Thursday, January 01, 2009

Small Friendly Planet




SFP Editor: When did you first realize you wanted to become an artist?
Angela: Like most children, I enjoyed drawing, but it was when I was 9 years old and back in the US from France, that a teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up and “an Artist” came out of my mouth without me thinking about it at the time. I have always remembered that moment.

SFP Editor: What inspires your artwork?
Angela: I try to communicate a memory of the emotional and spiritual response to a place and/or experience. Sometimes it is about the physical body and sometimes the experience is a response to traveling to a new place or to a childhood home.

SFP Editor: Why did you choose washington, DC to live as an artist?
Angela: Washington, DC has been home for most of my adult life. I have many artist friends, great studio relationships, wonderful gallery relationship and a rewarding art teaching job.

SFP Editor: Which of your creations stands out as the most significant and why?
Angela: The figurative body prints expressed something very profound for me in regard to recording body motion and emotion and the encaustic water/land paintings gave me insight into the fact that regardless of imagery, all my work is about constant motion and change.

SFP Editor: How long have you had your studio in Dupont Circle and why did you choose the location?
Angela: I’ve been in the Dupont Circle studio for about 10 years and I originally I joined the studio through invitation from an artist friend who also had a studio there.

SFP Editor: Describe the process for creating artwork in your studio?
Angela: Often I have an idea of what I want to accomplish in terms of imagery so when I arrive at the studio I can begin working. I begin by laying out the materials and colors I want to work with. As I am preparing materials, I am centering myself and becoming focused to work.

SFP Editor: Which artists do you admire and look to for insight?
Angela: I admire Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Jennifer Bartlett, Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell, but my inspiration is from personal experience.

SFP Editor: Descibe your current exhibit at the Works on Paper Gallery.
Angela: The current exhibition is at Washington Works on Paper Gallery in the Brookland Visitor Center, 3420 9th St., NE, Wash, DC, 20017. There are oil, encaustic and mixed media works that include the figurative and also travel paintings.

SFP Editor: What are the biggest challenges of an artist living in Washington, dc?
Angela: Some people might think that the general public in Washington is interested in mostly representational work and maybe on the conservative side, but think there is an audience for a variety of work. Washington is a fairly expensive town to live and work in, but it also has great opportunities so it has a balance.

SFP Editor: What are your plans for 2009 in terms of exhibits and new pieces to be developed?
Angela: In March, I will have an exhibit at H & F Fine Arts, 3311 Rhode Island Ave, Mt Rainier, MD 20712. I am working on a series that is about my recent travels to France, Ireland, Italy and California. Some of the works will have combined imagery from the influences of the body work classes I am taking.

Editor, Anne Marie DiNardo

See Angela White’s exhibition
Washington Works on Paper Gallery in the Brookland Visitor Center,
3420 9th St., NE,
Wash, DC, 20017







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