Shamira Wilson
So what are we working on today? You said you're going to be hanging some stuff?
Yes. So, I just wrapped up the show upstairs, in a space called the City Gallery... I did a series of work based off of a community called Martindale - Brightwood. The Harrison Center does this annual theater performance called PreEnact. They invite the community out to this festival where they enact what they'd like to see happen in [Indianapolis when neighborhoods are] starting to become developed versus people coming in and redeveloping. [When a neighborhood is developed by a company from the outside] it could be looked at as a blank slate, the culture is removed.
[In this series of work,] I chose to highlight some of the community assets [of that neighborhood]. Martin University is one of those landmarks. This organic grid shape came about, because the interstate cut through the neighborhood and displaced a lot of people. And it created this new border around the neighborhood that's got this shape going on. So I pulled from that visual element and added it into the work. I had a few other pieces from that series that sold. But this one, I think I'm going to hang onto it and keep it. It's my favorite (photograph below).
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Have you been working with the house motif for a while?
I have. I started that series in sketch form in 2013. And I had the idea to do a series of 100. And I chose that number because I wanted to make a large volume of work, and then have some really good pieces in there, versus making a small series, and only having maybe a couple of good ones.
There's also a spiritual connection to the 100 houses theme. I think there's a Bible scripture that talks about, "In my Father's house, there are many mansions," so it's kind of about spirituality, and what the house represents. They're isolated on this white background, so it has this spiritual aspect.
They're very graphic.
Yes. And around the same time I started this series, I started a job where I was doing layouts for a catalog. It was a lot of working with a grid, thinking about how images are portrayed graphically. And so it's really minimal work and just arranging things in a balanced format so that everything flows, looks good.
As I was [working with catalog layouts], I really started to capture that in my work too.
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So you've got these really graphic houses in some of your patterns, but then the backgrounds are really free form. I like how you put the two together.
Thank you. I usually work very graphically. I'm influenced by textiles a lot.
And story telling using patterns and narrative textiles. I typically work in a really graphic format and I found that doing this rust printing technique, which I learned in a workshop a couple years ago. It helps me to loosen up a bit and not to lose my sensibility. It's a nice contrast from what I'm usually working on.
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Shamira holds a rusty metal grid she makes rust prints from, as described below. The framed piece in this photograph is Shamira’s favorite piece from her recent show at City Gallery, as mentioned above.
So when you do rust prints, is it something where what makes the line has to be something that rusts, a metal that rusts?
Mm-hmm. I went to a workshop a few years ago at Haystack Mountain School. They took us to find discarded materials, and I found this grid... I cut it up and put it in my suitcase and brought it home. So I've been printing with this same metal for about two or three years.
I used this one to do that piece up there on the wall. So it's just got to be able to rust and transfer onto fabric.
When I did this one I didn't lay the fabric flat across the grid. I didn't plan on it being like this, it was a nice, serendipitous event that it came out that way….Sort of the concept of the city grid and a way to document what's happening locally with transportation and construction. This piece, I just really want to have fun with it and not pre-plan too much. It almost feels like a tester to just put ideas down and see what happens.
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I'm trying to think how to phrase this. You said that you were influenced by patterns on textiles and stuff as well. You are aware of that and how that influences you.
Yes. I'm really interested in traditions and things we pick up as we're young. Like my mother and my great-grandmother did needlework and quilting. My mother would make my clothes when I was little. And she made this quilt with all the leftover pieces of my clothing.
All the scraps and everything.
I kept it. It's been used by family members and it's worn and tattered, but I love it.
So I've been thinking about how to incorporate those traditions into my own work and what that looks like for me now, if I want to continue the traditions.
So that's where a lot of my textile influence comes from. It's like things that I've picked up on from my family. The houses that I grew up in, some of the motifs I use are just things in my memory, from growing up. Happy memories, things like that.
Yeah.
So, after I graduated from college I worked in the contract furniture and textile industry. Which is kind of where it comes from too. [It was] largely commercial projects like hotels, hospitality, things like that. I was able to dip my toes into textiles at that point.
What are these squares you are hanging?
These are my swatches. This is a color palette I've been working on for this coming year. When I create new work, it will be in these colors.
Before I was making really vibrant colors. Mostly experiments to see how the colors related to each other. But I feel like now I'm really starting to narrow that down and hone in on a more solid color plan.
This is the first year that you’ve decided on a color palette before you go into the year?
Yeah. Typically I'll start with, like for this one I had 12 tones and some shades that I work with. And then as I was painting I would just apply the color intuitively. This year, I'm actually planning out, okay Spring I'm going to do this color palette, Winter I'm going to do this color palette, Fall I'll do this color palette, and Summer this color palette. That will help me to have more focus…
How did you decide to narrow it down and come up with a palette beforehand?
I looked at colors that I use a lot of. I typically do use a lot of warmer tones. Like this orange rust and a lot of black. And the paper which I typically use is tan. Nice and warm and earthy. I like the contrast I get with the gouache I'm using.
So I looked at what colors I use more often and just really did some color studies and tried to make it a bit more sophisticated and relatable.
It's just it's very ... It's a different approach than what I've heard a lot of fine artists using.
Really?
It sounds like something that would come more from the pattern and design background, it seems like something that comes from that world.
Yeah.
To decide on what colors are going to be big for the year at the beginning of the year. So it's interesting to hear you talk about planning your colors going into the seasons. That's cool.
I do kind of tread that line a little bit with my work, design and fine art.
If you set these parameters for yourself, do you find there’s a freedom in that? Cutting down on your choices?
Definitely. I feel like I definitely need constraints in my work so that I don't just go wild and have all of the options available to me. So even with the language that I use when making my work, when I started making furniture I knew that I wanted to keep with the textile theme, but what does it look like in wood? I found the warp and weft in the grid which I started to incorporate. And how that relates to needlework and how I can translate that into painting as well, with the stripes on the houses.
And so having those little constraints helped me to do experiments and just change one small thing on the next piece that I would make so that I would have a consistent body of work. So that from one piece to the next it is still related but I can still have a little bit of fun within those constraints.
How do you come up with constraints? Sometimes do you make a piece and then decide on the constraints that you want, or are all of your constraints thought of beforehand?
All my constraints are thought of beforehand. Typically that's how it goes. This year now that I have a bit more time, [now that I’m full time as an artist], I'm trying to plan my schedule so that I'm doing shows and things six months to a year out. So I really have some time to play and make work that I'm really, really happy about. Then I can have more freedom and flexibility to play with things that I wouldn't normally do. Versus repeating some of the similar motifs that I have because of those constraints. I really want to get into drawing more and illustrating. Just try some freehand thought experiments.
It's like you've explored one idea, move on to the next one.
Exactly, yeah.
This year was a really busy year. I think it was the first time that I felt like a full time artist.
Yeah?
I had a lot of assistant work, helping other artists with their large scale projects. I did three murals this summer. Some I helped with and some I designed myself.
There was a mural festival here recently, I did a piece for that. And a show at the City Gallery. I'm just starting to continue on with some themes that I used on the mural that I did for the mural festival. I'm starting to think about using this [mural] design as a border for something... Eventually, these will be borders and backgrounds for some larger work... I was able to keep some of the motifs that I've been working with, like these leaves. And the stripes are coming through. I'm starting to develop my own language and my own style a bit more.
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So you went to art school after you had already gone to college?
My first degree is in Psychology and after graduating I worked in furniture and textiles and project management…
From psychology you worked in design…
Yes. [laughter] I did yeah. There's a connection here!
You're very good with talking about your work. Talking through your ideas, you are very articulate. Ok, your first degree was in psychology!
Yes. My first degree was psychology and at the time, I didn't know that it was possible for me to make a living as an artist. Art was always a part of my life just like a lot of people. But the career portion isn't stressed so much so I didn't figure that out until much later on. When I was in school [the first time] I also took entrepreneurship and art classes. I was still thinking about it, but I wasn't really sure how to approach it.
When I went back to [art school and majored in furniture design] I was thinking about why are spaces and furniture and the arts so important to me? I thought about an experience I had as a kid when I was in the hospital, at the Children's Hospital in Louisville. And I remember thinking at the age of like, five, “I love this place, it's so cool and these doctors are pulling me around in this little wagon and it's just beautiful here.” And I equated that feeling to wanting to be a doctor. So [the first time I went to college and majored in psychology, I started out in] pre-med, not the right path for me. And when I thought about it later on, I thought it's actually the space that really influenced me. Thinking about therapeutic furniture and how environments influence us.
Yeah.
I came back to furniture. Should I do illustration? And then I got to Herron [School of Art and Design] and I started taking illustration classes and I thought, I love to draw, but I don't know if I want to do this. I should just stick with my gut and do furniture design.
This is my favorite [furniture piece from college], if there was a fire and I had to save a few pieces of artwork, this one I know for sure.
More wood furniture pieces from Shamira’s college days. One a small cabinet hanging on the wall (can be worn as a backpack), and sewing box with long legs.
And then you got out of Herron and you go back to 2D…
Yes, I went back to 2D. Furniture requires a lot of space and wood and things I don't always have access to consistently. So I'm starting to think about continuing this language I've been using in furniture, illustrations and the spiritual component for myself and how to translate all of that into something that's two dimensional, more equitable, more accessible sometimes.