Zoe Messinger:
Victoria makes paintings that examine girlhood, adolescence and identity. She attended Brandeis as an undergrad and graduated with her BA in studio painting in 2014. She went on to earn her postbac degree from Brandeis in 2016, and her MFA in painting from Boston University in 2018. While at Brandeis, she was a member of the women's fencing team. Victoria has moved to New Jersey since quarantine and is wondering where to move next. Her quarantine goal is to make so many paintings, she does not know where to put them. She's on her way there having created at least 12 paintings since March. Next, we have Farnaz Gholami. Farnaz investigates the idea of place identity, dislocation, and memory in her paintings and installation works. She earned her postbac in studio art from Brandeis University in 2013, and went on to receive a graduate degree in 2017 from Chelsea College and an MFA in painting in 2019 from the Slade, which is in London.
Zoe Messinger:
Farnaz is originally from Tehran, Iran and now she lives in London. Since quarantine she's added more than 20 plants to her small garden. Including irises and her favorite, a small lemon tree. Next we have Jenna Weiss. Jenna Weiss creates paintings and drawings which explore the intersection of shape, color and pattern. She earned her BA in studio art and art history from Brandeis in 2007, attended the postbac program in 2008, and received her MFA in painting from Temple University's Tyler School of Art in 2010. Jenna is based in Brooklyn, New York. She has ridden over 250 miles on her bike since quarantine began. And now I'm going to introduce the moderators.
Zoe Messinger:
First we have Alison Judd. Alison graduated from Brandeis in 2004, with a double major in painting and art history. She continued on to earn her postbac certificate in Brandeis in 2005. While an undergrad, she sang in the a cappella group Manginah and met her husband who neither sang nor studied art. Currently she's living with her family in Cape Cod but typically they live in Brooklyn, where she works in her home studio. Alison has spent quarantine tending to her children, her dog and her sourdough starter. Next we have Danielle Friedman. Danielle is an artist, educator and advisor. She earned her BA from Brandeis in studio art in 2009, a postbac certificate in 2012 and her MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale in 2015. Born in Oceanside, New York, she currently lives in Manhattan.
Zoe Messinger:
During quarantine, she's been working to complete her first children's book entitled My Purple Peacock Penny. And finally, my name is Zoe Messinger. At my current firm, I manage the development of standardized art packages for several hospitality brands. I graduated with a BA in art history and business from Brandeis in 2013. And then on campus, I worked at the Rose Art Museum and was also a member of the women's fencing team like Victoria. Currently, I'm living in New Jersey but I typically hail from New York City. I spent quarantine digitizing my family's home videos and also fantasizing about adopting a cat. Right now we'll show a pre-film virtual studio tour of each artists and afterwards we'll have a live Q&A session with the artists.
Zoe Messinger:
If you have any questions that you'd like to ask, you can use the chat function to directly message Danielle, who will be moderating that section. We ask that you stay on mute during the Q&A session. I would also like to mention that this event is being recorded for future viewings, by those who couldn't make today's Zoom call. If you're uncomfortable with being recorded, please take the time to walk off. But we hope that you don't. Thank you all for joining us today. Let's get started. Danielle, why don't you take it away?
Danielle Friedman:
Hi, guys. Welcome. I'm going to play three videos. These are edited versions of virtual visits with all three of the artists. We're going to start with Victoria Nunley, then we're going to go into Farnaz Gholami's studio and then we're going to visit Jenna Weiss' studio and then we'll all reconvene and we'll have our live Q&A. So sit back and enjoy.
Victoria Nunley:
Board, pencil on a sketchbook just being like, "Let's do this." And then I have to sit back and look and be like, "Okay." No. I got to do that again. And eventually it goes to a painting, if it's worthy.
Zoe Messinger:
This is Vickie Nunley. She is an artist who went to Brandeis for both undergraduate and postbac. About how Brandeis influenced you?
Victoria Nunley:
Oh yeah, Brandeis did so many things for me. Brandeis, I don't know if you know this, but their painting program is like oil painting. So I learned how to mix paint. Susan Lichtman, who's a painting professor there, is amazing. She really early on was like, "Black. You can mix a chromatic black." I was like, "What is that?" And she was like, "It's when you mix black from colors that are not." And I was like, "What?" I went to graduate school at BU. I earned my MFA and then I moved to New City and I got a studio and then COVID happened. And we're back home.
Zoe Messinger:
So why don't you give us a grand tour of your studio. And let's talk about some of your pieces.
Victoria Nunley:
Amazing. Okay, here we go. I'm looking at them now. And I have them hung up because of color. And the difference between literal and psychological color. That's something I'm interested in. This is a painting I made also in New York that I think about a lot. And if we turn this way, this is the back of my studio. Another painting I made in Brooklyn. More paintings I made in Brooklyn.
Zoe Messinger:
One of the things that I really do enjoy about your pieces is like you managed to make a color palette fresh every time. Like the piece behind you. The one with the woman cutting her hair. How did you think, "I'm going to make her skin really, really pink."
Victoria Nunley:
I had to fight, well split compliment palette, right? Or like a compliment palette. So like green and red. I really had to fight because your instincts is to be like, "That's not skin color. That doesn't, it's not and it won't." And I was like, "No, I'm going to do it. I'm just going to make her pink and I'm going to see what it looks like." And that's also why I like working in acrylic by the way. You can make ridiculous color choices and if it doesn't work, you can just paint right over it. And that hair is a chromatic black. I don't know. I feel like I'm flying around by the seat of my pants basically. I'm like, "I think this will look good." And then I paint it and I'm like hunch confirmed. It looks great.
Zoe Messinger:
Can we see your sketchbook?
Victoria Nunley:
Oh, I literally, I found the drawing. I made this. I made a ton of drawings and then I made this like five seconds before I decided to paint. It's a really unforgiving drawing. I did pencil but I did ink. I did no tones. And that's usually how I work. So I really wanted this teardrop shape. I thought that was kind of funny and it's about breakup things. I just sort of went with it. And then when it got translated to the painting, obviously a bunch of different things happened.
Zoe Messinger:
It's funny you pointed out the teardrop. I didn't even notice that before but now I can't unsee it.
Victoria Nunley:
You're welcome. I'm obsessed with old, like 1930s style cartoons. And one of the reasons why, is because there's a lot of transformation that happens. So, in that world, you can have a petal that then maybe turns into like teardrops. Things can transform into other things, and I'm interested in that.
Zoe Messinger:
I love seeing this process because it really kind of exemplifies how you're thinking about, I guess even perspective and transformation.
Victoria Nunley:
I really like looking at... This is from Pontormo painting of Jesus being taken off the cross. And just like the drama and just there's so many fingers doing things. A lot of times I'll lift from other things as inspiration to try to figure stuff out.
Zoe Messinger:
That kind of brings me to my next question which is materials.
Victoria Nunley:
So acrylic paints, I work in that. And it's flat, it's fast. And I feel like I can move quicker through a painting. This is a wet palette. And what it is, is there's like a sponge under there and paper that you soak, and then you just mix your whole palette on top of it, and it's like a big Tupperware. And it keeps your paint wet so it doesn't dry out. The best and worst thing about acrylic is that it dries fast. So, you don't want to waste all your paint. I use this to mix, so paint doesn't get caught in the bristles and I don't waste it. A whole bin full of golden acrylics. This is the brand I use. It's Holbein Acrylic Gouache wash. It's expensive, however, totally worth it. A little bit goes a long way. With gouache it's sort of like, if watercolors and... this brand of wash, if acrylic and watercolor had a baby, it'll be Holbein acrylic wash.
Zoe Messinger:
Can you kind of explain to me how your work, if it has been, has been influenced by quarantine? And also how are you staying creative during this time? I've been having a very hard time concentrating and getting things done. So I'm very curious how it is for you.
Victoria Nunley:
In quarantine, it's just an excuse for me to be like, "What if, I mixed this blue on the gray and then I added an orange. What would that do?" And then also it's like a weird space Western theme. So for me quarantine has been really freeing, I think because I'm like, "No one's going to look at this." Except now. A way for me to sort of work through and really indulge in a lot of the things I've been interested in. I got a box of so many books. Do you want to see the books I bought?
Zoe Messinger:
Yes. Always.
Victoria Nunley:
Hold on. Yeah. So I bought The Art of Cuphead. It's a game, but it's in the 1930s theme. It's like, what has the most amazing art. Amazing. Vintage Modern, which is just products that have like a vintage twist but it's in modern times. This was from the Met Museum when they did the Delacroix drawing show, which was incredible. He did all these edgings of Faust. And then Tekkonkinkreet, which is, I can't find the movie anywhere, which is a bummer. But this is the manga it's based on and it's just delicious. And so I've been just looking and looking and looking and being like, "I like that." And then, it sort of pops up in what I'm making, and indulging and making. And then eventually I feel like it'll cycle into... when it's time to make a big painting, I feel like I'll just, I'll know my heart of hearts I'll know.
Zoe Messinger:
If you had one piece of advice to give artists and anything, what would it be?
Victoria Nunley:
Do not be afraid to make bad work. You have to do it. You have to make terrible work. You have to make your ugly baby and just look at it and live with it. I think I went through a phase of being afraid to make that work. You gotta just do it so you can get it out and look at it and be like, "Why is this bad?" Because making imaginary bad work, doesn't help you. And it also has the ability to paralyze you. You got to just do it. Just the stronger you get and the braver you get, the better your work will be. So that's my advice.
Zoe Messinger:
That is great advice.
Danielle Friedman:
We're not going to watch CNN. We are now going to go to, Farnaz Gholami. So here we go. And just so format wise, these are about seven to eight minutes each video. So they're kind of just a quick view inside each of these artists worlds. So hi Farnaz Gholami.
Farnaz Gholami:
Hi.
Danielle Friedman:
Hi.
Farnaz Gholami:
Thanks for having me Danielle.
Danielle Friedman:
We're so glad to have you. We can't wait to see what you're working on and hear a little bit about your work. So can you give us just a brief introduction of where you come from, where you're living now and what you're doing, what you're working on.
Farnaz Gholami:
I'm based in London and currently in a lockdown at home. I finished my MFA from the Slade School of Fine Arts, a year ago. I'm originally from Iran. I grew up in Iran. And then before studying here, I've been living in South Africa for a few years. And before that I was in Boston studying studio art at Brandeis.
Danielle Friedman:
Amazing. So we have a ton of Brandeis viewers, obviously. This is our first series of Brandeis studio tours and visits. And we're kind of exploring, how some of our artists also are working from home, or were changing their studio situation and how maybe that makes them more creative, or they're facing different obstacles in their work. Or maybe it's opening up something new. Generally, what are your paintings about? What are you investigating and what's important to you?
Farnaz Gholami:
So, my paintings are usually, deal around the idea of non place or the third space. And it's kind of a conceptual term meaning that, it's like a... in another term it's called heterotopia that Michel Foucault spoke about it. But it's something that we are familiar with. Which is, for me, my personal level, I come from a first place, which is Iran. And then I've been living in other places as the destination. But now, I'm in that position, that none of these places are home and I find a conceptual space as an individual to belong to, which is a non place. But this is, it can be expanded more in a social term, in 21st century we are very much dislocated even if we are geographically in one place, we might be intellectually displaced with the society that we're from.
Farnaz Gholami:
And that third place is a promising place. It could be very imaginary. It could be ambiguous and vague, but it's an elsewhere. So I'm interested in the idea of elsewhere, but at the same time, the exciting part for me is that that fine line between an ideal place or a dystopian place. So I like that limbo of the inbetweenness, to work on it. And that's what my paintings thrive on. So, I usually take empty spaces as metaphors.
Danielle Friedman:
Can you show us what you're working on? And show us or give us a tour of your space.
Farnaz Gholami:
So this is the middle of my living room This side is the actual living room that I pushed back. And then this side is the kitchen that my partner has his home office there. So it's a very congested, but still I'm very grateful to have this space. And then that's the easel that I have. And this is one of the recent works that I've done. Since the lockdown I've been working on sketching and painting cinemas, like empty cinemas. There's another cinema in a landscape happening here. This one is a bit bigger, so I ordered two sizes of canvases. Then another element that is very important in my paintings are memory and fragmentation of memories. So I work with less space memory and they all deal with, I would say at the end identity. Then I have two desks. This one is my palettes. And I have my paints down here. And the other desk is mainly for drawing. So, which I've been working on. So these are all cinemas. That's like empty chairs.
Danielle Friedman:
Are they all acrylic on paper?
Farnaz Gholami:
These are like ink acrylic watercolor, pen like fin but they're all water based. I've done a few swimming pool paintings. Swimming pool is also another limbo space for me. I'm trying different things, like ideas that I had. And after such a long time, I've been very focused on my sketchbook. So usually my sketchbook ends up with, very like fast drawings or notes. But this time I've been... some bathroom drawings. This is the sketchbook that I used for the first time.
Danielle Friedman:
Can we look at that? Let's look at one painting and just talk about it. If you're up for that?
Farnaz Gholami:
Yeah, sure.
Danielle Friedman:
The two things that caught my eye are the one on the easel because I'm looking at it, in conjunction with the red rug. I just feel like color with those green plants and the red rug, I feel like there's a color conversation happening that maybe wouldn't have necessarily happened had you made that painting outside of this space?
Farnaz Gholami:
This one. And you're right. Because like in a studio, we usually very much minimize the colors around us, so we can focus on the painting itself. But here with having the colors in the domestic area, I think I'm embracing it. It's suggesting new palette to me.
Danielle Friedman:
So thank you.
Farnaz Gholami:
Thank you. Thanks for observing this. Yeah, there are times that I feel very devastated. But I mean, embracing it. I'm embracing it.
Danielle Friedman:
Totally. Good. And so we're going to see you shortly live, so we can kind of have a conversation and talk to you.
Farnaz Gholami:
Great.
Danielle Friedman:
All right. Now we have Jenna Weiss.
Jenna Weiss:
The amazing thing about a studio practice is, it keeps going. And a lot of us are kind of interested in the same foundational things throughout our life. But what that looks like continues to change, if you keep like nurturing it. So yeah, just paint it and pay attention.
Alison Judd:
Jenna, welcome.
Jenna Weiss:
Hi.
Alison Judd:
Thank you so much for being part of this virtual artist studio tour that we are doing, in this strange time that we're all living in. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about, where you were born and where you're living now.
Jenna Weiss:
Sure. Thank you for having me. Well, you're speaking to me now in my bedroom in Brooklyn. And so this is now my office space, my studio space, my workout space. It's my everything space. And it's not too far from where I was born. I grew up in Long Island on the south shore near JFK. And then I moved to Brandeis, right after high school. And so I lived in Boston a little bit after Brandeis. I did both the major in Fine Arts studio and art history together, and the postbac program for a year. And then I went to Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, where I lived for four years about total. And during that time, I was working. I worked at the Rose Art Museum when I was at Brandeis and I worked at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia after grad school. And then when I moved to New York in 2012, I started working at the Jewish Museum shortly after that. So I've always had career in museums and also studio practice together.
Alison Judd:
Tell me a little bit about, what that kind of connection between working in the museums and the studio practice. How they go hand in hand for you.
Jenna Weiss:
So in my studio practice, part of I think, what's been a journey for me is the Jewish part of that. Because I work at a Jewish institution and/or we're an art museum and a cultural institution and what that sometimes it's been, an interesting question of what my work is about, what the source material is, the reference material. I would say, I make non representational of paintings, but sometimes they come from representational of source material. So, there's a lot in my studio practice that involves just kind of collecting found material, patterns, images and kind of combining these things all together. And sometimes the personal references like peek their way through and that's something, that I don't always think I was super interested in or comfortable with when I was younger, but I've kind of now come to just accept it. That's all part of the mash togetherness of what my life and identity is.
Alison Judd:
In terms of your studio, are there kind of artists that influence you? Or special pieces, maybe by friends or artists that you like to keep around? I know in my own studio, I always have my favorite people that I have a little piece by, that I got over the years.
Jenna Weiss:
There's definitely the trades and the friend work that I have. Both like up behind me there's a screen print and marble by Sheryl Oppenheim, who's another Brandeis alum. In my living room, there's a painting by Naomi Safran Hon, who is another friend of mine from college. So, I know that Brandeis people are going to watch this. So those friendships run deep. And for people from grad school too, definitely in my studio. My studio is in Brooklyn, normally it's in the Brooklyn Army Terminal. I tend to think about influences in my work like early 20th century collage. Matisse, like big one. And then like, women abstract expressionist painters are another favorite of mine. But in the studio yeah, I try to, and my house I try to have work from friends. And my partner's a photographer so I think the two of us have kind of amalgamated this collection of work together for people we know.
Alison Judd:
That's great.
Jenna Weiss:
Yeah, I know.
Alison Judd:
You having collections and gathering work from friends and teachers and people along the journey. I think that makes a huge difference as a working artist.
Jenna Weiss:
I have been for a little while, like the past couple of years, I've been making wall collages where I kind of assemble a flattened still life on the wall. So I'll pin up wallpaper or vinyl or something that I find and then they'll be some sort of low relief sculpture with maybe some sound objects like ceramic or a piece of wood or a postcard. And wrapping paper or some things like that, that kind of have a bit of randomness to them. And so I've been making in a way, sometimes very representational like observational painting and those things. While I'm always also making drawings of them and collages of them and kind of trying to reduce, what I'm looking at into very more simple elements. And so there's kind of like a cycle that will happen where, I might make a collage version of something and then the negative shape from a piece of paper that I cut, becomes more important to me than what I was actually looking at when I started making it. And then that will kind of kick off the next phase of working.
Jenna Weiss:
So I'm working both in oil paint usually when I'm in my studio in Brooklyn. This is my studio right now is on a tabletop in my bedroom. And this is a painting that I brought home with me that I was working on, at the end of February and the beginning of March. So I took it here to finish it, and it's on wood panel, made with acrylic and tape. So it comes from a real source but again, it's like a really reduced version of what the original source material was. And I've just been doing some very small work on paper here. I've been making, these are cards. These are kind of really, really simple line and stencil work. I love stencils. I usually use a lot of stencils. Stencils that I've been making here are really rudimentary and simple, but I love stencils because it's like the positive and the negative happened together. So it's kind of this like immediate satisfaction.
Jenna Weiss:
And this is my box of supplies, that basically everything I brought home from my studio is in that box. And then those two bags are knitting material. And I also have a knitting practice, which is aside from my studio practice, something that I've been doing for a long time, but I was thinking about how there's something in the way that I work in the studio where, especially when things are just left to develop their own narrative, and you might not really know what's going to happen when you start a piece or a project. Then knitting is kind of the opposite because it's like you follow a pattern and you have a planned outcome. And you can only do something like a certain rhythm or certain rate speed. So I kind of enjoy that I have both of those experiences happening together, at least in my domestic space right now.
Alison Judd:
What's one thing that you need in your studio at all times and why?
Jenna Weiss:
I was thinking about things that I need in my studio and whenever I set up a new studio, I've been in the same building. I've had my studio in the same building since 2011. The longest I've ever had a studio in one place. Which is kind of miraculous in New York and in general. But I always put up a few kind of signpost things for myself to claim a space. As a space that I want to work in or know that I have some intentionality behind working in. And one example comes actually from Brandeis, from the building of Prospect Street, which I know is not the studio building anymore. But I inherited someone's studio when I was a postbac. And on the walls, they had written, "Paint." The words, "Paint and pay attention." And I thought those were just some imaginary to do lists that who knew? Who wrote it? And when?. But I brought it even to this ask on this piece of paper.
Alison Judd:
Do you want to spot light it?
Jenna Weiss:
It's like a little reminder that this is also my studio right now. And yeah, take it however you want. And aside from that I also, books like art books and my iPod are pretty important to my studio.
Alison Judd:
That's awesome.
Danielle Friedman:
Okay. So welcome. Welcome live. So now you have a little bit of a view into... Oh, I think, hold on let me pause my YouTube is play. Okay. So thank you so much Farnaz, Jenna and Victoria for opening the doors into your worlds, just a view into them and sharing with us what you're up to. So we're going to have a Q&A discussion with the artists. And then as you are all the participants thinking and and your imaginations going, please feel welcome to shoot your questions in the chat box. You can direct them directly at me. And then I can sift through those and we'll get to them at the very end of our discussion. So we're going to start with like the most big basic but most complex question, which is, what is color? And maybe Jenna you can start us off.
Jenna Weiss:
Some how, I knew you would pick me to go first for this. It's such a big question, but I guess I was thinking about how to answer it. And the way that color interests me the most is the way that color and form, when they lock together so that can happen anywhere. And I think that's for me, it's about paying attention to the things you find around you. I mean, I have a tendency to really like bright, hot color and use it in the work. But I also, I love the idea of when a color feels intrinsically connected to an object or to a shape. So that's one one way that I think about color.
Danielle Friedman:
Yeah, definitely. And I think Victoria you also kind of are really thinking a lot about temperature of color as well. Jenna, we can see it really straightforward in your work like those hot colors. And Victoria, I know you're thinking about that interlocking too. So how are you thinking about color?
Victoria Nunley:
I think about color in the way it can help move your eye around a composition and create a rhythm. And also how, just like Jenna said it has to do with, color is relative. So, a color will do certain things depending on what's around it. I think about that a lot when I'm painting. So a green can appear more blue or more acidic or even gray depending on the rest of your palette. So, it's really exciting. A green next to a red of the same value will... the edge will actually vibrate. And so that's such an exciting way to make a mood happen or just to deliver even a narrative element too.
Jenna Weiss:
Yeah. And I would add, a color is so much about light. And we've been having these crazy thunderstorms here in the last couple days. And I went for a walk the other night right as it was turning dark, and the way that the color like the street lamps, the electric color is kind of amplified by the light. Whatever that might be totally something that's not present, on the onset of my work but I think light and color, shape like how those things are all connecting together.
Danielle Friedman:
Definitely a painter's way of seeing and walking through the world, Jenna. And Farnaz, you also kind of your colors shifted a lot in this quarantine time, especially working in the midst of your living space. So can you tell us a little bit about how you think about color in your work?
Farnaz Gholami:
Yeah, definitely. So color for me as Victoria and Jenna were saying, is something that can create mood, space, or a narrative. And it's fascinating because it can be used as a reference point to an art history or a society, so it can be loaded. It's very fascinating to use color when you know it's very much loaded. But for me, I like how unpredictable can colors be. So it has its own autonomy in a sense. That not always I'm in control of the color. And when it's in my head is going to be very different when it dries on a canvas. So I think it's the excitement part of it that adds to the mystery of painting, for me is important for color. Yeah. I don't know if that makes sense, or not.
Danielle Friedman:
It absolutely does. Yeah, I love that way of thinking about color. The mystery and the surprises are key elements when you're creating. So, Zoe, I think you have a couple of questions for us.
Jenna Weiss:
I think you're still on mute, Zoe.
Zoe Messinger:
I am. Okay. So my first question to all of you is, if you could describe your work in three words what would they be and why? Jenna, why don't you go first.
Jenna Weiss:
Oh great. I don't know like I-
Zoe Messinger:
Put you on the spot.
Jenna Weiss:
I was just going to say the first three words that I wrote down, which were fill, empty, repeat. Because I was watching over the video that we just played. And I do think there is a continual filling up, emptying out and the repeating of that process that I'm always doing. I mean, repetition is kind of a main word almost in a category of itself. The way I kind of got into pattern was about single shapes and then what happens when you repeat them? So that's like a fascination but empty, fill, repeat. Those are my words.
Zoe Messinger:
Nice. How about you, Farnaz?
Farnaz Gholami:
Oh, I would say place identity, inbetweenness, and Painting with capital P. So for me the act of painting itself and painting in contemporary art is very important. And at the same time the concepts that I'm interested in working, are equally important. So these three are would say, would define my practice.
Zoe Messinger:
Thank you. And last one, Vickie go.
Victoria Nunley:
My words are humorous, intimate and sincere. That about sums it up.
Zoe Messinger:
Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Victoria Nunley:
I mean, I think looking at my paintings, you can see the humor in them. I talked during our studio visit. It's not in the video, but about how I can't really chase the humor out of it. It's just, it's part of me and therefore it's part of the painting. But there's also a sincerity about it and especially making, work that has character and narratives that are often overdramatic. There's still a sense... like when someone is being very dramatic, there's a real seriousness and sincerity behind that emotion that I find particularly interesting. And intimate because it's just, I mean, there's sort of close looks at moments, that maybe would otherwise not be privy to anyone else. Is that enough elaboration?
Zoe Messinger:
That is enough elaboration for me.
Victoria Nunley:
Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Alison, I guess I'll save my question for a little bit later. So why don't you go ahead with yours?
Alison Judd:
Sure. So, can you guys maybe share both the biggest challenge and the greatest reward that you've experienced in making time for your studio practice?
Victoria Nunley:
I would say the biggest challenge was finding my studio space, back when I lived in New York. Finding that studio was the biggest sort of hurdle to get over. But once I got it, it cycled into the biggest reward, right? Because then I had my own space and practice, and I really felt like, "Okay. Now I can call myself a painter." I don't think, before I sort of felt like, "Well, I can't call myself a painter if I'm not making paintings." So like, basically both those are folded into, just finding the studio.
Alison Judd:
How about you Jenna?
Jenna Weiss:
Sure. In a way I had an easy time finding a studio but it's been a long time since I've had it. And I definitely, I talked about this in the video a bit but my work life balance is probably the bigger challenge for me with studio practice. Because I have a full time museum job. So I have a definite relationship to the art world through my professional Jenna. And like the studio practice part of me somehow fits into life Jenna. But really it's been about this journey of understanding that that's all me. That's like, all those things in the best possible sense should affect each other. I meet artists, I work with artists and in my... well at the museum that I work at, that's fulfilling. And it's also about your studio practices about the connection to the artists community that you're part of. So how do you keep those relationships going and those relationships moving?
Jenna Weiss:
So it's a challenge for sure. I mean, it's a challenge in the way that it's affected the way I paint which is like, I paint a lot slower than I did when I was in college and making like big splashy expressionist paintings. And I, now being at home I'm painting a lot smaller. So it's like slower and smaller, but trying to be make choices in the work, but it's also like rewarding. Because it's about this community of artists that you're connected to. I have a little gallery project that now exists on Instagram. And that's one of the ways that we're all encountering the world, but it's about continuing those connections and artists relationships, some of which are still there from Brandeis and they keep going. So it's a continual evolution of how the relationship between life and work goes.
Farnaz Gholami:
And I would say the combination of Jana and Victoria would be my answer too. Because in the last year I had various art studios, so I was moving a lot and none of the studios were suitable for me. So I'm still in search of my ideal space. And that really takes energy. And also having a balance and switching my personalities between my studio life and my part time job, and I will work in a gallery in London. So it's not just the time that I sacrifice out of the studio, but also the mindset that it needs to be changed from a creator, to a person in a gallery. Yeah. And hopefully I can find a better studio in a few months time after the lockdown before the second wave, I would say. And then I would be more focused for sure.
Danielle Friedman:
You'll find your perfect studio Farnaz.
Farnaz Gholami:
Thank you.
Danielle Friedman:
Especially with all of our support. So I would like to hear about... I read this brilliant article, this painter he talked about how we have so much information today in our world. We look at so many images, so much news. And how the best artists have to be the best editors in a sense. And we really have to edit as artists. So I want you to talk about just briefly, what are ways that... what does your editorial process look like for each of you?
Victoria Nunley:
I thought a lot about this and I realized I do have one. So, I work in cycles. So if I'm not painting I'm then just looking at images and reading information. And then I sort of, I take screenshots and I have a little vision board for myself. And I'm like, "Why do I find these things interesting?" Usually, if I like a work, it's because it's doing something that I find really interesting. But, once I do all my sketches and sort of figure out what I'm painting, I don't look at any of it anymore. So when I'm making, I'm not looking and when I'm looking, I'm not making. And I think it helps me sort of make sure everything that I'm making is my own and also keeping other voices or influences out of my head while I'm making my work, which I think is important. Sometimes you can get a little paralyzed thinking about other things. But this is sort of the way I found to work in order to keep me to myself in that practice.
Farnaz Gholami:
Thanks, Victoria. It's really insightful. What about you, Jenna?
Jenna Weiss:
Yeah. No, I mean, what Victoria is saying is really hard to do, keeping the other voices out of your head part. I mean, the way that I thought about your question was it's in the very kind of personal way of editing. What are you choosing to share, in the 10 years, since Instagram has existed? How to artists that are, like young artists making work, how do we feel pressure to put work out into the world and where can we... so making editorial choices about that as sort of how I took your question. I also think in the actual making of work itself, it's about-
Jenna Weiss:
Those friends of mine. In the actual making of work itself, it's about restraint. I think for me is how I think about being an editorial voice for yourself, knowing when to stop on a painting. And I think you could have strategies to help you with that. You might have versions of something going so you don't make all your choices on one single canvas or one single object. That's one way I think about it.
Danielle Friedman:
Super practical. Thank you, Jenna. How about you Farnaz?
Farnaz Gholami:
So, this is something that I have encountered and struggled. What I've realized is that, we don't necessarily realize how overwhelming it is, to receive so many visual information during the day. Via phone and internet. So what I've done for myself is that, I closed my private Instagram account, I've limited myself time per day to have access to my Instagram. And whenever I have pictures that I'm downloading, I'm putting them in different folders. So I'm giving them like, somehow organizing them to make sense. Otherwise, they were just noises in my head that I couldn't paint when I had so many pictures in my head. So same that Victoria was saying that it's either you see those images or you work. And we need to be very careful about what we receive, especially in these days. So yeah, I've limited my access to internet.
Danielle Friedman:
Thanks Farnaz. I think Zoe has a question for you.
Zoe Messinger:
I do. I'm always on mute. What is a professional goal of yours that you have one already achieved? And two, what do you hope is going to be a professional goal of yours for your lifetime? We're just going to go big.
Victoria Nunley:
Oh, boy, we're going big. All right. Well, I haven't really achieved any... well I guess small goals is that I'm making paintings that I think are good. Which, I mean, I think we're our own worst enemy, so that feels good. And I'm just going to keep it on the smaller side anyway, so to go big but I would like a solo show. I think that's a pretty common goal, and I have it. So that's my goal.
Zoe Messinger:
That's great. How about you, Jenna.
Jenna Weiss:
Sure that's a good goal. Yeah, I mean, just keeping painting is I think a really important goal for me. And continuing the community stuff that I was talking about. Trying to find, not expecting the art world to come to you but to find your place that you want to be in it. Whether it's through writing, whether it's through curating, whether it's through making. And ideally those things might inform each other, but kind of you have to be around it for a little while and say like, "What's the part of this that's interesting to me? And how can I engage with it?" So I guess my goals fit into finding those places. Yeah.
Farnaz Gholami:
And my goal is very ambitious. Because I feel like being an artist is very solo activities, very lonely activities. I hope there will be someday that my art career in a position that I can give back to community, and help the younger passionate one, somehow. Whether it's making other different platforms. I haven't talked through it in detail, but I would say giving back, because from the starting point, there were people who gave different energy and instructions to me. So I hope one day I can do the same.
Zoe Messinger:
That's a great goal. I think that's something that we should all try to achieve.
Alison Judd:
Yeah. And I would say I would add one more kind of question, thinking along those lines. Do you guys make your art with an audience in mind?
Farnaz Gholami:
I can go first. So for my paintings, it's just me and the painting. So it's about art itself and the concept that I'm dealing with. But for site specific works, I definitely think about the audience and how they would encounter it and how they would interact with the site specific work. So for me is very different in what I'm making.
Jenna Weiss:
Yeah. I would agree with Farnaz. For the few times that I've made an installation, that work is interacting with or hanging on or like it's a wall, that's a whole wall painting. I think about the setting that the work is and what the requirements or the demands of it are. But I don't think like... I can't really think about audience completely because everyone's reaction to things is different, especially when you're making work that's like deals with universal shape and symbol and stuff like that. Everyone's going to bring something to it, which I think is fine and great. And now I've gotten over my fears and anxieties about that. But yeah, so I think I have to have a personal relationship before I can think of the audience relationship to the work.
Victoria Nunley:
My audience that I think about is just past versions of myself. So me from, six months ago or me from 15 years ago, those versions of myself that's my audience for me when I'm painting. But otherwise, like Jenna said, you don't really know how things are going to be understood by anyone else because things mean different things to different people. So that's the scope I have to narrow it down to.
Danielle Friedman:
So I think we're going to open up the floor to some questions from our participants. We have some amazing questions. We're just going to get to a few cause we know we're getting close to our time. And then Alison is going to make some amazing and grateful closing remarks for everybody here with some vital information. So we're going to get to a few questions here One from Peter Calve, who is a professor at Brandeis'. We've all had the privilege of taking class with him. So thank you, Peter. Peter says, "I am curious if any of the painters..." and also Peter feel free to unmute yourself during this if you want to open that dialogue. "I'm curious if any of the painters could talk about the presence of political content or emotional personal content, in either the images you make or the way that you make them. Empty theaters, for example, group figural scenes and empty, fill, repeat. Each scene really rich with content."
Victoria Nunley:
All right, I'll go. So I guess my work is political because being a woman is political. So, I think my work is political sort of, just in the nature of how the world that we live in now. And that's the kind of the simplest answer for it like right now. Of course I'm dealing with different stuff than Jenna and Farnaz. Do you guys have any thoughts?
Jenna Weiss:
No, I think that's a really good building block, Victoria. Being a painter is a political choice in some way. This world that we live in is not set up to support you to be a painter, like money, capitalism, rent, all that stuff. So whether, fighting to have a space to paint is a choice that you make. I mean, I sort of felt I answered some of that question. And I'm glad you raised this larger question from the the Q&A. I haven't felt the last month, it's been really hard to paint because there's other things to be doing that are more overtly political. But I also think it's about what my other platforms are for, trying to address those topics. Because I'm not going to switch all of a sudden making overtly political paintings that wouldn't feel true to the work that I make. But in some way, things are a response to the environment we're in for sure.
Victoria Nunley:
And also Jenna I feel like that, there's sort of a similar question that was kicked around before we started, which is like... and my answer to it was, I think it'll be a while for me to digest what's going on now and it'll probably come out later. I think the digestion period for current events can be a lot long for artists.
Jenna Weiss:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Farnaz Gholami:
Yeah. And for me, definitely political but in a sense that's it's layered. So it's, I'm the same as Jenna and Victor not overtly political but political in the sense that being an outsider, so as a personal level I don't feel fit into any community. So being an outsider and not fitting in, is what I think it can be very political. And especially, I'm coming from Middle East and living in West and also not having any exotic pattern element in my painting, I think it's put it to color. Because that's some kind of conversation that many times has been raised for me, that there is a stereotype, there's an expectation of some woman from Iran to be. And just having my own voice as an artist, period. I think it's a political act. So these are how I interact in a sense with the works that I make. But I would say they're indirect. They're not very overtly political. And I would say my activities outside of art practice would be more influential in this stage of my career.
Danielle Friedman:
I'm also kind of thinking to Victoria's observation about how it takes time to kind of see from that bird's eye view sometimes. And when Farnaz and I recorded her studio visit, about a day later on the front page of The Wall Street Journal is this big empty soccer stadium. And I texted her a picture of it and I was like, "Farnaz you know these seats are emptying out." Sometimes as painters, we kind of tap into these things that are happening in the vibrations and in the air. And it's really important that we have people who see this work and have conversations about it, because it's often political in ways that we can't see when we're making it. And then when we live through these experiences, as Victoria says. And digest them and we see it, it because the much bigger conversation.
Danielle Friedman:
So, we're going to get to two more questions, really great ones. This one if you kind of keep it to kind of a brief, it's really a straight shot. What makes an ideal studio space? So maybe if you could name one or two things that you want in your ideal studio. That makes it ideal for you.
Farnaz Gholami:
I have a good list after having a unsuccessful studios. I would say self contained space, with good walls and good lights. And good amount of floor space to just play around with different paintings. And I would say it's a modest request for an art studio, but I haven't found it yet.
Victoria Nunley:
I would agree with that good lighting. I had a studio in graduate school where I thought something was happening to me, because the lighting was a little bit yellow. So at night, the color of my painting would change. And I'd be like, "Is that what is happening?" I would have to go out, so I had to switch the bulbs to make the lighting correct. So lighting is huge. It doesn't basically mean a window but it does mean like, the bulbs need to at least be right.
Jenna Weiss:
I'm sure for your work that was extremely frustrating. I can only imagine. Yeah, I think walls are more important for me, but access. Natural light that's near enough but walls are important. And then I don't know I keep talking about community so much. But that is really important for studio space. We're all in this weird quarantine situation. So our home space is what it is and we're making it the best that it can be. But if your studio is somewhere that you can take a break and have a conversation about something with someone for half an hour and then go back to painting, that's like ideal for me.
Danielle Friedman:
Great. And so as we get to our last question, which is we really have so many amazing questions. Thank you. And that was Pam Master for the last questions, I think we're thank them for that. We're in the midst of kind of formatting these visits. So thank you for your patience. And as we figure out kind of what works the best in terms of timing. So this last question is from Aviva Bogart. And it's a very hands-on question and process based question, which I really appreciate. It's, "What would you say is the real change in process, moving from sketchbook to one of your paintings?" And you guys have all shown us a window into your sketchbook so we know that's an integral part of your practice.
Victoria Nunley:
Okay. I'll go. The big thing for me, the big step, the big leap is color. It kind of ties into that first question we talked about, which is like what is color? The success of a painting and whether or not a drawing of mine can be made into a good painting is, what the color is doing. Sometimes with drawings I will make, a little goulash of it to see if the colors are working. But mostly I do leap from that black and white hard drawing to a painting. And I think, that sort of sounds wild that I do that. But it gets me excited about painting to have color suddenly come into it. And that's what gets me really excited to begin. So that's sort of, that's my answer.
Jenna Weiss:
Yeah. I'll keep thinking pretty formally, but scale is I guess the biggest change for me. When you're in a sketchbook or you're working small. And then to me a painting is usually, not always but it's often larger than the thing that you're drawing. So what is the relationship literally, to the brush that you're using, to the object that you're... for me, sometimes I work a lot and things that are the one-to-one relationship like, "No, this is the actual size of my hand. That's the size of the mark on the painting." And so that's a different experience in the sketchbook or the drawing process.
Farnaz Gholami:
And for me, most of the time the sketchbook is a starting point. So the finished painting, sometimes or maybe often won't look similar to what I've sketched, but it would give me a starting point. And then the process of painting and layering which suggests me how to go next. So it's a dialogue between the acts of painting and what I'm after intellectually. So, it definitely is different to sketchbook image.
Alison Judd:
Well thank you guys so much. This has been a really great hour of kind of spending time with you all and hearing a little bit about your process and your studios and your work. On behalf of the Brandei's Alumni Arts Network, we want to thank you all for participating, both artists and participants. We hope to continue this series of virtual studio visits, and we welcome the feedback that you're willing to share. So please email us at artsalumni@lists.brandeis.edu. We'll include a link to that email in the chat as well. And in the chat, we've also included links to the artists website and to a bunch of our Facebook pages and Instagram pages, for all the alumni arts events that we do and we organize all year. So please make sure to join if you're interested in either joining those networks or finding out more about programs that we are running.
Alison Judd:
Also, please keep an eye out for an email from us that will include upcoming visits, as well as information about how to purchase pieces from the artists, kind of tying back to Brandeis. We are working on that. So please keep your eye out for an email and we look forward to seeing you guys at future events like this. Thank you all so much and have a great rest of your day.