Today we’d like to introduce you to Denise Greenwood.
Denise, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I can talk about art & the techniques I employ all day long. I love interacting with the public. I mostly enjoy spreading the message behind my art = we are all perfectly imperfect. I volunteer in high schools & other public forums to share this idea. I feel that as an artist I have an opportunity & an obligation to address the fallacy (especially where our youth are concerned) regarding ideas of ‘beauty’ & ‘normalcy,’ to expose false notions & misguided conditioning of what is ‘perfection.’
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My work is 3-D Mixed Media with emphasis on ceramics. I incorporate metal, wood, neoprene, fiberglass and other materials. My work is all hand built. Ceramics are low to mid-range fired with glazes, slips, underglazes, and paints. I most often work without sketches, often with no more than a general notion. I allow the process to take me where it will, surrendering myself to a seed of an idea. In this way, I allow the piece the freedom to express something latent or undeveloped as a concept.
My art is about human imperfection in all it’s guises. I resent the package we are sold by much of media regarding a one-size-fits-all notion of beauty and “perfection.” Having grown up with a handicapped brother, I learned of the incredible beauty in imperfection. When we have young people with body image problems, with self-loathing and a massive lack of self-confidence, I feel this is a problem we need to address. I believe as an artist I have an obligation to use this message in my work in the hopes of making some tiny change in the world around me.
The question I’m asking is, ‘what is beauty and what is perfection’? My message is ‘we get to decide.’ My work is mostly played. Where I do work though, is in trying to explore that middle place where beautiful and grotesque, edgy and whimsical, dark and light converge. The place where they can answer each other in an honest conversation about perfection. I am constantly searching in this place, delving into this notion of imperfection as a way of satisfying my own curiosity. If I can likewise induce curiosity in some of the viewers of my work as I continue to investigate in this way, what could be better?
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
I love speaking with aspiring artists. I love their enthusiasm and drive. Art is really all about practice, so I say, just do it & then do it some more. Something I learned years ago is that as artists we may often get labeled as lazy, unorganized, unmotivated, etc. because we tend to have unfinished projects. Artists are questors. We are all about the journey so that the end result can seem self-defeating. Once we begin to understand this trait, and that takes time, we can learn to follow through because we start to see each project as a baby step in the lifelong journey that is creating art. I think it’s important for parents of young artists to think about this concept as they nurture and support their children’s love of art.
Another piece of advice I give young artists is that wherever their path leads them, whatever career choice they make, they need to always keep art with them. This will naturally expand their thought processes in ways that many people without art in their lives simply don’t employ: lateral thinking, creative solutions, out-of-the-box ideas. I impress upon them that they can become the idea person, the go-to problem-solver when there is a tricky or unusual situation in need of a creative solution. In this way, they can aim to be a stand-out in any field of study.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have a wholesale line that is marketed to galleries across the U.S. Many of the galleries selling my work are on my website. I ship work weekly from web sales, and sell at around six art festivals per year, including Bayou City Arts Fest, & Cottonwood in Richardson. People interested in seeing my work can come out to my home studio in Sugar Land by appointment. I can be contacted through my website. I am happy to send jpegs of available work to anyone who wishes to shop via email, as the one-of-a-kind work changes constantly. My dream is to scale the work way up for public installation: Children’s Hospitals, sculpture gardens, private collections. I just think it would be a blast to work 8-10 feet tall! That’s my next big journey.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artofgreenwood.com
- Phone: 225-803-1332
- Email: neesie@artofgreenwood.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/neesieloveless
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/artofgreenwood
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/neesiegreenwood
Image Credit:
A Tale To Tell (Sugar Land, TX)
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