Amber Fields © Laurayne Robinette | All Rights Reserved
love to travel
Wisdom Passage
© 1997-98 Jane Gilmor
All Rights Reserved
listen (50 sec./305KB)
I love to travel because then I like to come home. If I didn't travel, I would hate it here. I don't like the winters, and I think that I'm mostly here because I like my job. I always go at least one place during the year. I do a lot of research on roadside shrines in different cultures, so that's my little excuse for traveling, I go around and document these. A lot of my inspiration came from shrines in Mexico and India, and so forth.
I wanted everything to be very different from Iowa. But then I look at this piece which looks like a corn crib thing, and I see that I may be totally wrong. Obviously you can't live in a place your whole life and not be influenced by the forms. So, I think it's probably had an influence that I've been probably unaware of in terms of forms. And then I probably reacted against a lot of things in my environment by using exotic materials, or ordinary materials and making them look exotic.
can't live without sky
Yin & Yang
© 2000 Betty Fitzsimmons
All Rights Reserved
listen (35 sec./208KB)
I can't live without sky. I just spent a week in New York. It's very stimulating. You can get a lot of ideas and wonderful exchange of ideas. And I thought, I'd love to live in New York for one maybe two, maybe three months out of the year. But I couldn't bear to have just a postage stamp for a sky. And if I had my druthers, I would live in a house on the top of a hill where I could see the sunrise and the sunset. So, it has to do with space and the variety of seasons.
energy that feeds you
studychair
© Crit Streed
All Rights Reserved
listen (65 sec./410KB)
I think one cannot deny the fact that living in Iowa does keep you away from many exhibiting possibilities. It doesn't exclude you entirely, because certainly I have shown a lot nationally. But you have to make a concerted effort to get that done.
I think making art, there is a certain dynamic, an energy that feeds you, and if your life is too easy and things are too mellow, we settle into a big easy chair of life. Iowa is wonderful for allowing such a pleasant life. But at the same time, an artist needs to be edged and nudged and pushed around a little bit. I've tried to balance that with leaving—coming and going, and traveling. It's always wonderful to come home to Iowa. I love Iowa. This summer I have enjoyed the landscape of Iowa so much. It has been so beautiful to me this summer. It's a wonderful place to live.