Using Photography to Escape Darkness with Cynthia Shepard
Love Wonderful, Creative You lot:
This is part of an interview series on members of the Mindful Art Studio community who accept used art every bit self-intendance. You lot tin can find all the interviews in this series:
I'thousand hoping that you will find inspiration in these amazing stories and motivation to charge up your own art practice.
Creatively Yours,
Amy
AMY: What are your earliest memories of art making, and creating as a child? What'south the first time you lot remember feeling inspired?
CYNTHIA: The first project I remember feeling inspired on was in grade school. The instructor gave each of us a slice of burlap, a big needle and several colors of yarn. My grandmother had tried to interest me in counted cross-stitch, but I liked the idea of being able to make a picture but by drawing and stitching an outline. I fabricated a very colorful butterfly.
AMY: What were the messages that you got as a kid about art?
CYNTHIA: My aunt took a lot of pictures and even had a darkroom in her basement. When I was about four, she gave me an viii″x10″ of a picture she had taken of me, which got me interested in taking pictures.
I got my first camera while I was withal in grade school – an instamatic. I didn't recall of it as art, but just a way to proceed memories. I considered my older brother an artist because he could draw and played music by ear.
The person who most encouraged me to explore creativity was my fifth course teacher, who introduced me to writing poetry and even trying my hand at writing a play.
AMY: What are your favorite ways to limited yourself creatively? What kind of art do you brand?
CYNTHIA: I have photos and do edits of them. I was very late in moving from motion-picture show to digital, and notice it easiest to only piece of work with the photographic camera on my telephone. Afterward an excursion this spring, I discovered the editing capabilities of the Gallery app on my phone and have really enjoyed playing with that.
AMY: If you've ever gone through a period of feeling blocked, or that you don't have "permission" to make art, how did yous detect the backbone to create over again?
CYNTHIA: I used to practise some creative writing, but found that I felt I needed to brand a story go somewhere, which didn't exercise good things for the writing.
What allowed me to beginning experimenting with creativity again later that was driving my mom to her cloth doll club. The leader encouraged me to try a couple of challenges, fifty-fifty though I didn't stitch. I had the fun of working with fabric and embellishments without sewing. For one challenge I also had to make up a short biography for the doll using the proper name the doll was given as a betoken of inspiration. My dolls were much more primitive than those of the gild members, but I got encouragement from them, and that was of import.
[bctt tweet="Taking photos and editing them has get role of the manner I cope with depression. – Cynthia Shepard #artheals" username="amymaricle"]
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AMY: What role does fine art play in your life? How is fine art self-treat y'all? Does it help you limited, cope or understand your earth? Tin you lot explain your process and how you use it?
CYNTHIA: Taking photos and editing them has get a part of the way I cope with low. It gives me something to focus on so I don't spend and then much time abode on negative thoughts.
Sometimes I but come across something that I want to take a picture of, just generally I pick a place that I want to go, so look for what interests me. I take many pictures. I do end upwardly deleting some, only only after I've tried and failed to edit them in a mode that appeals to me.
Some days I volition but shoot, and leave editing and playing for some other fourth dimension. On days where I need more distraction, I will keep playing with edits until I have a version of each picture from that day. I try to vary the effects I utilise, although there are some I tend to similar ameliorate than others.
AMY: Are there ever art pieces that scare you? Pieces that y'all don't want to complete because they feel as well dark, weird, stupid, or "not you?"
CYNTHIA: I wouldn't say that they scare me then much every bit I but don't like them so well. At 1 signal in my life I was more than fond of night colors, merely that's no longer the case. At present I prefer brighter colors, so I tend to either disengage steps or start over if an edit is getting darker than I like.
AMY: What inspires your art? Who are some of the artists/places/situations that inspire you?
CYNTHIA: I dear nature, especially hills or mountains, h2o in any form, animals (although I don't have much success in photographing them), and plants, peculiarly flowers. I don't know how much they inspire what I create, but I am about fond of the impressionists.
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Source: https://mindfulartstudio.com/creative-self-care-using-photography-to-escape-darkness-with-cynthia-shepard/
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