After sending out a range of emails asking for interviews for this module's creative report, one of the people i selected to interview was Erika Duran a Hand Embroidered Artist from the USA. I decide to interview an artist that isn't part of the graphic design area but a creative that has used instagram to promote their business and as their main advertising channel successfully, this is as currently i'm still unsure what career path to take but this design/creative career yet a different area yet i've set up a instagram and aim tot learn more about the benefits of this social media site.
Erika has set up her own business, started her company and creates then sell her own designs, shes successful creative business enturpanure therefor i personally feel i could learn largely from this designer from her experince.
Again after emailing Erika i've received a response but again this sadly explaining that the artists doesn't have time for a full interview. This seems to be a common feature and response from professional therefor a different method of communication or way of contact need to be explore. NO PROFESSIONAL HAVE TIME FOR LONG INTERVIEWS.
Erkia did send over a range of questions she was asked from an other student, but as these aren't my personal questions so cannot be used for this brief and also will not be specialized to fit my aims of why i selected this artists but this is still useful information as it can be used to study what style of questions to ask the selected professional and also the answers/feedback could be learnt from.
'1. What did you study in college? Did you find it fitting for what you wanted to do?
I had a really difficult time deciding what I wanted to study in college. I went to MassArt and took a class in just about every department I could fit into my schedule. I’m a “dabbler” and fall in love with the process of making very easily — regardless of medium. So, when I finally landed on photography as my major, I think I was the most shocked person of anyone. I had never owned a camera. I never really considered photography as being part of my wheelhouse, but I wound up choosing it partly because it made me look at things very differently and partly because it was difficult for me. I had to work very hard.
Because I never knew what career I wanted exactly, my choices at that point were pretty free and I think what I wound up taking away from photography is a resolve not to shy away from the work and discipline involved in making art. Most, if not all, of my studio practice can be attributed to my most demanding photo classes and it is a huge part of why I feel I am able to make art for a living now.
2. How did you get started doing what you do now? Was there ever a point where you thought it wasn’t going to happen?
I went through a period of time after graduation where I made absolutely nothing. Not a sketch, not a doodle, not a flicker of an idea while I focused on the practicalities of finding a job and paying rent. I spent a lot of time applying to gallery internships and combing through art blogs and wishing I could figure out a life that felt well rounded and included making again, but I was spread thin with working retail hours and had little to no time to focus.
One day, after a year or so of this, I literally woke up kind of crazed and just couldn’t do what I was doing anymore. I ran to an art store looking for absolutely anything to just get my hands working again and wound up coming home with an armful of thread. Again, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, I just knew the something was in there, so I started working on a little embroidery, then another and another. I had no formal training, but my grandmother was a seamstress and the muscle memory from helping her as a child kind of kicked in and after taking one of my “dabbling” fiber courses in college, I knew enough to fumble through.
I decided to make one embroidery into a little patch off of a whim and posted a photo on Instagram. The reaction was immediate and, coupled with my boyfriend’s urging, was enough to make me open an Etsy shop, which steadily grew. Afterwards, I was amazed by how a following developed and how posting online with an honest voice and growth went hand in hand. I think this new way of being able to connect with your audience directly is actually a big part of why small businesses and artists can work. The accessibility is kind of incredible, because I actually got started doing what I do by posting.
6. What are artists you look to inspiration for when you’re coming up with new work?
I follow a good deal of embroidery artists on instagram whose work I absolutely adore and love keeping up with, but in terms of finding inspiration, I actually have a blog that I use just for myself for reposting images, film stills, photography, bits of writing and work by contemporary artists along with my own photos. It’s sort of a visual journal that I use just for my own inspiration and I scroll through it all the time when I’m feeling stuck. It’s a combination of everything: some of it is playful and some is a little wistful or melancholy, but scrolling through it now, the same themes of love, longing, bursts of color and sentiment pour through the entire thing. I think it’s useful to create a visual world for yourself this way based on your own aesthetic, it helps to visually connect the dots in a way that can be returned to again and again. It’s like retuning. '
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