker and the perceptions of the receiver.

Or at least that’s what I think this three millionth day of the first year of the Covid 19 Pandemic and the twelve millionth day of the friggin trump regime. Given that, I may not be thinking clearly. Art may just be throwing paint at a canvas or wadding clay into a lump.”

- karendawndean multi-medium artist

“Art Stands witness to the Dream in me.”

- Jan Cook Mack painter

“Art to me is one of those few things that separates us from animals. The act of intentionally creating a visual work of art goes all the way back to the Paleolithic cave paintings discovered in France. Humans are drawn to create, especially as children, it is an innately human activity. Only as we grow older do we complicate this urge by our fickle modern way of life. Art is like a Rorschach test to help us better understand ourselves and the world around us. All art forms seek to express that unexplained essence of the soul connected to source energy and the collective consciousness. I also believe it is in the eye of the beholder. If a person creates something, it can be art. Anything less than that unnecessarily convolutes things. But it doesn’t mean all art is ‘good.’”

- Bryant Goetz painter

“Art is the human response to circumstance with concern for aesthetics. It is the fascination or bliss made manifest by skilled hands in the medium du jour. It is the compulsion we have as artists to exorcise the current fixation into form and the risk we take in baring it to the audience.

From the viewer’s perspective, art is something made by skilled hands to express an idea, emotion or point of view. The artist’s intention may not always be apparent to the viewer but that is part of the beauty. The viewer has the freedom to interpret what he sees and so the act of viewing art can change its meaning. Art always invokes a feeling in the viewer, adoration or abhorrence, either way the artist has succeeded.”

- Kasey Koski multimedium artist, Curator of Exhibits - Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center.

“Unadulterated, unapologetic, aimless creation. Art is not a means to an end, the means is the end. People craft creations to acquire money, praise, or prestige, this is not art, it’s contrivance. Art has no end, a scratch-less itch. It’s genuine, authentic vulnerability, the doing of something for no reason, purely because you’re compelled to. It’s intuitive, evolving, and cathartic. It’s manifesting thought, the actualization of an unsolicited idea. Art is without adequate definition. Ask, why do you make that? The answer should, in truth, be, ‘I don’t know.’”

- CG Dahlin poet, painter, publisher

I don’t know about you but reading these made me wanna make some art. To look at some art. It also made me miss being out and about at art openings, swirling a fine (or proudly cheap) glass of red wine and getting deep about the works we were surrounded by. To some, that may seem like a pointless exercise in arbitrary pontification. But as you can see in these responses, the philosophy and reasonings on the practice of creativity are not only inspirational and insightful - they can be works of art themselves.

I like to think that the young artist that walked into a nude art show in a kookie little make-shift gallery back in 2016 was simply traversing his own path to find meaning and connectivity in art. Maybe his frustrations came from not getting what others saw in the show. Maybe it came from the school of thought that not everyone should be allowed to play in the art world. That this inclusive spirit somehow lowers the bar concerning consistency and quality. Maybe he just found the whole thing to be tacky. Whatever it was, I’m glad it happened for all the reasons mentioned above and I respect his passion and willingness to engage in a discussion, rather than scoff it off and walk out. Although, I would have preferred the dialog to have stayed out of the insult lane. Because while all art is fair game for criticism, in the proverbial words of the late (man I hate saying that) Robert Wilson, “There’s no room for snobbery in art.”

Of course there can’t be one simple answer to the question “what is art?,” but there do seem to be some connecting themes in all of the responses. Some look at art as an almost religious (they’ll kill me for using that word) practice with its own disciplines and structure. Some free-wheel it and find the deeper values in those accidental moments of experimentation. Some just like to make shit. Whatever the philosophy, all of us are deeply affected by the creative efforts of others in ways we often don’t even notice. You may see the print of Monet in the frame bin at Goodwill but miss the intricate patterns on the Persian rug rolled up next to it. You may notice a vibrant mural on the side of a building but miss the hand painted letter work on the sign just above it. We have crafted an entire civilization out of art but we tend to only truly see what speaks directly to us. So maybe the better way to phrase the question is, “what is art to you?” C

THE COMET Sir Arthur and the Fairies an essay

Spirit photograph of Arthur Conan Doyle taken by the ‘spirit photographer’ Ada Deane in 1922, the same year in which Conan Doyle’s The Coming of the Fairies was published. The Dancing Fairy, featured in Conan Doyle’s The Coming of the Fairies (1922)

By Mary Losure

In the winter of 1920, readers of the popular British magazine The Strand found a curious headline on the cover of their Christmas issues. “FAIRIES PHOTOGRAPHED,” it said. “AN EPOCHMAKING EVENT DESCRIBED BY A. CONAN DOYLE.” The Strand’s readership was well acquainted with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; most of his wildly popular Sherlock Holmes stories had appeared for the first time in its pages. The great man’s claim that fairies –real fairies – had been photographed in the north of England by two young girls was greeted with wonder, but unfortunately for Conan Doyle, most of it was of the “what can he be thinking?” variety. How could the creator of the world’s most famous, least-fool-able detective have convinced himself that “fairy” photographs were real? Let us proceed, Holmes-like, to examine the question.

Mistake Number One: Misinterpreting the Evidence

To his credit, Conan Doyle made what was (to him) a thorough, scientific, step- by-step investigation of the “fairy” photographs. For his first step, he consulted experts at the London offices of the George Eastman Kodak Company. They examined prints of the first two “fairy” photos and told Conan Doyle they could find no evidence of photo-doctoring; still, they insisted someone who knew enough about photography could have faked them.

In Conan Doyle’s mind, that ruled out the two Yorkshire village girls who had taken the photographs, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths. “I argued that we had certainly traced the pictures to two children of the artisan [working] class, and that such tricks would be entirely beyond them,” he wrote. Working class girls, surely, would not be able pull off such a hoax…

Mistake Number Two: Our Man Not on the Spot

Conan Doyle’s next step was an on-thescene investigation – but Conan Doyle himself did not go. Instead, he enlisted a far-from-impartial surrogate -- an ardent believer in fairies named Edward Gardner -- to carry out the mission. Gardner had already talked to several people who had assured him the girls had played with fairies and elves since babyhood. He had already written to Elsie Wright’s mother begging her to get her “little girl” to take more photos. “I know quite well that fairies exist,” Gardner wrote in one of several letters to Elsie’s mother, “and that they are very shy of showing themselves or approaching adults, and it is only when one can obtain the help of their ‘friends’ that one can hope to obtain photographs and hence lead to a better understanding of Nature’s ways than is possible otherwise.” Gardner explained to Elsie’s mother that he had long been anxious to obtain photos of “fairies, pixies, and elves, and if possible of brownies and goblins.”

So it is perhaps not surprising that when he actually visited the Wright family in the Yorkshire village of Cottingley, Gardner found no reason to suspect there was anything amiss in the photographs. He talked to Elsie’s parents, who (not knowing themselves whether or how the photos had been faked) gave him sincere and honest answers. They told Gardner all they knew: that the two girls had borrowed Elsie’s father’s camera and gone down to a little hidden valley behind the house where the younger girl, Elsie’s cousin Frances, believed she saw fairies. The girls had returned a just short time later with the negative that Elsie’s father

Elsie and the Gnome, featured in Conan Doyle’s The Coming of the Fairies (1922) The first fairy photograph, featured in Conan Doyle’s The Coming of the Fairies (1922)

developed in his home darkroom: the first fairy photo.

As part of his investigation, Gardner walked with Elsie to the exact spot, in front of a waterfall, where the photo had been taken. He was glad to have a chance to question the girl alone, he later reported back to Conan Doyle. He asked Elsie what colors the fairies were and she told him they were “the palest of green, pink, mauve,” Gardner wrote to Conan Doyle. Elsie also told Gardner the gnome in the second photo had been wearing black tights, a reddish brown jersey, and a red pointed cap. In answer to Gardner’s questions about the markings on the gnome’s wings – both Conan Doyle and Gardner thought they looked like a moth’s wings — Elsie explained that they weren’t wing markings at all, but musical pipes. She added that on still days, you could hear the faint, high sound of gnome music. After that, Gardner reported back to Conan Doyle that the family’s “transparent honesty and simplicity” had convinced him, Gardner, that the photographs were entirely genuine.

Mistake Number Three: Conan Doyle’s and Gardner’s misperception of Elsie Wright

To Gardner, Elsie seemed a “shy pretty girl of about sixteen.” But at the time they met, she was really eighteen, going on nineteen, and for years had cherished the dream of becoming an artist. It was Elsie who had painted watercolor fairies, stuck them to hatpins, and arranged them in the foliage in front of Frances. It was Elsie who, using a complicated, oldfashioned camera to take her first-ever photo, managed to capture the strange, haunting image that would go down in history as the first Cottingley Fairy Photograph. Gardner had seen a number of Elsie’s watercolors displayed on the walls of her parents’ house. Still, he insisted that she was not a good enough artist to have drawn the fairies in the photos, and Conan Doyle believed him.

Mistake Number Four: Creating the Evidence

During his visit to Cottingley, Gardner implored Elsie’s parents to get her to take more fairy photos. Elsie insisted that wasn’t possible because Frances had to be there, too, for the fairies to appear. (By that time, Frances had moved away from Cottingley to the seaside town of Scarborough). Undeterred, Gardner arranged with Frances’ parents for Frances to spend part of her summer holidays in Cottingley. There was nothing either girl could do – the pressure was on. So when Frances arrived in Cottingley and the two were alone, Elsie told her she’d prepared two more cutout fairies, one for each girl. In the hidden valley, the two girls took two more photos. Then they both agreed, in secret, they would never take another fairy photo.

Gardner was delighted to get the two new photos, but even more thrilled with a third photo, one which Elsie had not faked. Both girls thought at the time it was just a bird’s nest, some rainwater, some shapes and shadows--but Gardner insisted it showed fairies. Conan Doyle thought so, too.

A second Strand article, published in March of 1921, announced “The Evidence for Fairies by A. Conan Doyle, With New Fairy Photographs.” In the article, Conan Doyle quoted Gardner’s assertion that the third and most amazing photo was a “fairy bower.” Conan Doyle also included Gardner’s remark that “We have now succeeded in bringing this print out splendidly.” The article did not say what Gardner meant by “bringing out” the print.

The Hairbell Fairy, featured in Conan Doyle’s The Coming of the Fairies (1922)

greatest detective never knew how badly astray his own investigation had gone. In part to avoid embarrassing him, Elsie and Frances did not reveal the secret of the paper cutouts until long after his death. Elsie had once seen what she remembered as “cruel” cartoon of Conan Doyle in a magazine, and perhaps by then she realized, too, how desperately he wanted the fairy photographs to be real. If the photos were real, Conan Doyle wrote in The Coming of the Fairies, a book that included both Strand articles, they would provide the first solid evidence that whole new orders of invisible beings existed in our world.

“There is nothing scientifically impossible, so far as I can see, in some people seeing things that are invisible to others,” Conan Doyle wrote. He did concede that it would take some time before “the ordinary busy man” realized that “this new order of life is really established and has to be taken into serious account, just as the pigmies of Central Africa.”

“Victorian science would have left the world hard and clean and bare, like a landscape in the moon,” Conan Doyle wrote, but now -- with the coming of the fairies -- everything had changed. “One or two consequences are obvious,” he wrote. “The experiences of children will be taken more seriously. Cameras will be forthcoming. Other well-authenticated cases will come along. These little folk who appear to be our neighbors, with only some small difference of vibration to separate us, will become familiar.”

Conan Doyle’s belief in spiritualism, séances, and “the spirit world” is well known, yet his steadfast belief in the Cottingley Fairies is sometimes glossed over or even ignored by biographers. It shouldn’t be; it’s a telling glimpse into the character of a man too often confused with his cold, rational hero.

This article was originally published in The Public Domain Review under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0. If you wish to reuse it please see:publicdomainreview.org/legal/ C

Public Domain Poetry

featuring works by Robert Frost

Stars

How countlessly they congregate O’er our tumultuous snow, Which flows in shapes as tall as trees When wintry winds do blow!

As if with keenness for our fate, Our faltering few steps on To white rest, and a place of rest Invisible at dawn,

And yet with neither love nor hate, Those starts like some snow-white Minerva’s snow-white marble eyes Without the gift of sight.

Evening In A Sugar Orchard

From where I lingered in a lull in march outside the sugar-house one night for choice, I called the fireman with a careful voice

And bade him leave the pan and stoke the arch:

‘O fireman, give the fire another stoke, And send more sparks up chimney with the smoke.’ I thought a few might tangle, as they did, Among bare maple boughs, and in the rare Hill atmosphere not cease to glow, And so be added to the moon up there. The moon, though slight, was moon enough to show On every tree a bucket with a lid, And on black ground a bear-skin rug of snow. The sparks made no attempt to be the moon. They were content to figure in the trees As Leo, Orion, and the Pleiades. And that was what the boughs were full of soon.

nicole west: Create from love, go from there

BY RON EVANS

I had heard the name Nicole West for years as a gallery curator and art magazine publisher but for one reason or another I had never met the artist or seen any of her work. Until about a year ago. Upon seeing the sculptures, I can tell you that as enthusiastic as the praise I’d been hearing was, nothing prepared me for the level of quality, imagination and artistry I was seeing in these sculptures. Whimsical fantasy characters right out of a Jim Henson film mingling with pop-culture iconography, S&M, rockabilly and pinup. Everything badass was right there in these small but incredibly realistic and detailed clay sculptures dressed with tiny handmade costumes and props. I had to reach out about an interview with Nicole and we had a great indepth discussion on all things her.

First off, what was your background in the arts?

I think my background begins like so many artists - creating since childhood. My mom tells me I bit animal shapes out of my toast. She even let me draw a mural on my bedroom wall. I was very lucky to have all of my artistic inclinations well fed. Even a stable of modeling clay horses in the freezer!

I loved so many things it was impossible for me to figure out what I wanted to do, so I bounced between a little of everything including jewelry, fashion and the FX world. I was obsessed with horror movies and makeup. I can’t even tell you how many Fangoria and Cinefex magazines I had. I sometimes kind of wish I had gone that way. Growing up in Los Angeles certainly made it possible, but I was way too lazy to work the grueling hours. Not that I don’t end up working some long hours now.

I find it interesting that one of my close friends works at an amazing studio. We met when he began as a collector of my girls, but is now a great friend that makes the realistic ice cream cones and big cherries that I work into my pieces. I’ve learned a lot about that business from him and I’m really glad I didn’t go that direction. I think I’m right where I belong. I kind of stumbled across what I do now. The human form was never really my muse. But I was always curious about my mom’s small doll collection. I hated dolls, they creeped me out. I gave any doll I got to my brothers so they would go burn them in the backyard. I asked her one day about them and she told me about the collection she had as a child, which was given away, and how much she missed it. That was when I decided to give it a shot, and I made my first doll for my mom. It was so ugly. (she laughs) I mean “kill it with fire’’ hideous! But she loved it. She took it to the ice rink she taught at and one of the people there told her about the doll world and that I should check it out.

Then I did some shows and met the editor of one of the art doll magazines at the time. She bought one of my pieces for her daughter and eventually had an article about me in the magazine. That truly cemented me on my path. I kept growing and evolving in that world until they became multimedia sculptures. I never in a million years thought this is what I’d be doing, but I really do love it. All the different things I got involved in came in handy too for the costuming and such.

I am mostly self taught, never having gone to any school for what I do. But several years ago I did take two extremely intensive anatomy courses (AnatomyTools, in case anyone is interested) that taught me the things I couldn’t learn on my own. I now have a deep appreciation of how complex the human body really is. The knowledge I gained cracked my head open. Seriously. It took a week to recover cognitive thought. I thought it was brain damage as I kept forgetting things everywhere I went. I guess 10 hour days, 5 days in a row can do that to you. Can’t believe I did that twice! I couldn’t possibly apply all that I learned to what I do now without it taking me months to complete a piece. I’m glad I don’t have to. That to me is the wonderful thing about creating. You don’t have to use it all, just what feels right.

What was your first medium of interest?

Antiquity Frosty Tinkerbell

Emerald Dragon

Hmm, that’s a really good question. I think drawing was my first love. Lots and lots of horses, and Mickey Mouse. I drew on everything. Oh, those brown paper bag covers on school books were the best. For a time I really got into charcoal and graphite portraits. I fell in love with it after a life drawing class in school. I still have my big drawing pad with my portraits of Prince, David Bowie and Robert Downy Jr. Hopefully one day I can get around to finishing them. I only have one that I finished. The group A-ha. Oh boy, I just dated myself big time...

How did you find your way from there to sculpture?

I think sculpture was my second love. I was always sculpting something with whatever I had on hand. Be it tiny tin foil horses from Hershey’s Kisses wrappers or melted candle wax I would dip my fingers in (I got bored easily). I know someone who still has a dolphin I made eons ago from wax. Horses were my biggest love so I was always sculpting them. I still have carousel horses I made as a teenager. Wanting to restore carousel horses started that obsession. There are two iconic old carousels in LA. Now that I think about it, I used to draw them too. It all led to that day with my mom and her dollies.

I’ve dabbled in sculpture - after many swearing words and a few hours I typically say “good enough” to a decidedly lumpy potato head. How in the hell does one get to the level of detail and realism you have achieved with your work?

Oh boy, my first human was hideous! All flat faced, no angles at all. I honestly cringe when I look at a lot of my earlier stuff. It’s taken years. Around 30 years. And I don’t even think I’ve gotten good at this until the past six years. That’s when I took the anatomy workshop that really helped me get to a new level. I’m honestly quite lazy so I have to push myself to try new things. It’s a good thing I do love to learn. To do the challenging stuff. That’s what I’m learning the most right now. I actually work from real faces now. A while back someone was harassing me on eBay, being cute and asking me what molds I used for my faces. I know it was just a jerk, but it lit a fire and made me ask the question “are your faces formulaic?” The honest answer was yes. I decided to change that. Now I find interesting people to inspire me. I’m actually grateful for that jerk.

Oh, and I totally swear all the time at my sculpts. I swear like a sailor and ask why they hate me. I’ve even thrown a few! I highly recommend it.

Are you strictly a polymer sculptor? And do you dabble in other mediums these days?

My main work is polymer. But I love dabbling in just about everything. I get obsessed with new things all the time. It leads to hoarding of various collections like rubber stamps, vintage sequins and beads, every kind of paint you can imagine, even vintage costume jewelry. I love collage work and fiber art of any kind. I have a ton of needle felted and crocheted beings as well. You know my bestie Aimee (renowned Cashmere-based puzzle creator Aimee Stewart featured in The Comet February 2021 issue). We are always playing in some medium or other at the studio.

Do you sketch up your concepts or just grab the clay and see what develops?

I used to sketch ideas a long time ago. I wish I had kept up with drawing skills, but oh well. Nowadays I do a kind of story board. I have thousands of images saved. I search for the pose I need, a face and hair, then costuming if needed. I like to combine various ideas into something new and exciting. Quite often though I don’t find what I need so I have to wing it. Which is good, it keeps my muse on her toes.

Have you mass-produced any of your sculptures, either for your own sales or a company that licenses and distributes figurines?

I was offered opportunities in the past, but I just wasn’t ready for it. I was and still am incredibly picky about quality and being involved in the creation. If the right company approached me I would jump at the chance for production pieces. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for more people to be able to collect my girls in some form or another.

I feel ready for a new avenue and I’m even looking at trying some limited edition resin work I can produce myself. It’s really an exciting prospect. I have lots of ideas and plans. I hope to start getting a few ideas in particular onto the molding and casting table. Once spring arrives I’ll probably get that rolling. There will definitely be some kitschy stuff, unrelated to my girls, coming soon.

On the topic of figurines, you are crafting original one-of-a-kind sculptures. The pop-art/fantasy art world often struggles to find a place in the fine art avenues. Have there been any challenges with people seeing your sculptures as fine art vs. a figure you can buy at Hallmark for $28?

I’ve been really lucky. I’ve never had anyone say anything disparaging like that. I have plenty who find out the price and get sticker shock, but they are always gracious and say they are worth every penny, just out of their price range. What I tend to get more is people wanting to get into doing this but only being interested in making money. Not because they want to create. That bugs me big time. I have no problem sharing with someone who is genuinely looking to be creative. From my perspective, only looking at the money is a sure fire way to fail. I tell them that too. Create from love, go from there.

I’ve personally avoided the fine art world. It’s...difficult. A few years ago I had one of the creators of a huge erotic art show find my art and contact me. I was excited to do something for the venue, but unfortunately, I just ended up being reminded of why I’ve stayed away. Disingenuous. That’s all I’ll say...

Do you have spurts of creativity when the inspiration strikes, or are you working most of the time?

Oh boy, that’s the question right there! The difference between inspiration and motivation. Inspiration is always best, of course. And thankfully I’m usually always inspired. But...there are times when it’s just not there. A big fat wall drops down and gives you the finger. How rude. When that happens, creating can feel like a job. And that really sucks. I try to give myself time to relax because it’s probably needed. I used to push through, which then caused me to make uninspired pieces. I personally can’t stand them, but they always found their home. If I take the time off to recharge and I’m still not feeling it, I have to meditate to try to break through the block. There have been times I’ve been in that inspiration black hole for a while. Personally I just have to work through it. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m in it and it’s not until I come out of it that I look back and see. Yikes! But it’s all part of being creative. We aren’t machines. It takes that special creative spark within to make magic. It has to be nurtured, not abused.

How and where do you sell most of your sculptures?

I started off doing commissions for collectors. Then I found my way into shops and small galleries. I did that for years. But after 9/11 the market shifted and changed. I almost walked away from it all. A really good friend that worked at one of these shops convinced me not to give up. That’s when I found eBay as a place to start selling. It was weird because I kinda had to reinvent myself. It was a rough transition but it ended up being the best thing to happen to me. I’ve pretty much been there for years. I also did commissions for my long standing collectors.

The cool thing is, last year, during the pandemic, I finally decided it was time to open up commissions to everyone. I constantly got requests for years, but I wasn’t open to the idea. But now, it has been really incredible. There is something about bringing someone else’s dream piece to life. I’m learning White Rabbit Blues

Arctic Mermaid Candy Mermaid

so much from this experience that I kinda kick myself for not doing it sooner. Outside the box is always a good place to step when you need a shift in perspective.

I still create my own dreams and list them for sale on eBay. It’s a fantastic way to reach people around the world. My girls live in places I’ve never even been. Russia, Japan, Europe, Australia. They have better adventures than I do.

Are you active on social media? If so, how have you utilized that concerning a career in art?

I try to be, definitely. Facebook has actually done a lot for me. I only came to Facebook to share my art. I have my personal page but I immediately set up a fan page after I joined. The algorithm sucks now, but I still reach a lot of people. I enjoy interacting with everyone but I especially love that I can inspire others. Knowing that my posts can bring magic into someone’s day, that’s the cherry on top of what I do. I like Instagram too but I’m not nearly as active as I should be. And Pinterest. That’s a real surprise. A lot of people discover my art there. It is a site I highly recommend. Most people do the work for me by pinning my pieces. It’s also a great place to see a lot of my older works. I’m hoping to finally get an actual website up this year. Again, I’m lazy...

Speaking of career - are you full time with this?

For the most part, yes. I’m seeing some interesting things on the horizon though. As much as I love this I know there are bigger things waiting, and have been waiting for me to finally be ready. I’m excited to see what develops.

For the art nerds: Any preferred clays, paints, tools or resources you go back to?

the why. First, the clay. I’ve worked with a lot and this is what works for me. Kato clay and Fimo clay. Fimo is more flexible and Kato is really strong. I find the combination is perfect. I use a 50/50 combo of clay brands and also translucent/opaque. Too opaque is flat for skin. Too translucent looks waxy and is hard to see detail. I usually mix my own skin colors as I don’t much care for the colors that companies come up with.

I paint with Genesis heat set oil paints. They can be thinned out like watercolor by using a polymer clay softening oil, or they can be used straight for opacity. I’ve also used pastels but they have to be set with a high quality sealant like Mr. Super Clear, which is used on resin doll face-ups. I don’t care for acrylics. They dry way too fast.

Tools... everything and anything. I’ve made plenty of my own. My favorites are these little silicone rubber shaper tools. They are what I use the most. Ball stylus tools, dental tools and exacto knives and of course classic clay sculpting tools. My favorite homemade tool is a sewing needle set in a polymer clay handle. Indispensable. I’ve broken and lost many, but they are thankfully easy to remake. A flat steel shaper is a handy tool for smoothing. They are thin and flexible which makes it easy to move larger masses of clay. A low temp heat gun is great too for setting clay in place before curing in the oven or spot curing paint.

Website/social media links:

Find Nicole West Art on Facebook and eBay.

Her Instagram handle is: nicolewestfantasyart C