This week The 1104 Studio will spotlight studio member Sara Dilliplane! Below is an interview we did with her to give you more insight into who she is and her relationship with art! Be sure to check back all week for pictures, artwork and more!
Q: Why did you choose to become an artist?
A: I thought I was going to be a music teacher and an anthropologist. Art was always something I did for fun at home, creating little stories in notebooks with illustrations or trying to draw out explanations of something I was reading in a book so as to understand it better. I do remember my favorite school assignment in 3rd grade was writing and illustrating a picture book: everyone wrote an original story and then we actually got to spend time in class drawing pictures for it. I was so excited because it didn't feel like regular tedious homework, it felt like play! It was so thrilling to see the final product, this finished piece of art in book form, with marbleized end pages and crisp plastic sleeve like a library book. I think this impression must have contributed to later applying to Parsons School of Design. I noticed in the course catalog that they had classes in picture book making -- it sounded too good to be true! At the time, I was a sophomore at Vassar and although I was following my music/anthropology plan, something didn't feel right, some critical creative piece of me wasn't getting accessed. I took my junior year "abroad" at Parsons and never left! Meeting artist-instructors like Dave Passalacqua, Margaret Hurst, and Veronica Lawlor showed me the breadth of what art can be and what it can do for you. Art pushes me to engage in the world few other things do, which is both a relief and an occasional pain in the neck! I am continually grateful for the challenge.
Q: What kind of art do you like to do?
A: Anything and everything! Ink, pastels, fabric dyes, cray pas...the messier the better! One of my favorite things to do is draw while traveling... it's the most exciting and personal way to absorb a place.
I also love to get out the charcoal and pastels and take over the living room, making a huge mess while drawing studies of my husband and cats.
Recently, I've started trying to translate various drawings into 3-D, which grew out of being so frustrated while drawing I kept pushing the charcoal right through the paper. I have all these paper formations hanging around the studio, dangling from the walls, scaring the cats!
Q: What did you find the most interesting while working on the Mother Hale Project?
A: Mother Clara Hale let her heart guide her actions and beliefs, rather than succumbing to social pressures.
She was really a pioneer in her approach to the early HIV/AIDS epidemic in America.
When the rest of the country was overtaken by fear of the disease, opting to hide behind prejudice and judgement, Hale kept her doors (and her mind) open. It takes a tremendous amount of inner strength to push against a social pressure that great.
I love how she often said: "what children need on the most basic level is simply a hug, a smile, and song."
Q:What do you hope to accomplish with the Mother Hale Project?
A: I had never heard of Clara Hale before starting this project, but I was immediately awestruck by her. She seems to have embodied that Mother Teresa quality that I had my doubts truly existed-- it still boggles my mind how one woman can personally save over 1000 children! Hale made me realize my tendency of overlooking those "everyday heroes" just because I didn't happen to come across them in a college textbook or the Times front page. Clara Hale made me see the importance of paying attention, which often doesn't take much more than looking up as you walk by a bus station in Harlem and bothering to read the name on the side of the building. With this project, I hope just a few more people start to pay attention to people like Clara Hale, ask a few more questions than they would otherwise, and grow...
Q: Where do you see yourself as an artist in 10 years?
A: Drawing, painting, reading, and traveling as much as possible!
I hope to keep tapping into all the ideas and energy of this digitally driven era, finding new communication solutions while always remembering the importance of play through art.
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