Artist Interview - Whitney Parker

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Who are you and what do you do?

Hi! My name is Whitney and I develop sewn summary art. I reside in the San Francisco Bay Place with my husband and our almost 4-yr-previous daughter.

My background is rooted in fashion layout with a concentration on bridal. After graduating from university, I moved to New York Metropolis to operate as a marriage ceremony robe designer. I was in the bridal sector for the majority of my job, which is wherever the stitching factor of my get the job done will come from.

I check out to convey a exclusive just take to my artwork thanks to my non-classic track record (i.e., I did not research to be a painter). I use an array of elements commencing with acrylic paints and unstretched canvas. I generally incorporate hand-painted and handmade papers as well as gold and silver leaf and complete off every single piece on the sewing machine with my signature contact. I attempt to infuse depth, texture, and a feeling of fluidity into all of my items.

Why do you do what you do?

Perfectly, when my husband and I bought our very first house, I speedily uncovered myself seeking to fill the walls with art that introduced me joy. I really like the thought of being surrounded by a person-of-a-sort, first artwork, but curating a collection of artwork straight away is not possible. In the meantime, I determined what better way than to start off decorating with my own artwork?! So I pulled out my paint and brushes and started experimenting. I required to tie in diverse elements of my history and know-how to the artwork alone, which is what led me to ending off the items on the sewing equipment. I have arrive to make use of the stitches a lot as a painter takes advantage of their brushes, creating depth and movement with the thread.

In the long run, I do this to link with people and have my perform discuss in this sort of a way that reminds them of a unique instant or position. Producing art that sparks thoughts or reminiscences on a deep amount is so powerful.

What inspires your artwork?

Being in California, a lot of my inspiration arrives from mother nature. The natural environment and sustainability are very crucial to me, so it plays a important part in my function. I am surrounded by wide mountain ranges, morning fog rolling in excess of the hills, and sunset beaches – it is no speculate it serves as an inspiration for a lot of my art!

How and when did you get into art?

Artwork has normally been inspired given that I was quite young. My mother is also an artist, so I was fortuitous to have parents who fostered my enjoy for generating. I was concentrated on different factors of artwork and design and style above the several years, but I have generally identified with being a creator. I went to the Savannah University of Art and Layout and obtained my BFA in Fashion Design which is in which the sewing machine will come into engage in in my perform. When in school I took courses in bookmaking, printmaking, 3D sculpture – I wished to study it all! To this day, I nonetheless adore finding out new procedures and art forms – it is so inspiring.

How has your exercise modified around time?

Since I started, it appears to be features are frequently remaining extra to develop much more texture, more motion. From layering tissue paper, to adding hot deal with studs, to new stitches on the equipment – my perform is continually evolving and I am enthusiastic to see wherever it requires me in the yrs to occur.

What is your most loved piece of artwork that you’ve developed? Why?

How do you ask an artist that problem?! I feel like it variations from week to week! Alternatively, I will convey to you about my most particular piece. These are the initially pieces I genuinely developed for myself with nothing else in brain apart from conveying my journey throughout the toughest time of my lifetime. I at first experienced no intention of sharing the course of action or emotion guiding them, but isn’t that what artwork is intended to do? To connect with other folks when we can’t find the words? A way to recover and categorical our innermost anxieties and fears?

When I was 9, my youthful brother, Bo, handed away in a tragic incident, shaping my overall lifestyle. In this piece, I abstractly explored that darkish location I knowledgeable in the wake of tragedy. Right after many years of grieving and expanding, I have figured out to are living in the mild although also embracing the occasional soreness that inevitably creeps in. This diptych is titled “Darkness Arrives Just before the Light”

What is the best piece of artwork advice you’ve been specified?

“Don’t let ambition rob you of your current pleasure.” This is all-encompassing lifestyle advice, but I observed it exceptionally impactful when starting up out on the journey of not only producing artwork but running a smaller enterprise from it. In the entire world of social media and the outstanding rewards it can have for creators, compact firms and the like to be witnessed, it also provides with it a good deal of stress. It is so easy for me to get wrapped up in how items could be much better, developing faster, gross sales could be increased, and so on. – that it usually takes away from the satisfaction I have in what I have developed and the exclusive voice I am impacting many others with. It is essential to retain standpoint on what really issues.

What is a person artwork tip/approach you can share with us that you find actually practical?

For any artist who has a number of methods in their procedure, my greatest tips is to uncover a way to batch your work. For instance, I try out to strategy out my 7 days by allocating certain days to the levels of my method. A person day it’s all portray, the next working day is doing work on the layout for a number of parts, then a different working day for securing those people layouts, and then ending up the week on the sewing equipment. Do you see my variety-A corporation coming through right here?

Do you have any solution recommendations or strategies you use to salvage a piece when you make a oversight?

Really do not be concerned to repurpose! I have had concluded items I was not happy with and alternatively of tossing them, I observed aspects/parts within the piece that I liked. From there, I lower out what then became the foundation for a new, scaled-down piece. It is funny how individuals often respond when I put up a movie of me slicing up one thing I have made – but I have uncovered that I have to be happy of each individual piece I place out there.

What is your favorite Strathmore paper? Why?

I really like the 400 Collection Mixed Media paper. It holds up so perfectly to the acrylic paint and the deckled edge I get when tearing the paper is just the most effective.

What artwork supplies could you not dwell without the need of?

Besides my paint and paper, I would have to say my stitching device and silibrush. The brush is a prevalent woodworker tool I use it to spread glue to adhere the papers to the canvas just before stitching. I like it due to the fact it is silicone and consequently does not spoil regular brushes trying to unfold glue. I won’t get into the months I spent just utilizing my finger…

What styles of colours are you drawn to for your art and why?

Comfortable, relaxing shades are genuinely what anchor most of my art. There is a feeling of peace when performing with them and I like that translation in what I do. With that claimed, I do love stretching myself and bringing in additional saturated hues from time to time to distinction people more neutral tones.

Who are your major influences (or who were being when you started performing art)?

This might be an atypical remedy – but my background stems in trend structure, so my major influences when I started were Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, and Amsale. They might not be painters, but they are creators. Their timeless and classy points of look at are what continue to inspire and steer my patterns.

What is the most prevalent art-linked dilemma you get from your followers?

-How does your sewing equipment maintain up to stitching as a result of paper and canvas?

-How do you build the texture on your hand-painted papers?

-What type of glue do you use?