Artists Vs. Photographers

For my service-learning project I interviewed multiple artists about their work environments and how their environments affect their art.

The first person I interviewed was my mother, Beth Schlesinger. She graduated from George Washington University with a degree in art and won numerous awards for her sculptures. I asked her questions about the type of environment she immerses herself in when she wants to create art. According to Beth, she has always preferred to work very late at night when it’s pitch black outside. She finds that she is less distracted working at night because usually everyone is sleeping, so she can’t distract herself with thoughts of socializing. The one thing she cannot work around is people. If people are out of the picture then she can concentrate on her art. Beth has always been a huge rock and roll music fan, and spent her weekends rocking out at Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and New Riders of the Purple Sage concerts. However when it comes to art she’s a totally different type of person. She likes to paint and sculpt to either classical music or certain show music like Phantom of the Opera or Sunset Boulevard. Classical music and show music is much more flowing than her favorite rock albums. Beth enjoys painting both indoors and outdoors depending on the subject material. When painting indoors, the room she uses has to be completely white. Any color will throw off her palette. When painting nature she likes to paint on the beach because the continuous sounds of waves crashing makes her art flow better. For instance, if she were indoors painting a tree the end result would be a very stiff looking tree. If she were by the water painting a tree the end result would have much more movement. She says its because the continuous sound of the waves calms her nerves while also moving her thoughts along in a nicely flowing manner. Beth has always found sculpting to be much easier than painting so her environment wouldn’t affect her sculptures in the same way it affects her painted. The weather also effects the outcome of her art. Beth doesn’t like to paint or sculpt when it’s cold outside. When she has to paint in a cold environment she subconsciously ends up using cool colors such as blues and grays, which make her paintings look cold. When she’s painting in warm surroundings she ends up choosing warmer colors such as oranges and reds. Beth’s moods inspire her painting’s subject matter. When she is stressed or having a bad day she ends up creating very strange or peculiar art. One of my favorite drawings of hers is of a mythical dragon bird – she drew this during finals week of her senior year.

Mythical Dragon Bird

Dancer

Shadows