Elizabeth Deneen

Interviewed by Lauren Yi

Grade

Mediums

Metal and 3-D

Classes Taken at Harriton

Metal Arts 1, 2, 3H, & 4H, Studio Art 2, Art 1H

Interview

Art Focused Questions:

Quick Intro:

I am a Junior who really loves art and experimenting with it. I have tried to do as many mediums as I can, and taking an art class at school has been really helpful because the teachers help me get materials that I would not have thought to get otherwise. I've always enjoyed art because you can make something beautiful and have it for yourself, but as I have progressed as an artist I have been striving to add more meaning to my pieces. I think I have been successful in being able to keep my pieces as something that is intriguing and beautiful to look at but is rich with meaning, especially in metal arts. Though, it has been something I have struggled with because I don't want to create a piece I don't like the look of but does have a lot of significance. Sometimes I just make things that I want to with no meaning because occasionally I need pieces like that to stay motivated.

You have taken many metal arts classes here at Harriton but you also enjoy working with texture. Do you favor one over the other?

I just think it's really hard to choose a favorite because it's like, there are times where I'm really tired of working with metal and it gets annoying but then there are times where I'm tired of working in 2D and working in 3D is fun. So it kind of just depends on where I am in a piece.

Are you interested of a specific type of it? When working with metal do you lean more sculptural?

I work mostly in sculptural pieces, but I want to do more jewelry. But, sculptural is a lot harder, and it's a lot harder to make it look pretty, and jewelry can just be easy to make it look nice and beautiful. But sculptural, you can usually add more meaning.

What was it like working with metal and texture? Can you go over your typical process? Do you do a lot of planning beforehand?

For texture, which I did with this thick paste thing, I kind of just experimented and it was like “do what I want to do” and I didn't think much about really anything and that's kind of how I started out with any medium. I feel like you start out getting comfortable with the medium and kind of just learning how to use it and then you can start to add meaning to it. For metal, the beginning was really just the instructions from the teacher. But when starting out any piece, I usually do start out with a sketch. With metals, I probably sketch more because it needs to be a little more exact. And then with painting and stuff like that, I do a good amount. Or it depends. If I'm really struggling to pick an idea, I'll do a lot of sketches, but then if I'm just excited to kind of use the medium, I'll do one sketch and be like, “I can't really capture this with pencils,” so I'll just go straight in.

What do you find frustrating about art?

It's just when you work on a piece for so long and you're focused on just getting it to where you want it and to a place where you like it and then you don't like it, because you've just been looking at it for way too long and been spending way too much time on it.

Do you have a favorite tool?

I don't know… I don't really have a favorite favorite, but right now I've loved experimenting with a palette knife. It's my first year ever using a palette knife, and I'm just doing whole pieces in it. And it's just fun, because it adds texture and it's harder to get things perfect, so you focus more on the whole image instead of a specific spot.

What do you believe are your strengths and weaknesses as an artist?

I think my strength is kind of just believing I can do more than I probably should. Where it's like I'll try to do really hard pieces that maybe I don't really think are that hard and then once I do them they are really hard but I'm usually able to kind of complete them.

For weakness, I think it's actually enjoying my final product because it's like if you spend so much time on something and it's not perfect, it's pressuring.

Do you have any favorite visual artists?

So I have really basic ones, because I honestly haven't done much art history. But I like Gustav Klimt and I just like his different patterns and stuff. And I like his use of yellow, I really like the color yellow. And then this one's basic, but I really like Van Gogh and Monet, because I do enjoy impressionism a lot.

Do you base your art pieces around a central theme? What themes do you use the most?

A lot of them I think come with a bit of the anxiety of being in our age. I feel like when you're a teenager it's really easy to be anxious and thinking about what other people are doing and how they might be judging you and so I make a good amount of pieces that are kind of around that theme. And I also make a few of, this year specifically in metals, I made three pieces that are kind of just about how it can be hard to feel safe when being alone as a woman. And like, I'm kind of a very paranoid person. And so if I'm walking alone and I hear a noise, I just get kind of nervous. And I know it's sometimes irrational, but then you hear stories, which makes it seem a little more rational than it should. And I made three pieces around that that were all connected. So I guess those two.

How do you get ideas? Do you make a mind map or find mentor artists, etc.?

I don't really do mentor artists, but basically what I do is I make a Pinterest board of each piece. So if I wanted to make a metal piece about nature I would just find a bunch of pieces that are based off of nature but then I'll add them together in a sketch and just pull them apart and figure out how I want to do it. But sometimes I think my teachers want me to see a specific artist that they think i'm going a similar path towards and they'll tell me and I honestly usually don't spend much time looking at them but I probably should.

Do you have any favorite art-related quotes, or maybe motivational quotes?

I have no clue… I do love quotes, but I can't name any of them off the top of my head and I have no idea. There's one where it's like… “nothing extraordinary happens from trying to be extraordinary” or something like that where it's like extraordinary things kind of just happen from everyday people. I don't know the exact quote but that's the synopsis of it.

Is your art inspired by any personal experiences?

Yeah, definitely. I think that's the easiest way to go and I think it's nice to be able to go into other themes that aren't necessarily your own experiences, but ones that you just connect with, because you can feel that. But I think it's also true that finding themes within your own personal experiences just kind of build and add more meaning. So kind of what I said earlier the anxiety stuff, that is kind of based off of my own experiences and just other major events in my life that I'll choose to include.

Has your family influenced your art in any way?

I think they've influenced it because they always are pushing me to do art and my mom, she did a lot of art and so I kind of grew up where I was able to experiment with different forms of art and mediums and they've just always been very supportive where even if I don't pursue anything in art they know that it's a valuable skill to have and so they just encourage it.

Do you plan incorporating art into your life in the future?

I think about it. I want to. When I am looking at colleges, when I really start to look at colleges, I do want a college that has a metal arts program in case I want to pursue that because it's just such an interesting way of doing art to me. I think most schools have art programs, but not most schools have metal arts programs. I just want the ability to pursue it if I want to, but my future is a big question mark right now.

Do you have any goals as an artist?

I want to make more pieces for other people. I don't know if that's that much of a goal but it's really hard for me to part with a piece, because I feel like I put so much work into it. But at the same time, I want to share it with other people and so I kind of want to make new pieces and be able to give those and share the art.

What advice do you have for students who can relate to your experiences?

I feel like keep doing it because I feel like a lot of people do it because they're passionate. And then some people do it because they kind of need that for college applications and stuff. I feel like even if you're not in one of those categories, to at least try it because I think it's a really good way to balance people. So I guess I just advise people to do art.

What advice do you have for students who are passionate in art but unsure of pursuing a career due to financial concerns?

I would say that I think if you're passionate enough and you love art enough then you'll be able to make it work somehow, some way, and even if that means spending part of your life doing something else you're passionate about but that's more likely to make money and spending later parts of your life actually doing the art. That's something I feel like not giving up on because I think when you face financial issues it's really easy to just give up because it's so difficult. And especially in art, where the starving artist is such a common saying when people are like, “Oh yeah, maybe I want to go into art”. But I think there's a lot of ways to apply art to less like fine art, traditional artists vibes. I think a lot of companies kind of desire that. So I would just say, try to find a pathway you can take, and then just keep at it.

What’s your taste in music? Do you listen to music while you’re creating art?

I do, it's really difficult to do art without listening to music. I think it's very important. I'm kind of everywhere. I do enjoy an instrumental song, but it kind of depends on what I'm doing and I really like folk songs right now. So like Monsters of Men. I kind of just like a bunch of artists.

Favorite place in the Philadelphia area/Nature?

There's a garden called Chanticleer in Wayne. And it's just so beautiful. They have koi fish, they have flowers, they have this beautiful house, because it used to be this very rich person's estate. I think it's just gorgeous.

Anything else to share?

Experiment in all the mediums you can because I don't think you need to have a favorite but being able to do different ones is a lot of fun.