The Daily talked to Tufts-SMFA dual-degree sophomore Valerie Schenkman, who also has written for the Daily, about her start in art, magical realism and mixed media. A sketch from her current project is featured to the right.
Tufts Daily: You said that you've always been encouraged to do art, but when did you know it was something you wanted to pursue?
Valerie Schenkman: It became more of a real idea in high school, as in pursuing art as a profession. Art is life, so I guess I could never live without doing art. I've always wanted to pursue it and will always want to, continuously forever and ever.
TD: Is there a particular medium with which you feel most comfortable, and do you want to stray away from this?
VS: As of right now I am getting more comfortable with photography, and I'm focusing on that. I'm just working on getting more accustomed to the medium and other forms of it. Art is such a growing process that you're continuously rediscovering things about yourself and other things about the medium ... I'm not necessarily familiar with the medium, but am always discovering more. That's what I find most exciting about creating art.
TD: What does this new project include and where is it at right now in terms of the process?
VS: I kind of have a basic idea that I'm going to combine images from my childhood that I haven't taken, that my parents have. A lot of them are birthdays, and it's mostly about relationships and the house and the idea of home and family. It will also combine other images; I'm traveling home a lot to find images to tell a story. They'll be the glue that will hold the text together....
TD: What kind of text do you hope to include?
VS: I'm writing a fairy-tale-ish idea, kind of like magical realism more than anything else. It's something based in reality and not too fantastical, but it has that twist to it, so that it's about a magical world, in keeping with those South American ... authors.
TD: What about the picture you've included here? How does this fit into the project?
VS: It's a sketch for a possible layout for one of the pages in the book project I'm starting. It's a Polaroid, which is the camera of choice among [School of the Museum of Fine Arts] kids. I'm planning on developing all of the pictures in that style, with a square format, and saturated color, and I'm going to pair the images with the Polaroids.
TD: Have you ever done a mixed media piece before?
VS: I've done a couple. The paintings I did in high school included clothes and transfers from photographs and direct prints that I made. My paintings always had various media, like Vaseline ... I've played around a lot with different materials. I've never been a "classical," I'm not sure if that's the right term, but I've never stuck to the classical way of doing art; I've always been exploring and combining, because I find that's the best way to express myself.
TD: What do you think of the Boston art scene? Do you think there's an artistic community here?
VS: At first it was hard to get into it, but I definitely believe that there's a lot of stuff going on. There's open studios and galleries to go to, and even though it's not really publicized like in New York City, if you look for it, you'll find it. It's the art community that I'm getting used to right now. The Museum School's right across from the MFA and there's a lot of galleries around, so it's definitely there, you just have to go out and check them out.
-By Sarah Cowan
"My current work is based on the ideas of domesticity and the essence of the home. It includes audio, photographic and video documentation, all of which will culminate in a fairy tale. Right now I am collecting the data and drawing the diagrams. Some background sources include philosophical works, medical studies and children's books. The project involves several trips to my hometown to photograph my family and our living space. The finished project will include drawings, Polaroids and a story that I have yet to put to paper." - Valerie Schenkman
