Does this happen to you? You get an e-mail from a friend / acquaintance / complete stranger, that says, “I’m doing a paper / article / research project, would you be willing to answer a few questions?” It happens to me occasionally…and when it happened this time I thought, “I’m going to write it once and for all and then anytime somebody is doing a paper / article / research project I can just send them to this page and my part is done.”  Good idea, right?!?!

So here are the FAQs and my “Once and For All” answers…

How long have you been an artist?…well truth be told I was probably born with it. My favorite toys were the wood blocks, lincoln logs and legos. I was very serious about my legos this was before they came with a map to tell you what to make, none of that…back in my day (hehehe) we had to use our imagination. I also built interesting things for my Barbies. A butcher shop store front complete with hanging meat, all made out of aluminum foil, wheel chairs made out of paper plates for their recovery after the car wreck, etc…But I didn’t put a name to this disorder until I went to college. I started as a psychology major (and some days I wonder “what if?” I might be a doctor right now), then I took that first photography class…during one particular critique the instructor said about my work “This is a photographer’s photograph.” That was it, hook, line and sinker…my ego jumped up and said yep that was me, I did that, look what I did!!! I went and changed my major…I think that was 1984.

Why did you choose to be an artist?…if you read the last paragraph you know that I didn’t choose it I was born with it. It’s kind of like being gay; it’s not something you choose…it’s something that you just can’t not be.

What is your educational background?…I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in photography. I attended the University of Nevada Reno, University of Montana and graduated from Boise State University. I have a Master of Fine Arts with an emphasis in sculpture from Boise State. And I have years and years of self-taught, hard-way, wouldn’t ask for help if my life depended on it, mistakes and failure…there is just no better education than that.

Are you a full-time artist?…If by “full-time” you mean do I pay all my bills from selling art, the answer is “sometimes”. I have had moments of no other job. For most of the last 10 years I have also been a teacher. What I teach is “Art Related” does that count? I teach at the university, I teach at my studio, The Sculpture Studio and I’ve even been known to take my show on the road and do workshops other places.  If by “full-time” you mean does it take over every waking moment of my life, then the answer is yes. I’m a maker it plays out in everything I do…I can’t help it (as described above).

What materials do you work with?…Primarily I work with steel and wood and polyurethane resin (basically it’s plastic). Resin is kind of the bane of my existence! It’s capable of so much “art magic” but it’s also expensive and unpredictable!  Now after a lot of years of working with it, it will most of the time do what I tell it to…unless I’m in a hurry, or stressed, or broke, then it absolutely will not…uggh! I think I’ve seen most of the possibilities of what it does when it’s not obeying. I have used it in almost all the ways the manufacturer would recommend against…maybe?! And I have made some pretty cool discoveries.

What other materials have you worked with?…I’ve been a photographer, an industrial sewer, a steel sculptor, a visual merchandiser, a house painter, I’ve insulated, drywalled, caulked, I’ve framed rooms (and some pictures), I’ve built fences and a deck and a waterfall and terraced flowerbeds and furniture, I’ve carved stone and wood and plastic, I’ve cast paper, bronze, aluminum, resin and jello ;o). Right now I believe that given the right tools and some instruction (or not) I could just about make anything out of anything…and if you ask my wife she would tell you that too (I’m pretty sure I have her convinced).

If you were to do something else, what would it be?…I’ve often thought that if I had picked a vocation that actually had a paycheck with it I would have become a structural engineer or something like that. My brain works that way, figuring out the structure of a thing or the way things are put together are my favorite parts of the making process.

What artist inspires you and or your work?…Well I have a list: Kiki Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Eva Hesse, Tim Hawkinson, Robert Gober, Doris Salcedo, Tara Donovan, Do Ho Suh, Anselm Kiefer, Robert Rauschenberg…to name just a few. But those names don’t really cover the things that inspire me. I’m also inspired by numerous other artists whose names I don’t remember or never knew in the first place. I’m inspired by cracks in the sidewalk, broken things, decay of any sort and things that have been taken over by nature; I’m also inspired by objects that have been really well designed and smart song writing. Or like I tell my students, “Everything you see, everything you hear, everything you read and everything you experience.”

OK there you have it “The Artist Interview” does that about cover it? Sorry it got so long but now it’s done and with any luck I will never have to do this again (unless of course someone comes up with a new question ;o).

Ensue

By Katy Dang

The full impact of Sue Latta’s work takes a minute to sink in. Her 3-dimensional sculptures beckon to be approached from different angles, to be looked not only at but into, around, and through. In the process of viewing her work, you are pulled into it and then taken beyond it.

Latta is a storyteller who uses all manner of material forms to give visual expression to her stories. She builds relief sculptures; wall-mounted pieces that combine photographic images, a variety of textures, and elements of narrative to come up with a complete piece. The stories have changed tenor over the course of her major shows, but it is ultimately the telling of tales that lie at the heart of her work.

Viewing her most recent show, “Best Worst Case Scenario,” it is hard not to be struck by the sheer force of her inventiveness. The variety of mediums that Latta has discovered, developed, and mastered are notable. “The work in this show lets me combine everything that I love to work with,” says Latta. “I can incorporate photographs, construction, casting. It frees me up to pay tribute to things that I think are beautiful.”

She works with the elements—fire, water, air—to change materials into forms. There are textures that belie their origin: wood becomes metal, sand becomes steel, latex becomes glass, metal becomes tendon, resin becomes flesh. The interface of the tender and the tough are key elements in the work: think blocked/visible, exposed/hidden, innocence/experience.

“I like work that contains different materials,” says Latta. “When you have something to contrast, there is a duality that has to be worked out. You have no choice but to see things in comparison to each other.”

Latta is very specific in her intention to have a collaborative experience with the viewer. These are not works that you wander idly past in a gallery admiring them for their beauty alone. They require you to participate, to draw your own conclusion and make your own connections.

There are 2 elements of her work: the cognition and the creation. First are the stories themselves. Latta is a fan of a good turn of phrase and puts them to good use. These are not full narratives but evocations: setting the scene for a situation to play out. The viewer is brought into one portion of the arc of the story and left to fill in the blanks. The words may ask a question, but they certainly don’t give an answer.

The second element is the construction. In the midst of the chaos of creating and combining, there is craftsmanship of the highest order. Her years of experimentation have taught her that there are no limits to her imagination: anything can be done, created, made…and made very well. There is not a seam showing, an angle off, no matter what the medium.

Her approach to her pieces is to allow for serendipity: a form will find its phrase, and the two will come together in a fully realized whole. Hers is a process of conjuring: of finding the new in the known. The results are something to behold.