Name: Mel Stringer
Age: Twenty Two
Country: Australia
Website: www.melstringer.blogspot.com
At which age did you start creating art? And why do you feel compelled
to create?
I only really started to consider my works as art when I first moved out of home and accross the country. I started using my drawings more and more for autobiographical purposes, documenting my life.. and I started getting lovely letters from people who could identify with me. (That's been one of my biggest inspirations and motivators.. just being able to connect with my audience. Omg. Best feeling.)
But I've been drawing since I've been little. The evolution has been quite funny, actually. There's manga in there somewhere around grade 7. Punk/emo/goth around grade 10-12. And all the fads I tried in primary school like ballerinas (which failed badly), Sonic the Hedgehog, Mickey Mouse and Kotex R. Panda was in there somewhere.
I actually recently started writing to my good friend from year 5, Taylor Brown who said he kept a whole bunch of drawings I did for him back then. The one that stood out the most he said was one called 'Moad', a mixture of the characters Toad and Mario. Crazy huh? o_o
What are you inspired by? And who do you look up to?
Music is my main mover. If it can soak through me like a ghost, I'm usually compelled to let my paper and pen know about it.
I look up to people who are happy and youthful. It's what I want to be when I'm older.
I guess that means I have to be angsty and moody for a few more years. I mean, the core of me is joy. It really is. It surpasses all the other crazy shit that happens in my life and seeps on through. But I do really admire happy and youthful people, because I know I'll get there really soon.
(And to use what I do as my propellers - the journey becomes all the more satisfying.)
Which influential artist would you like to ask for advice?
I'd like to ask Ramon Sierra for some life advice...
If you had to put up one piece of artwork on your wall and stare at it for a year, who would it be by and why?
A big custom wall piece of me wearing a dress and angrily pointing and saying "You won't get me down, life! You won't!" by Yoshitomo Nara.
Tell us about your creative process.
It's usually pretty simple. I dont like to have too many tools or be too fiddly. I love just folding a bunch of A4 paper into a book and drawing straight on to it like I could publish it the next day. Because usually if I'm in that mindset, I CAN publish it the next day. And then it's current and new and raw and available.
Oh and I also don't like to spend too long on one piece. It gets boring, trite and exhausting then. What does that say about me? Short attention span? Well.. I mean, there are other things that I don't feel that way about. But when it's me and my art, I want it to be fresh!
Not stale and old. It's same with my music. I hate performing old material. It's like, it's good for the moment and it can be timeless for people if they wish.. but for me it's like old skin and old clothes.
In the moment and at the time, they are beautiful and cathartic and new and fresh. But I soon move on.
I'll have time to admire from afar later on. Once I'm ten billion miles past it.
Do you ever find weird connections between life and art?
I mix the two, so it's my fault :(
As an artist, are you Technical or passionate? (Do you lose yourself in the work or do you make precise decisions?)
Fuck technical. I'm about feeling things.
Arms, legs, hearts, eyes, lips, tips of toes, tongues, eyelashes.
Also,.. angry,sad,happy,sick,joyful,accomplished,curious,cold,hot,heaven,hell.
How do you determine when a work is finished? Or is it ever finished?
I like a cut off point. Lingering on is so exhausting. Gotta have sum rest!
Do you think there are boundaries you would never cross in your art making?
Oh wow. Um.. I don't think I would ever draw anything to do with toilet humour. I just can't do it. And I don't want to either. Everything else is up for consideration.
What frightens you most about your art?
Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm saying something that my parents / relatives might find really offensive. Because if THEY think you're nuts, that's
it. You got nowhere else to go if you're in real trouble. But that's about it.
Do you have any magic cures for creative blocks?
Exercise, creating music, cooking. Flickr photos of vintage toys. Reading other people's zines and generally emersing myself in indie press. It's all the energy beaming off indie work that gets my motor running.
Do you dream about your artwork?
Not really. But if I've had a really rough day at work, I can sometimes dream of myself being on stage in an American jazz club, screaming my lungs out like Aretha Franklin so much that I wake up with a sore jaw and wet eyes.
Which of your own works are you most proud of/ is most meaningful to you and why?
It's the works that other people treasure that are my most meaningful works. Because they see something inside of it that maybe I never saw at the time. They make their own connection with it, and that means so much to me. (& make me very emo).
Which art mediums and brands do you prefer to use?
Reflex paper, Artline pens. Faber Castel textas, pencils. Moleskines are goood.
What kind of art education do you have? Do you think it is important?
I went to Morningside Tafe in Brisbane for 2 years and studied Visual Arts, and F yes it was important. I met some really beautiful people and well.. they were defining years for me. My first set of years in the 'big smoke'.
I learned about art, but it was more about the experience to me. I'm so sad that building is or has been demolished to build apartment blocks. At least I stayed with it in it's last dying moments. I've never done that with anything before.
What kind of career do you ultimately want? And what kind of career do you think you'll end up having (or already have) realistically?
I want to be more successful in my music and my illustration. It's not something I can just give up. I feel like I'm a endless well. What career comes from the things I love the most? Well, I'll figure that out soon.
Is your family supportive of your art? Who influenced and nurtured your creativity most?
My mum is pretty cool. She admits she doesn't 'get' art, but she is very sweet in that if she ever sees anything 'cutely' or 'off-beat-ly' drawn, she'll
ask if I did it. "Mel! Did you do that ad on TV of the cartoon guy with the headache?". It's quite cute.
Dad is a cartoonist and caricaturist, so he's very proud of me. I try hard not to let him discover my more exposed works.. but he has found them in the past and gone, "Did you write the F word? Or did someone else write that?", or "Why is that there for?" (pointing to.. I dunno.. random object strapped to girl's head.)
My Grandma is VERY supportive. Whenever she sees my stuff in a magazine or in some trendy shop on the Gold Coast, she'll immediately strike up
a conversation with whoever is around that I'm her granddaughter. She doesn't like that I draw nipples that show through clothes .. that's the least of her worries.. but she's great. And an evangelist! My grandfather (an evangelist too), however, doesn't get it.
Which is fine.
Actually, now that we're on the subject of family, I may as well mention that I have a younger cousin Sharde who is 16 and is like, totally 'following' in my footsteps. She loves to draw and she loves animals. One thing she said to me a few weeks ago was "I'm learning to drive soon! But what if there
is an ant on the road? I'll have to swerve not to hit it!" It helps that our grandfather is a taxidermy wonder. With dead, stuffed foxes and birds in his office.
Which direction do you see your art heading in the future?
Over the sea. Which is where I'd like to follow it to. Want to come along?
Who are some of your heroes outside of the visual art stream?
There are so many!
Age: Twenty Two
Country: Australia
Website: www.melstringer.blogspot.com
At which age did you start creating art? And why do you feel compelled
to create?
I only really started to consider my works as art when I first moved out of home and accross the country. I started using my drawings more and more for autobiographical purposes, documenting my life.. and I started getting lovely letters from people who could identify with me. (That's been one of my biggest inspirations and motivators.. just being able to connect with my audience. Omg. Best feeling.)
But I've been drawing since I've been little. The evolution has been quite funny, actually. There's manga in there somewhere around grade 7. Punk/emo/goth around grade 10-12. And all the fads I tried in primary school like ballerinas (which failed badly), Sonic the Hedgehog, Mickey Mouse and Kotex R. Panda was in there somewhere.
I actually recently started writing to my good friend from year 5, Taylor Brown who said he kept a whole bunch of drawings I did for him back then. The one that stood out the most he said was one called 'Moad', a mixture of the characters Toad and Mario. Crazy huh? o_o
What are you inspired by? And who do you look up to?
Music is my main mover. If it can soak through me like a ghost, I'm usually compelled to let my paper and pen know about it.
I look up to people who are happy and youthful. It's what I want to be when I'm older.
I guess that means I have to be angsty and moody for a few more years. I mean, the core of me is joy. It really is. It surpasses all the other crazy shit that happens in my life and seeps on through. But I do really admire happy and youthful people, because I know I'll get there really soon.
(And to use what I do as my propellers - the journey becomes all the more satisfying.)
Which influential artist would you like to ask for advice?
I'd like to ask Ramon Sierra for some life advice...
If you had to put up one piece of artwork on your wall and stare at it for a year, who would it be by and why?
A big custom wall piece of me wearing a dress and angrily pointing and saying "You won't get me down, life! You won't!" by Yoshitomo Nara.
Tell us about your creative process.
It's usually pretty simple. I dont like to have too many tools or be too fiddly. I love just folding a bunch of A4 paper into a book and drawing straight on to it like I could publish it the next day. Because usually if I'm in that mindset, I CAN publish it the next day. And then it's current and new and raw and available.
Oh and I also don't like to spend too long on one piece. It gets boring, trite and exhausting then. What does that say about me? Short attention span? Well.. I mean, there are other things that I don't feel that way about. But when it's me and my art, I want it to be fresh!
Not stale and old. It's same with my music. I hate performing old material. It's like, it's good for the moment and it can be timeless for people if they wish.. but for me it's like old skin and old clothes.
In the moment and at the time, they are beautiful and cathartic and new and fresh. But I soon move on.
I'll have time to admire from afar later on. Once I'm ten billion miles past it.
Do you ever find weird connections between life and art?
I mix the two, so it's my fault :(
As an artist, are you Technical or passionate? (Do you lose yourself in the work or do you make precise decisions?)
Fuck technical. I'm about feeling things.
Arms, legs, hearts, eyes, lips, tips of toes, tongues, eyelashes.
Also,.. angry,sad,happy,sick,joyful,accomplished,curious,cold,hot,heaven,hell.
How do you determine when a work is finished? Or is it ever finished?
I like a cut off point. Lingering on is so exhausting. Gotta have sum rest!
Do you think there are boundaries you would never cross in your art making?
Oh wow. Um.. I don't think I would ever draw anything to do with toilet humour. I just can't do it. And I don't want to either. Everything else is up for consideration.
What frightens you most about your art?
Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm saying something that my parents / relatives might find really offensive. Because if THEY think you're nuts, that's
it. You got nowhere else to go if you're in real trouble. But that's about it.
Do you have any magic cures for creative blocks?
Exercise, creating music, cooking. Flickr photos of vintage toys. Reading other people's zines and generally emersing myself in indie press. It's all the energy beaming off indie work that gets my motor running.
Do you dream about your artwork?
Not really. But if I've had a really rough day at work, I can sometimes dream of myself being on stage in an American jazz club, screaming my lungs out like Aretha Franklin so much that I wake up with a sore jaw and wet eyes.
Which of your own works are you most proud of/ is most meaningful to you and why?
It's the works that other people treasure that are my most meaningful works. Because they see something inside of it that maybe I never saw at the time. They make their own connection with it, and that means so much to me. (& make me very emo).
Which art mediums and brands do you prefer to use?
Reflex paper, Artline pens. Faber Castel textas, pencils. Moleskines are goood.
What kind of art education do you have? Do you think it is important?
I went to Morningside Tafe in Brisbane for 2 years and studied Visual Arts, and F yes it was important. I met some really beautiful people and well.. they were defining years for me. My first set of years in the 'big smoke'.
I learned about art, but it was more about the experience to me. I'm so sad that building is or has been demolished to build apartment blocks. At least I stayed with it in it's last dying moments. I've never done that with anything before.
What kind of career do you ultimately want? And what kind of career do you think you'll end up having (or already have) realistically?
I want to be more successful in my music and my illustration. It's not something I can just give up. I feel like I'm a endless well. What career comes from the things I love the most? Well, I'll figure that out soon.
Is your family supportive of your art? Who influenced and nurtured your creativity most?
My mum is pretty cool. She admits she doesn't 'get' art, but she is very sweet in that if she ever sees anything 'cutely' or 'off-beat-ly' drawn, she'll
ask if I did it. "Mel! Did you do that ad on TV of the cartoon guy with the headache?". It's quite cute.
Dad is a cartoonist and caricaturist, so he's very proud of me. I try hard not to let him discover my more exposed works.. but he has found them in the past and gone, "Did you write the F word? Or did someone else write that?", or "Why is that there for?" (pointing to.. I dunno.. random object strapped to girl's head.)
My Grandma is VERY supportive. Whenever she sees my stuff in a magazine or in some trendy shop on the Gold Coast, she'll immediately strike up
a conversation with whoever is around that I'm her granddaughter. She doesn't like that I draw nipples that show through clothes .. that's the least of her worries.. but she's great. And an evangelist! My grandfather (an evangelist too), however, doesn't get it.
Which is fine.
Actually, now that we're on the subject of family, I may as well mention that I have a younger cousin Sharde who is 16 and is like, totally 'following' in my footsteps. She loves to draw and she loves animals. One thing she said to me a few weeks ago was "I'm learning to drive soon! But what if there
is an ant on the road? I'll have to swerve not to hit it!" It helps that our grandfather is a taxidermy wonder. With dead, stuffed foxes and birds in his office.
Which direction do you see your art heading in the future?
Over the sea. Which is where I'd like to follow it to. Want to come along?
Who are some of your heroes outside of the visual art stream?
There are so many!
Posts
Mel is so awesome, and her answers are so great. I wish she could say even more. I love to read, and if it were in video I'd love to listen!
ReplyDeleteoh i love her!!
ReplyDeleteI love Mel. Her music, her drawings her personality. I am extra super proud of her!
ReplyDeletemelissa is such a sweat pea and, such a talented one
ReplyDeleteLove love love this. I *heart* Mel!
ReplyDeleteAnd so glad I found your interview blog too, Caitlin. Hurrah!
Melanie xox