lifestyle / Art
FOSTER YOUR ART PRACTICE
+ Spark Creativity
Thoughts From Colorado Artists
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she explains. Additionally, she jots down that we are all born makers. Mahoney adds, hen I was 5 years old, I wantnotes and sketches before bed and sets “Making art is discovering our inner and ed to be an artist. Yet, I was aside at least one day a week for art. outer universes! It is helping share a drop of consistently told, “No, you Russo similarly advocates for building the intangible with the world. It is interacting will not be able to support a customized plan, emphasizing that “the with matter and finding purpose.” Russo yourself.” 18 years later, after exploring most important thing is to figure out when goes as far as asserting art is essential to supposedly more lucrative and practical your best energy is.” Russo is the most life. It is how we communicate. It feels good possibilities, my childhood aspirations have focused and clear-headed in the morning on a biological level. not dissipated. Many, possibly most, people after some Pilates or yoga, so she reserves With an idea of why people make art and today do not identify as creators or artists this time for the studio and her “junky enerwhy it is important, I wanted to know how due to similar discouragement, but creating gy” later in the day for sitting at a computer to do it: how to make time for it, how to get is human nature. It is essential in how we to take care of business matters. ideas and what to do with them. interact with each other If ever stuck or unsure of where to beAlthough the specific and the world. by Becca Saulsberry structure of his practice varies gin, these artists recommend committing To rediscover how to time, staying curious and observant, trying depending on his teaching foster an art practice and new things and setting constraints. Russo schedule and when he has his spark creativity, I spoke reiterates that making art is a practice not daughter, Hoth dedicates time every day. with three Coloradan artists. Kevin Hoth is magic, meaning you get better at it by doing He admits sometimes that simply means a Boulder-based fine art photographer and it. According to Hoth, giving yourself time to meditating, updating a gratitude journal or educator in photography, graphic design “do nothing” and play opens you up to ideas, staring out a window, but it is all part of the and multimedia art; Alie Mahoney handso “let the universe throw things at you!” process. Having trained as a photographer, carves woodblocks with which she creates Making art comes from noticing and investihe is also always taking photos and noticprints in Breckenridge; and, from her studio gating, too. “Go outside! Listen to music. Take ing light, shadows, colors and clouds. He in Jamestown, Martha Russo works on photos of interesting patterns and textures encourages catering a practice that fits with ceramics and installations informed by her and colors,” Mahoney urges. Another way to your life and personality and assures that it background in biology. get new neural pathways firing is to try things is “worth making no matter what it is.” As a creative with a design education, I we’re not good at, says Hoth, or to have new Mahoney adapts with the seasons. “Long, occasionally grapple with the unclear purexperiences like an art residency says Russo. cold winters in the mountains are the best pose of art. If it does not serve a function, Lastly, sometimes limiting ourselves to certain times to make art. I like to hibernate at is it wasteful? Hoth, Mahoney and Russo materials, timeframes or other parameters can home when possible and carve detailed, helped paint the vitality of art by breaking motivate us to work in a fresh way. time-consuming woodblocks. Then the sumdown the benefits into those of the viewer Russo summarizes: “Stay aware, be open mers are more external, a gathering time of and those of the maker. and create parameters.” + ideas from the garden, woods and bugs,” “We’re wired to interpret the world visually. Who knows why a ballet makes us tear up? There is clearly something deeply human about it,” expresses Hoth. From Mahoney’s perspective, “Art can also BECCA SAULSBERRY coins herself as an art, design and words nerd offer [the viewer] hope in times of despair and outdoor enthusiast due to her multifaceted creativity and spunky, and reveal truths in times of lies.” For the adventure-seeking spirit. After growing up in Tennessee and Austin, Texas, Becca gained a B.S. degree in Technology, arts and media from the creator, Hoth believes making art is a “way University of Colorado at Boulder. She now works as a freelance designer, to process living and pain.” He points out illustrator and writer. Catch her in the mountains on afternoon runs or children and the prevalence of singing and weekend backpacking trips! dancing across cultures to support the idea
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