Interview with Sarah

I have a set of questions that I came up with that are a little bit Krista Tippett, a little bit Danielle Krysa, and a lot bit my own curiosity. I think talking about our creative stories is a way to bind us together and encourage us to keep going on our own creative path. I’m excited to be asking these questions and to be sharing these creatives’ answers with you. This month’s interview is Sarah.

I have to start off the conversation with Sarah by saying that we share a birthday so we are birthday buddies as well as art buddies. Growing up I didn’t know anyone with my birthday and now I have Sarah and one of my nephews who I get to wish Happy Birthday to on my birthday. For me it just makes the day even more special.

Tell my readers a little bit about you.

Hi, I’m Sarah and I live in the Hudson Valley region of New York. I love this part of NY as I’m about an hour north of New York City and 15 minutes away from farms!  I have a Bachelor’s of Art degree where I concentrated in ceramics. After graduation, I began working in art journals as the take up much less space than a ceramic studio. I’m currently behind on listening to my podcasts that range from science to European football to tarot and pop culture.

What is your first memory of creativity?

I have these vague memories of coloring. Hopefully in classic Care Bears or My Little Pony coloring books! My crayons were my prize possession and having a box of 64 was the ultimate goal.

What did you love to make as a kid and are you still making some variation of that now?

In late elementary school remember cutting up teen magazines and making collage frames. Then the summer camp I would go to had a stash of National Geographic magazines from the 1960’s through the 1980’s and opened me up to a whole new level of imagery. I continued to make collage frames until high school, when I moved into full page collages. I still collage but it’s moved into more abstract mixed media instead of only magazine images. But this is where my love of scissors and glue started.

I also took ceramic classes as a kid and fell in love. While I don’t work with clay now, it definitely help guide my thought/art process with developing an appreciation for analog work. 

Misty: I was big into magazines when I was a teen too! I cut out pics and taped them to my notebooks for school. I was very into Teen Beat and Seventeen so my notebooks were the *hippest*.

What is your favorite creative supply and why can’t you live without it?

Magazines. I like the challenge of finding just the right image or taking just the right part of an image to convey some thought or feeling. I don’t tear out pages, as I find the act of flipping through the magazine meditative and I never know which image might catch my attention in the moment.

What is a creative question you ask regularly?

I think it’s some version of “What does this need?” This might seem like an odd question, but I ask it in not quite so concrete a way. It’s more of the feeling of what is missing… Then I can look at color or movement or balance of what I’m working on.

Misty: I love that question so much! I’ve never articulated it quite like that and I didn’t realize how much I needed it! Thanks!!

What does your creative practice show you over and over?

That I am a creative being. For a long time I took that for granted. Art came pretty easy to me while I was in school. I thrived on assignments and really found value in class critiques. It wasn’t until a period after college where I struggled with making art on my own. There were times I’d just look at my supplies and worry I’d never create again.

But each time a bind a new journal or glue an image down, I’m reminding myself of my creative magic. It has also made me look at other ways of being creative in my life. We “make” things all the time. Whether it’s cooking dinner or planting a garden, even creating a friendly environment has so much value. 

What gets you to start a new project?

It honestly feels like anything. It’s feels so intuitive at this point, that a sentence I read, a song lyric or image can spark the start of an art journal spread or collage. 

What is a book on creativity that you come back to often? Why?

Oof.. lol I don’t have one. The only book I’ve read on creativity is The Artist’s Way and while I have fond memories of it and definitely see its value, I haven’t re-read it. Reading on creativity doesn’t really appeal to me.

How did we meet?

Through Get Messy! And then I remember us really getting into discussions about our art process. I always loved those conversations.

I’ve always admired your abstract aesthetic. Can you talk a little bit about why you like abstract work and how you developed your style? 

Oh thank you! But how to talk about it… Abstract isn’t what I set out to do, but I’m grateful it’s where I’ve gone. I find writing to be difficult, so here was a way to convey everything in color and not worry about it being perfect. Abstraction in my art allows me to reflects how I feel when my thoughts and emotions are incomplete or unable to be put into words.

I think going more abstract started with timed challenges. Giving myself 30 seconds or 1 minute to create, forced me to trust and take chances and just deal with what was created. Even if I don’t like it, it came from me, and thus has value and a lesson I can learn. I lean into the abstraction by being curious about the combination of images, color, and texture. 

Misty: Yes! Giving myself a time limit has really pushed me to work more intuitively. It can be a disaster but also sometimes amazing!!

How can people find you?

I’m @sjrondon on Instagram.

Sarah, thank you for sharing your creative stories with us! I had so much fun reading your answers to my questions. And I know my readers will enjoy it too. (These photos belong to Sarah. She graciously allowed me use them in this interview.)

What about you? Are you formulating your answers to these questions? I’d love to know your answers! If you want to know more about this series read the post What about these Interviews? Catch up with me on socials, email me, or go oldschool and leave a comment on this post to be immortalized for all of time.

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