New Faces at WSW: Fall 2016 Edition
July 20, 2016
Mid-June saw the arrival of WSW’s newest interns. They’ve quickly set to work, jumping in on their own projects amidst preparations for the Summer Art Institute. From left to right, WSW is happy to welcome Kate Farrell, Summer Intern; Molly Berkson and Sarah Rose Lejeune, Studio Interns; and Chloe Horsma, Non Profit Management Intern. Read on to meet the newest members of the WSW family, and see why we’re so excited to have them in the studio!
Kate Farrell
Title: Summer Intern
School: The University of Virginia
Major: B.A. in Studio Art with Distinction, Printmaking Concentration & B.A. in Religious Studies, Christianity Concentration
Where’s your hometown (or place you call home)? I grew up in Roanoke, VA.
Who are your top three favorite artists?
Anne Beck, Berenika Boberska, & Annu Vertanen
What art-making supplies did you bring with you to WSW?
I brought mainly supplies for monotypes – etching ink, pieces of plexiglass, paintbrushes, and a lot of Q-tips. Recently I’ve been enjoying using acrylic paints and gouache on plexiglass that’s tautly covered with plastic to create an atmospheric layer on prints or to dye paper.
What music do you like listening to while you work?
Usually I’m listening to late 90s/early 2000s hits, but recently I can’t stop soaking up OnBeing podcasts with Krista Tippet and her fascinating guests.
What are you most excited for at WSW? Do you have any specific projects planned?
As a live-in intern, I get to meet all of the wonderfully interesting instructors and students who immerse themselves in great work here for short stints of time during SAI. I love the daily shared meal and conversation with everyone at the studio. This summer I’m hoping to pull sheets of cotton rag/daylily paper and to create a letterpress piece.
What’s your dream job?
The dream is to start a community space that involves gathering around food and art-making. There’s a lot to learn from WSW!
What’s your favorite Stewart’s Ice Cream flavor?
Mint Chocolate Chip
Molly Berkson
Title: Studio Intern
School: School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Major: Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio, with an emphasis on print media and fiber & material studies
Where’s your home town (or place you call home)? I was born and raised in Evanston, IL and I call Chicago home.
Who are your top favorite artists?
Ana Mendieta and Zarina
What music do you like listening to while you work?
I almost always listen to Blondie’s “Parallel Lines”!
What are you most excited for at WSW? Do you have any specific projects planned?
I am so excited to experiment with new paper fiber and natural dye plants that I can gather & harvest from the surrounding woody areas and the ArtFarm. I am also very excited to have the time and space to experiment, take my time playing with materials, and see new ways of working from the artists/makers around me. I hope that my experiments and discoveries will lead to new work that uses amalgamations of traditional and not-so-traditional print & craft practices.
What’s your dream job?
I’m not sure what my dream job is, but ideally it would include or allow making my own work alongside a community of other artists and makers who are always learning from and challenging each other.
Favorite Stewart’s flavor?
Last weekend I treated myself to a banana split with a scoop each of Brew Ha Ha (coffee ice cream with espresso chocolate chips), Death By Chocolate (dark chocolate ice cream with nuts and fudge chunks) and Peanut Butter Pandemonium (vanilla ice cream with peanut butter cups, chocolate chips and swirls of peanut butter). By far the best banana split I’ve ever had.
Sarah Rose Lejeune
Title: Studio Intern
School: Oberlin College
Major: BA in Studio Art and a minor in Comparative American Studies
Where’s your home town (or place you call home)? My parents live in Brookline, MA. In the past year I have lived in Oberlin, OH, Brooklyn, NY and Providence, RI. I have been pretty peripatetic lately, but have found and made and carried little bits of home throughout all of those places.
Who are your top three favorite artists?
There are so many, but recently I have been especially fascinated by the work of Doris Salcedo, Agnes Martin, and Zarina.
What are your favorite art-making tools and materials?
I brought many different kinds of paper and thread with me, powdered graphite and charcoal, my dremel and solder iron, ink stone, Swedish bobbin winder (for making paper thread), and all sorts of tiny collected objects. While at WSW much of my time will be spent on the MIG welder, beating fiber, at the paper vats, and on the etching press. Much of my work centers around labor intensive hand processes, which inform the way I frame my work in paper and print as sculptural residues of touch and performance. I am especially drawn to forms of hand papermaking for that reason, and its possibilities for interaction and integration with print and metal sculpture.
What music do you like listening to while you work?
It can really go in all directions. A sampling from the last week: Angel Olsen, Little Dragon, Galaxie 500, Otis Redding, Homeshake, Dead Moon, Patti Smith, Frank Ocean, Best Coast, Real Estate, Grouper, D’Angelo, Posse, Bruce Springsteen, The Beta Band, Jason Molina, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Dosh, Avril Lavigne, DJ Algoriddim, Sade, Electrelane…
What are you most excited for at WSW? Do you have any specific projects planned?
I have so many hopes and projects and excitements floating around in my mind right now for my time at WSW! I plan to make steel and laminate cast paper sculptures, in combination with paper thread and rope weavings. I am experimenting with different fibers for papermaking, such as black denim rag, kenaf, and milkweed fluff. I have also begun to research kintsugi, and plan to make a series of mezzotints about sidewalk cracks.
What’s your dream job?
My dream is to always have time in my studio to make my own work. Alongside my own studio practice, I want to continue teaching and learning and assisting artists. I envision myself in education environments of many kinds, whether that is a university, community arts organization, craft school, teaching and production paper studio, or residency program. I can see myself someday as a studio collaborator of sorts in all of those settings, teaching, learning, problem-solving, researching and creating alongside other makers.
Favorite Stewarts ice cream flavor?
Black Raspberry
Chloe Horsma
Title: Non Profit Management Intern
School: Mills College
Major: BAs in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and English with an emphasis in Creative Writing
Where’s your home town (or place you call home)? Sacramento, California is my home, although the Bay Area has a warm, fuzzy place in my heart as well.
Who are your top three favorite artists?
I’ve always been a writer, so I get my inspiration mostly from other writers. A few current favorites: Margaret Atwood, Isabel Allende, and Maggie Nelson.
What art-making supplies did you bring with you to WSW?
My favorite equipment to use is a trusty Vandercook letterpress, but since they don’t travel very easily I just brought a few bookbinding standards (needles, bone folder, x-acto knife, etc.).
What music do you like listening to while you work?
I’m not very picky but I definitely cycle regularly through 70s and 80s music, indie pop, and folk. Something upbeat, with good energy, that I can either take occasional dance party breaks or sing along to while I work.
What are you most excited for at WSW? Do you have any specific projects planned?
There’s so much to learn and play with here, it’s been a little overwhelming to know where to start. I’m really excited to experiment with papermaking and hope to incorporate handmade paper into my work on the letterpress, and I want to learn how to make wheel-thrown ceramics as well. It’s also exciting to work behind the scenes and learn all the things that go into making WSW run.
What’s your dream job?
That’s a question with a million answers! My dream job would have me working with books in some form, whether as a book artist, librarian, archivist, conservator, publisher, or something I haven’t thought of yet. I would love to find, or create, a job introducing book arts to new communities, which combines literacy work and feminist advocacy.
What’s your favorite Stewart’s ice cream?
Peanut Butter Pandemonium