INTERVIEW OF AN ARTIST 1. Vocation: What is your job title/position/job description? Artist/Educator: I am contracted for many large murals though that s not my only work. I also work painting out of my studio and I previously taught art in Virginia public schools for many years. I locally have a large, outdoor mural in McKee s Rocks and just finished one in October for the US Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington D.C. 2. Do you belong to a union? No. 3. Describe your physical work environment. I work on a scaffold during the day and in a studio at other times. I also previously worked teaching in a classroom with children. 4. Please describe a typical day. When I am painting a mural I lay out the paints, brushes and water. I climb the scaffold and begin to paint; at times I will move the scaffold as I finish an area. I direct helpers or assistants who are painting background. Many times it is in direct sun and hot so I am drinking a lot of water. I will usually work until dark. 5. How does your profession affect your ability to live a healthy lifestyle? I get a lot of exercise doing murals. But because of repetitive movement I have arthritis in my hands. My shoulders usually ache at the end of the day. Both of these can interrupt sleep. I do try to eat well. 6. Are there over the counter medications, alternative medications that are typically used in your profession? Although I think none are typical, I take 600 mg of ibuprofen three times a day for my arthritis. 7. What are things your friends find interesting about your profession? What types of questions do you get asked by the public? Here is a typical question, how do you paint something that looks realistic? Also, people want to know how I don t fall off the scaffolding when I m doing murals. Interview of an Artist.doc Page 1
8. How did you get interested in your profession? When I was eight years old I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I got my teaching certificate in college along with studying art. I think drawing helped me understand myself, who I was and gives me a balance in my life. 9. What do you like most about your profession? I love the flow of creativity, vision and making it real. I also love the collaborative process of making arts with other people and the synergy that happens. For me, art is the act of bringing the spiritual into the physical world. 10. What do you dislike most about your job? Selling work or contracting for a commission is one of the things that are usually not pleasant for me. I respond to bids listed on WebPages for government and non-profit artists grants. It s bringing my work that comes from the gift economy, the art world, into the market economy. The two worlds do not function the same way. One is based on capital and the other on truth and beauty. Generally, gallery owners, or their representatives, who express interest in doing a show or buying individual artwork, approach artists. In some cases artists approach a gallery, usually with slides of their work, to potentially get them interested in purchasing individual art pieces or doing full shows. A show might have one artist s work or a group of artists, sometimes around a central theme. I have sold to galleries in the past and I have a gallery show coming up next year. 11. Educational background BA in History and Education, MA in Art and Education 12. High School 13. Vocational School or College 14. Graduate School or special Training 15. How does one obtain a job in your profession? There is no set path to follow obtaining a job in the art world, you make it up as you go. Most artists freelance. You have to find your own niche with your work and hopefully you ll be able to sell it and that will sustain you with enough income to live. 16. What previous positions have you had since you started this profession? Interview of an Artist.doc Page 2
I directed a non-profit artist cooperative. I taught in public and private schools, grades 6 12. I also was an artist in residence. 17. Can you get promoted? She didn t feel this applied to an artist who is working independently. 18. What are the perks of your job? Bringing beauty and unity into the world. 19. How do you get paid? How can you make more money? I m contracted or hired to paint a mural. For an artist, its getting known, recognized and having a good track record. (Approx. yearly income $50,000) 20. What is the most stressful part of your job? Taking on a big undertaking, like a large mural, and having the faith I could do it. Also, finding funding. 21. What emotional problems are common in people in your profession? Artists typically have feelings of being unappreciated about their art. American culture doesn t value painting the way Europe does. 22. What type of physical activity is required in your position? I carry and lift big pieces of wood. I m typically on my feet all day. I do a lot of Repetitive wrist and shoulder action along with a lot of bending. 23. What things happen that make you angry? I don t get angry with my work or work contacts. I get angry at social issues. I try to represent that anger in my work. A lot of my murals show social injustice. The social issue that makes me most angry is that the culture doesn t care enough about children. 24. What other professions do you work with, and how do they affect you? Most of my artwork is done alone but I do sometimes work with educators, nonprofit institutions and government agencies. I sometimes collaborate with other artists on projects. Also, I work with the people who are modeling for me. Paying me on time for a commission makes my life easier; the government is very slow on their contracts. Interview of an Artist.doc Page 3
One of my current projects is I am painting the portraits of each student from my former class at the Homewood Elementary School where I taught art for two years. The children are all African-American and live in a segregated, high crime Pittsburgh neighborhood. Each portrait includes a very revealing background of what they hope to be when they grow up. 25. What health risk behaviors are common in your profession? One thing is breathing in paint fumes. One of my former students had a schizophrenic break and killed his mother when he was 19 or 20. He had been working in a closed area while in college. He was a very talented artist. He was sentenced to a mental health facility and eventually a halfway house. He had no history of mental illness. He wrote me a letter asking, could a woman love me after what I ve done. 26. How does your vocation affect the personal life of you or the people you know? It s a lot of fun being in a creative position. It s flexible time wise but not a lot of security. 27. What activities and/or hobbies do people in your profession like to do? Artists are individuals, there is nothing specific. 28. Are there any items of clothing or props that someone portraying a person in your profession would use consistently? They might wear a painting smock or use a brush palate. 29. If a person in your position were to get fired, what would they most likely have done to justify the termination and want would the steps involve? Do lay offs happen in your occupation? You could get dismissed from a contract if you can t handle an emotional situation. I was painting a portrait by commission and the person wanted me to include Ronald Reagan with them on the painting. Though it went against both my political and artistic views, I finished it. The only type of layoffs I can think of is there are funding cuts to the arts. 30. During all of these questions listen for jargon, words that are lingo that is specific to their profession. Value lightness or darkness of a color Interview of an Artist.doc Page 4
Hue color Chroma gray level, the degree of a color s vividness Composition the plan, placement or arrangement of the elements of art in a work; the term has also come to refer to any work of art because any works composition is so essential to it Design A plan or to plan, the organization of art work, the skilled arrangement of its parts Texture how smooth or rough the surface is, the surface quality or feel; textures may be actual or simulated, actual textures can be felt with the fingers while simulated textures are suggested by an artist in different areas of a painting Perspective the technique artists use to project an illusion of a threedimensional world onto a two-dimensional surface, perspective creates a sense of depth. Vertical the direction going straight up and down, a vertical sculpture is taller than it is wide, portraits are conventionally vertical in their orientation Horizontal straight and flat across, parallel to the horizon, the opposite of vertical, landscapes are most often horizontal Interview of an Artist.doc Page 5
Artist Vocational History Interview Evaluation Form This evaluation will help guide future development of this project. Please fill this out and return once you have finished the case. 1. How useful was this case template? Not at all Extremely useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Comment: 2. Did this template make your case better? Yes/No if yes, how? 3. Did this template save you time? Yes/No if yes, approximately how much time did it save you? 4. What suggestions do you have for improving this template? 5. What other occupations would be useful? 6. What suggestions do you have for this website? Please fill out and return to the UPSOM Advanced Clinical Education Center. Fax number: (412) 383-7477 Email: acec@medschool.pitt.edu Interview of an Artist.doc Page 6