More than you wanted to know about me

I’m participating in the Birmingham Art Crawl on November 6. They sent out a long questionere to all the artists and I thought it might be interesting to post my answers. So, here’s more than you ever wanted to know about me, as an artist.

• Who are you and what do you do?
  My name is Sara and I make jewelry. Mostly I use fiber techniques like crochet or knitting with wire. I also work at a bookstore and an elementary school library.
• Why do you do what you do?
  I love making jewelry. I love to blend colors and textures to make wearable art.
• How do you work?
  I usually combine a mix of beads and gemstones into a bowl and look at it for a while. Then I start the actual crafting process.
• What’s your background?
  I worked at a bead and jewelry store while I was in graduate school. I learned many of my techniques there and others I picked up here and there.
• What’s integral to the work of an artist?
  Passion. Art is often a hard and lonely pursuit, so you have to love it for the process.
• What role does the artist have in society?
  I think artists are our heart. Visual artists, wordsmiths, musicians, dancers… they all help to tap into our emotions and our inner selves.
• What’s your favorite art work?
  I love paintings, especially of complex or ethereal subjects. Kinuko Craft and Yoshitaka Amano are two of my favorite artists. They are both known for very intricate art, although in very different styles. Craft paints primarily in oils, doing very western-style fairy tale paintings, while Amano uses watercolors and guache in a much more Japanese style.
• What’s your most embarrassing moment?
  I met an author that I’m a big fan of a few years ago. It was an unexpected meeting, we were introduced by another author I already knew. All I could do was repeat, “Oh my god. You’re you. Oh my god.” It was terrible. (Yeah, that was Dan Wells)
• What jobs have you done other than being an artist?
  I work at a bookstore and a library right now. I’ve also been a tour guide at Colonial Williamsburg.
• Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?
  I spend time with my friends and also in online communities like tumblr. There are a ton of artists there and it’s easy to become inspired or to commiserate if things aren’t going well.
• What do you dislike about your work?
  It’s never exactly the way I envisioned it.
• What do you like about your work?
  It makes people feel pretty or special.
• Should art be funded?
  Absolutely! Art is essential. Without art to challenge us, to comfort us, to direct us toward things we would rather not see or might not notice we will become stagnant.
• What role does arts funding have?
  Artists will create with very little, but freeing an artist from the concerns of finding the next meal or paying rent allows them to fully tap into their potential. And more art is always a benefit to society.
• What makes you angry?
  Injustice and ignorance.
• What superpower would you have and why?
  I want Storm’s powers from the X-men. She has control over weather. She can fly, she can zap things with lightning. She’s awesome. Mostly, I’d love to be able to fly, but the ability to manipulate the weather would also be awesome.
• Name something you love, and why.
  Reading. It lets me dip into other lives, other times, other ideologies.
• What is your dream project?
  To design a suite of jewelry based off my favorite books.
• What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
  Work harder.
• Professionally, what’s your goal?
  To be able to support myself with my art.
• What wouldn’t you do without?
  The internet. I use it for research, for networking, for keeping up with my friends, and just for entertainment.