Interviews with VisAbility Artists 2021
VisAbility Art Lab 2021 An interview with Max DeMulder Hi, my name is Delzy and I’m an intern at VisArts and a student at Montgomery College, it’s great to meet you! What is your name and what is your connection to VisArts? I’m Max, my pronouns are they/them. I’m an artist at VisAbility Art Lab. I do sculpture and mosaics and all sorts of paintings and fun stuff! How long have you been a VisAbility artist at VisArts? I’ve been there since the inception, I think it was 2018, but when the program kicked off it was just me and one other artist. What is your favorite part of being a VisAbility artist? One of my favorite parts of being a VisAbility artist is the visibility, having the ability to have my artwork shown in a professional gallery, to submit to shows, and have the ability to make the things I want to make. As well as the visibility for people who are differently abled because they’re not always treated fairly, in the art world. VisArts gives a voice to that. What type of work do you make and why? I’m a multimedia artist, I make everything from painting, sculpture, metal work, and all sorts of mixed media pieces. I usually concentrate on whatever comes to mind, and I like to work with found objects when I can. Where does your inspiration come from? My inspiration comes from the world around me, whether it be experiences, politics, talking about equal rights or trans rights, or just straight absurdism. What type of work have you been creating during the pandemic? During the pandemic I’ve been focusing on representation for non binary people and people of color in some of my work. Some of my work is also dealing with trauma and anxiety, and putting that to paper, as well as just having fun making weird stuff. Are there any pieces you are working on currently that you would like to talk about? Certainly, this piece right here is about anxiety, one of those days where you just want us jitter and shake and you don’t want to paint, so you just throw paint at a wall and as you’re slowly calming down, you can see where my hand was shaking, as I was trying to make this piece. As I was coming down, I started to paint the figure. People who have anxiety have this interesting thing, where if you’re in actual harm’s way or in a dangerous situation, you’ll be calm. Then sometimes when you’re having a normal day, out of nowhere, out of the blue, you end up having a panic attack for about fifteen minutes. Sometimes you just got to channel that into some weird spiky art. Thank you so much for sharing that, I think you can clearly see that coming through the work. It’s been great talking with you about your work! Thanks, have a good day! An interview with Sarah Dorros Hi, my name is Delzy and I’m an intern at VisArts and a student at Montgomery College, it’s great to meet you! How long have you been a VisAbility artist at VisArts? I started at VisArts during the summer of 2019, so that was one and a half years ago. What is your favorite part of being a VisAbility artist? My favorite part of being an artist with VisAbility Art Lab is the diverse and accepting artistic community, and autistic artist community in particular, as well as all the wide disability experiences represented at VisAbility Art Lab. What type of work do you make and why? I am an eclectic artist and make a wide variety of art including painting, drawing, fused glass, mosaics, ceramics, collage and jewelry making. I enjoy trying a watercolor painting one day and ceramics another to experience all that VisArts does. Art calms me down and allows me to be creative and autonomous. Where does your inspiration come from? I incorporate bright colors and patterns into my art. I release the anxiety and stress in my life through my art using the really bright colors and loud patterns. What type of work have you been creating during the pandemic? During the pandemic I have still been able to make a wide variety of art including ceramics like pinch pots, coloring with colored pencils and gel pens, painting with watercolors, drawing with oil pastels, and collage. I’m happy to have met you guys, that was awesome! Thank you, I hope you have a good day! An interview with Faith McLuckie My name is Delzy Alarcon, I’m a student at MC as well as an intern at VisArts. Whenever you’re ready, please go ahead and introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Faith McLuckie. I’m part of the VisAbility Art Lab at VisArts and it’s a lot of fun to be part of this program, because I have a lot of friends, who I see as part of my family.I also love to create art and want to be a professional artist, someday. What type of art do you like to do? I like working in mosaic, painting, clay and drawing. Where do you get your inspiration for your art? My friends from VisArts help me to create art and I gain inspiration from them. I also like to paint portraits of my friends. VisArts gives me time to work on my skills and inspiration. How long have you been part of the VisAbility Art Lab? I’ve been going to VisArts for two and a half years, but I’ve been an artist for most of my life. VisArts helped me become a better artist to see people like me, to get inspiration from their art. What do you like about creating art and being a VisAbility artist? It’s fun being with other artists because we are a family and we have fun together. And we learn from each other. And we are creative and teach each other. And, and the staff,