Interview with Beth Morrell

So what is the main focus of your practice?
Right now I’m working on themes of memory and change in a person. In a way, every moment the self we are dies and a new one is born. We see this most in large changes in our life – graduations, milestones, traumatic events – but every moment we exist is compiling to make us who we are. I’m interested in how photographs from our past resurrect that person. Comparisons, memories, regrets… I’m also influenced by and a big fan of psychology, so I’ve been trying to use stuff I’ve learned getting a minor in it. I came across the Self Discrepancy Theory last year in a class, and that has influenced my work a lot. This theory predicts specific emotions when there are discrepancies between “selves” – the “ought” self (who you or others think you should be), the “ideal” self (who you wish you could be ideally) and the “actual” self (who you really are). When I started working solely with that idea, I was doubling the figure visually to show discrepancies. I think I want to bring the double back in, as the use of the doppelganger in art and literature is a pretty cool device. Life is a process, so my work is pretty heavily process based. I use acrylic photo transfers and so a lot of time is just waiting for stuff to dry. But I think a lot about my work before I do it, so it’s nice to have the time built in to what I do.

How do you want people to feel about your art?
I know how I don’t want them to feel! Since I use processes that are commonly used in the craft/scrapbooking world I know for sure that I don’t want people to say, “Oh, cute” when they see my work. I use printed cotton quilting fabric, acrylic photo transfers (side note: don’t Google “how to do a photo transfer”. It’s all about how to make your scrapbooks cooler), photos of my childhood… all things very homey and nostalgic. Hopefully when I put them together you don’t get “home maker”, but a more insightful view of memory and how a person changes from time to time. In a recent critique I got feed back that my pieces are creepy. That’s cool with me. I know I need to figure out why they’re creepy and how that fits with what ideas I’m dealing with, but I’m ok with people having a reaction when they see my work. Some compared these pieces with Marlene Dumas. Not sure how to take that, considering her pieces are sexual, awkward and deal with issues I don’t want to tackle. But if there’s a physical response (hopefully not puking) I take that as a compliment, because that means the viewer has to figure out what that feeling is and why they’re having it.

Who are five artists you think are worth taking a look at?
Sigmar Polke – He’s probably the artist I get the most inspiration from visually.
Kathe Kollwitz – She’s incredible. There’s a book called “Voices of Women Artists” that takes letters and journals and other writings from women artists all across history, and Kollwitz’s writings literally made me cry. So do her drawings. She’s a person I’d love to have dinner with, if she were still alive.
Peter Doig – The whole art department here at Western is pretty obsessed with him, for good reason. He’s fantastic.
Lucy Skaer – My prof gave me a book to read over the summer about her work. Totally inspired me. She’s nominated for the Turner Prize this year. I hope she wins.
Jochen Klein – I just found his work, but I love it visually. He died really young, so there’s not a ton of work out there, but his paintings are ones I wish I did first. ☺

Such an overdone question, but what inspires you?
Such an overdone response, but I am inspired by the beauty of nature. I believe that NW Washington is one of the most beautiful places in the world, especially during fall and spring. Currently every tree is a different color, and the ground is littered with the various colors of leaves. In the spring it is just astounding how green things become. I have a 20 minute walk to campus through the Sehome Arboretum, and every day it seems to change colors, no matter what the season. Being outside in the fresh air really restarts my brain. I tend to be more introverted, a stay inside person, but going for walks really gets me thinking about different colors and ideas. I’m also inspired when I see a piece or art work that I wish I had done first. I know it’s a good piece when I think, “Dang, I wish I made that.” Then my next thought is, “What can I take from that to put into my own work?” Art in this post-modern age is all about reusing what is already out there, so I figure being an artist is being a visual thief.

What are your favorite materials? Anything unexpected?

I just found out how much litho crayons are better than conte for me, for example.
I love love LOVE acrylic mediums. I couldn’t paint with out them. I also love powdered graphite. I haven’t used it in work for a while, but just thinking about it makes me want to use it again. I did a couple drawings with powdered graphite in rubbing alcohol, then mixing drawing and painting on top. Lots of fun.

How has university affected your art?
A better question would be how has it not? The art I was doing in high school was, well, high school art. My prof the other day said a fantastic quote. Something about “When we’re in high school, we think photo realism is the only kind of art.” It’s so true. I was ignorant, I just knew that I liked art and I could do it well. My first year drawing class (with Erica [Grimm-Vance]!) blew my mind, and started me on the road to becoming the artist I am today. However, it wasn’t until I left TWU for WWU where I really turned the corner. I don’t know if it was any specific teaching or if it was just the fact that I changed practically my entire life that everything artistically changed as well. I’ve learned a ton here, I’ve been challenged to really figure out what I want to paint about. But I am so incredibly grateful for my foundation I got at TWU from Erica and Doris. I think because of those 2 years I had a super solid artistic foundation to lay the rest of my career on. I will be eternally grateful to those two women.

Are you having any upcoming shows? How do you prepare for them?
Our class is just putting a piece in our student gallery here in a few weeks, which isn’t really a big thing. Some time in January a gallery south of here wants all of us BFA candidates (there are 7 of us) to have a group show. I don’t really know much besides that, but that’s pretty cool that they reached out to us about it. Then (exciting!) in May I have my solo show that wraps up my undergrad education. A solo show is required for the BFA program here at WWU. I have to find a gallery or space and organize everything, and so far nothing is planned (gulp). So that needs to happen soon. I don’t really know how I prepare for them because I haven’t shown outside of class. My guess is a lot of panic, stress and self doubt. We’ll see. ☺

What things or environment do you need to have around you to work? What is your process?

I have to listen to music if there are other people in the studio. Otherwise I get too involved in what they’re doing or saying. If I’m alone I like it silent, or with quiet music. The silence lets me sink into a groove, but it is rare to have the studio to myself at school. I can’t wait until I get my own some day… Otherwise I need a comfy chair because I do a lot of sitting and looking and thinking. I usually try to snag one of the few swivel chairs in the studio besides a stool. Those aren’t fun to contemplate on. I paint near the front of the studio where the windows are because I can’t have it too dark or too artificially lit. That just bugs me and makes me cranky. So I lay everything out, plan what I’m doing, and then jump in. I tend to work furiously for five to ten minutes, then step back and look for 15 or 20. I also can’t work for more than 3 hours straight. At that point I get antsy and have to leave the room and do something else unrelated. I am definitely not ADD, but sometimes in the studio I’m too spacey or have too much going on in my brain that I can’t focus to work. I really have to be mentally prepared to work or else I just waste time.

What do you consider your favorite success (ie some compliment from a prof, some hard to pull off drawing etc)?

So far I think the biggest success of my career was getting validation that my work is worth something other than school, family or friends. The Northwest Watercolor Foundation chose me out of 3 states to receive a $1500 grant. I was dumbfounded because when I applied I figured, “Watercolorists won’t pick an abstract painter, they like bunnies and landscapes.” But they liked how thought out my work was. They threw a dinner in my honor, and they’re all middle age water colorists…very enthusiastic about my work and interested in the concept. It was not what I was expecting at all. That was really cool.
As for my favorite success, I think it culminated today when I got my grade sheet back for some figure studies from my prof, who happens to be the chair of my committee for the BFA program. I was considering not taking figure painting, and I think she thought it was because I didn’t want to learn how to paint the figure, which translated in her head that I couldn’t. On the grade sheet she wrote, “By far the best in the class”. When we were painting in class she came up and was like, “Well here I am giving you grief that you can’t paint the figure, and here you are proving me wrong!” That felt really good. I had a perma-grin on my face all day after that.

You can follow Beth Morrell on Twitter: @EJMorrell