Cynthia St. Charles: A Routine of Creation
This photo of Cynthia St. Charles tells you a lot about her and her art. I think of it as living close to the ground. She is always looking and always seeing in her Montana home. Cynthia’s artistic outlets include art quilts, stretched canvas pieces, wearables, and the art cloth created in her Big Sky Dyes which offers a broad range of richly textured hand-dyed cottons and silks including pole wrapped shibori, multi-colored, rust dyed, and discharged pieces. If you ever need a brain break, head on over to Cynthia’s blog, Living and Dyeing Under the Big Sky, and scroll down through her hiking photos. Aaahhhh.
Cottonwood Leaves #1 by Cynthia St. Charles. This is one of Cynthia’s works available on February 16 during ONE.
1. Tell us about your collages for ONE.
The One Hundred Collages invitational has given me a special opportunity to develop several new small format series. I love the combination of hard and soft. Each of my pieces includes the addition of metal or stone to the fiber, paper, and stitch collage. As a printmaker, my fiber surfaces are anchored by one of a kind monoprints, screen prints, and block prints.
I am so excited about this debut of my own handmade paper. Two of my One Hundred Collages pieces are from the Iron Oxide series, which combines handmade paper, fluid acrylics, rust dyed fabrics, hand dyed threads and rusted metal.
2. What advice do you have for artists who are seeking their unique voice or direction in their own artwork?
Just do it. Establish a routine of doing something creative every day. Make space in your life for a routine of creation. Let go of fear of failure and accept the fact that there will be some inevitible bad art. When you find something that speaks to you, repeat it, but change one design element. This is a great way to build a series and an artistic voice.
3. What are you working on in the studio now?
My visual journal is my morning meditation. Every day, I spend 20 to 30 minutes with my first cup of tea working in my visual journal (a combination of collage, doodling, and daily musings). This sets the stage for the rest of my day, even when I other life activities keep me from spending the day in my studio.
I am currently working on personal challenge that I am calling The Mail Art Project. I am sending out handmade postcards to distant family members every week for a year. This challenge is an opprotunity to create 52 different small art series while reaching out to brighten the day for loved ones on a weekly basis.
I am always working on several large pieces at once, and I post to my blog on a daily basis.
Sky, Ground, Water by Cynthia St. Charles.
4. Where do you find inspiration?
I am a very active lover of the great outdoors. I am passionate about photographing things I see during hikes, travel and around my rural Montana home. I love ancient rock art, trees, fish, birds, and beautiful landscapes. This imagery often finds its way into my visual art through the printing process. I frequently convert my photos into printing screens by using a Thermofax process.
5. What would you do with a year free to do what you wanted with no responsibilities or financial concerns?
I am constantly on a quest to see new places. Over the years, I have hiked to over 80 different mountain lakes in the Beartooth Range near my home. If an obligation free year presented itself, I would expand my explorations to other continents. Asia, Africa, South America, Australia are all places I would love to visit.
