Questions & Answers

1. Who would you say has affected your art the most? How?
2. You utilize a diverse and broad array of mediums-is there one that you are most comfortable working with or do you move through genres to tackle themes from several angles?
   
3. In drawing and especially in your paintings, you really make the viewer aware of light and shadow.
   Can you comment on the use of light and its absence in your work?
   
4. Some of your drawings appear to be telling a story.
   Some images evoke Alice in Wonderland; there are fairies, wolves appear from corners.
   Is there a fictional component to your compositions and what is the role of 'story' in your art?
5. What do you feel is the most vital craft element for a visual artist to master?
6. What is the biggest art fallacy you've been told or heard?
   Why and if possible can you site an example?

Answers

• Who would you say has affected your art the most? How?
  I saw Jan Svankmajer's film "Alice" when I was 19 and it made me completely obsessed with putting pins in fruit and cookies and reinforced my love of bones. I have been deeply affected by John Tenniel's illustrations in Alice in Wonderland. Angela Carter's interpretations of classic fairytails in "The Bloody Chamber" has been very inspiring. The work of Botticelli is also an inspiration. Early influences also include Edward Munch, Edgar Allan Poe, and Frida Khalo.

• You utilize a diverse and broad array of mediums-is there one that you are most comfortable working with or do you move through genres to tackle themes from several angles?
  Painting and drawing and sewing come the most naturally to me. I become most obsessed with animation. The same themes run through all of my work no matter what medium I use.

• In drawing and especially in your paintings, you really make the viewer aware of light and shadow.
  Maybe, ...emergence...division...clarity....exposure...

• Some of your drawings appear to be telling a story. Some images evoke Alice in Wonderland; there are fairies, wolves appear from corners.
  I would be more inclined to call the components mythical and symbolic than fictional, and perhaps it is more of a process of transformation than a story.

• What do you feel is the most vital craft element for a visual artist to master?
  Content. It doesn't matter how finely something is crafted if there is no compelling content.
• What is the biggest art fallacy you've been told or heard?
  Why and if possible can you site an example?
  I was told very early on to never make my shadows with black paint, I like black paint.

Website:home.earthlink.net/~cegavske
Email: cegavske@earthlink.net