We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gwen Partin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Gwen, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The one project that feeds me daily is drawing. It’s not a specific project, but it’s the most meaningful thing I do that keeps me going and is fuel for all my other creative work. I’ve been making these small drawings almost daily for over 20 years. These drawings are small abstract works that explore texture, pattern and color. I work in colored pencil, gel ink pens, acrylic and watercolor.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an artist working in printmaking, drawing and book arts. I come from a family of artists and it was my passion from an early age to study art in college. After college I was a graphic designer and then educator in that field for my career and to make a living. I retired from all that to get back to my fine art pursuits. I work most days out of my studio in Northeast Minneapolis. I participate in the open studios and art crawls there and am also a member of Form+Content Gallery in the North Loop neighborhood of downtown Minneapolis where I have occasional solo shows.

My artwork is about interpreting the human and natural made world and what we experience in life relating to nature, the body, words, texture and pattern. I am drawn to patterns and textures in the natural environment. Textiles are also a big influence on my work, where systems of woven, tiled or tessellated designs inspire my approach. Recently my focus is to explore pattern and texture with a nod towards textile influences. I often play with designs that resemble weaves. I sometimes incorporate sewing, collage and woven papers.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

There’s a lot here I can share. Since I spend a lot of time at my open-studio events, I get a range of questions from visitors. The most common question is “how much time does this take?” The second most common one is “do you make a living on your art?” These questions have nothing to do with the artwork or why I make it, and that is disappointing to me. I am also often surprised by the folks who say they could never do this work. I think it’s the most wonderful kind of work there is to do.
-First of all, the time it takes is inconsequential because I make the art because I love making artwork. It is an emotional and spiritual benefit that goes beyond time or money. I don’t even think about time unless I am on a deadline for a show. It takes as long as it takes until it feels finished. Sometimes that is 10 minutes. Sometimes it is 6 months.
-The thing to understand in this world today is most artists can’t make a living wage selling their artwork. There isn’t a market that will support that. Most artists need supplementary income. I am not the type of artist that wants to work that hard to sell my artwork. I don’t try very hard and it’s not that important to me. Once I figured that out, it made making the artwork less stressful, for sure. What works for me is to open my studio every couple of weeks or months and let folks in to have a look. I make a few sales and it feels nice. By the end of the year I usually have made enough to cover my studio rent, and that’s about it. Everything else is a loss.
– Being an artist is a choice. You either have in in you or you don’t. You can train yourself the skills. That takes time and patience and maybe some failures before you see successes. You have to find what fits you in terms of style and content, mediums and materials. You have to find a space and time to work. If it’s in you to be an artist, you keep at it until it works. And then you can’t stop.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Hands down the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the act of creating. The routine of going into the studio, getting the materials together and thinking through the problems of a design, the colors, papers, other materials; all of that is exciting. Watching layers of colors make new colors. If you haven’t experienced that, you must! It’s addictive, I swear. The feel of the materials in my hands; pen and pencil on paper, ink on brayers, scissors cutting — all of that. And then — dun, dun, dun, the reveal of the finished piece is so exciting. All of this as an artist is so, so rewarding. No wonder we work for cheap.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gwenpartin.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwenaveril/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gwenpartinartwork/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmYhH8XGzvnBvzARwsEGnIA
• Other: Form+Content Gallery – https://www.formandcontent.org/gwen-partin