ITAS Podcast Episode #8
In this episode, we are talking to Deidre Szokol, an amazing collage artist from Canada. Her Instagram is full of bold colors and provocative images. One thing that intrigued me the most about her work is that you hardly can tell her digital collages from her analog ones. In our conversation, she explained how she achieves this effect. The answer is so easy, you won’t believe it!
Listen to the full interview with Deidre in the episode #8
When your boss gives you coloring books
I got started in art during the craze of people coloring inside coloring books. I happened to be working in a call center, and they were giving us coloring books to do during work. It was really neat! I ended up getting an adult coloring book, and I really started falling in love with the color itself. I would spend eight hours on one picture just blending colors.
I got sick for a little while and then everything kind of halted. But when I moved back to my hometown, I ended up being able to create a space in my apartment that became my studio. I started looking things up on Pinterest about art journals, and I found these amazing photos of juxtaposition that played with sizes of people and space, and it really ignited my imagination. So I decided to grab a few magazines and see if I could figure out how to create it myself. Everything kind of exploded from there.
Expelling creative energy
Spending some time in the studio definitely allows me to bring in a little bit of focus, expel a little bit of energy, and play. I was a really hyperactive child, and once I got involved with karate, I was able to find a little bit of focus. My art creates the same kind of expelling energy.
Creative process
I have a collection of magazines or books that I’ll go through. If I find a picture, part of a picture, word, or even a color pattern that I like, I’ll take it out of the magazine. I once saved a clipping for over a year trying to find the right picture to have it in. I have a little bit of a collection, and go through it and choose based on my mood that day.
I’m creating what I want to see in my mind and finding a way to put that in front of me.
I look back at some of my stuff and go wow – I can tell you right now what I was dealing with at that time. Other times it’s just that it looks really cool together, so I’m gonna glue it.
Art is the place to play
Anyone can enjoy being an artist! There is no prerequisite. Children do it all the time (even masterfully). Art is play and adventure. As adults, we get trapped in whether or not something is “good enough”. Art is not about skill, or even if it is good. Art is for enjoyment purposes. Show people your work, don’t show people your work– it doesn’t matter. Just PLAY!
I don’t believe there is any such thing as “succeeding as an Artist”. I don’t believe art is about that. Just play, adventure, and explore. Get messy. Play with colors. Mash things together. See what happens and learn from it. That is an adventure, that is exploration. Can one succeed at adventure?
Links and references
Paint 3D by Microsoft
Unsplash royalty free images
Gimp the image editing software
Where to find Deidre online
Instagram: @art_sandbox
