Classmate Interview: Ailysh Cooper
Following the last defined assignment in this class, we were asked to interview a classmate on the assignment (Put a Bird On It!) as well as add our own questions aside from this project. I had the pleasure of interviewing Ailysh Cooper, as appears below:
1. What were your thoughts about the video? In what way did it make you approach this assignment?
a. My first thoughts were that it was kind of funny and it made me laugh kind of uncomfortably because I didn’t know what to think. After, I figured they were kind of making fun of trendy things like how designers look at things and just put a bird, etc. on it because people like that. I chose to focus on how birds travel instead of on the main focus of the video, so I made paperclip birds in different forms.
2. Describe your material choices. Do they fall within the realms of the functional object, craft, art, or all of the above? Do your materials relate to your conceptual approach?
a. I chose to make the birds out of paperclips that I bought because I was making what the material already was. It related to the concept as I was relating birds and paperclips directly.
3. Does the ornamentation of an object contribute to its tastefulness?
a. I think it kind of depends on whose taste. Depending on how it’s done, some symbols are viewed as kitschier and less tasteful. Kitschy can be good and seriously taken. Ornamentation can go either way—it doesn’t make it any less tasteful/appealing.
4. Reflect a little bit on the parameters between what is trendy and what is kitsch. Is this parallel to the relationship between DIY and fine art? Are there instances where the lines between high and low are blurred?
a. I accept a lot of art as being fine art. It depends on the artist’s intention. “Low art” can be defined by a line of criticism, but I don’t think that a line is really there in terms of appreciating art. Sometimes the lines are blurred. Some really expressive art is considered low, and sometimes fine art doesn’t have expressive quality. In a real sense, nothing is high or low but is equal in the end.
5. Can symbols identified as kitsch still be used by designers and artists genuinely and be taken seriously?
a. They can be taken seriously because they have meaning to someone. Everything is taken seriously by someone so by nature it can be serious, even without intention.
6. What introspection did you have while creating this project and after the class critique?
a. I didn’t do a lot of introspection during the critique and everything. It took awhile to sink in and I want to keep rethinking the way I make art. I had a big rethink senior year of High School in terms of the process of my creation of art. I had an idea behind this project in the critique but as I kept thinking about it, I realized I needed something not just more developed but a better idea in the first place, so I’m trying to wait for better ideas to hit me before I actually start creating the project.
7. How have you developed as an artist through this project and the other projects done in this class this semester?
a. I feel like I haven’t developed as much yet. I’m at the brink, and my hope is that with the final project I can start that development more. I’ve had 3D classes before but not the mindset, as I gravitate toward 2D art in my work. My pieces have been more or less the same in terms of aesthetics (geometric forms) and ideas (not just pretty, but also nothing profound conceptually). Nothing’s really captured my heart yet.
8. What inspires you as an artist? Why choose to pursue art as a career, why keep up with your skill, what influences your work?
a. What inspires me as an artist when I’m making art is going online and finding any kind of art. 5% I find inspiring, and 1% actually makes me feel something and this is what I am looking for. My family and people inspire me. I won’t end up drawing or painting half my ideas but they are all there. As an artist career, I started scribbling when I was really little but kept at it for longer periods of time than most my age. Then I would see something that looked cool and drew it. Then I realized I was an artist because I do it all the time. Through high school my teachers would inspire me. One in particular would talk me through everything from normal day idea situations and project development, to art history and artists, and also where I was going and what I wanted to do. I realized early on in high school that I want to be an art teacher. I am pursuing this because I like doing art, and I want to teach art because I had such good art teachers. I want to be the kind of teacher they were to me. Sort of paying it forward.
9. What aspects of yourself appear in your work?
a. Most of my stuff is 2D so I’ll talk about that. Usually I express myself in anything— still life, portrait, etc.—with something that’s important to me. Things I own, places I have been, etc. Things that inspire me most sometimes don’t get drawn—it depends. I do portraits of people important to me. I show up through the things that are important to me.
10. What is one big (or little) art-related dream you have?
a. I’m kind of goalless right now. In high school I achieved goals I set for myself or that others set for me. I want to grow and keep growing as an artist this year. I don’t need to be famous. I want to be free and have control—control gives you freedom, as if you don’t only listen to others, but yourself, you can do what you want. I want to sell the art I want with customers appreciating that. I want to leave an impression on people—inspire them to feel something or do something good. My big dream is to be the best art teacher ever. I want to go to the doctorate level in art education and really feel like I know what I’m doing even when I don’t. I want to wake up happy to do my job and have it not feel like a job, but rather it will be what I do.