We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alida Wilkinson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alida below.

Alida, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Tender Archive is a project that emerged after several months of severe artist block. Desperate to make literally anything, I started looking through my phone and making quick paintings based on photographs that evoked a powerful memory, held some significance to me, or that I simply liked. At first, it was a way to force myself to paint (fellow artists will know what I’m talking about), but after a while, I had a small collection of 9” x 12” paintings that felt like the beginning of an archive; slowly but surely, I’d been breathing new life into moments that would otherwise have ended up lost in a sea of thumbnails on my phone. When I was offered a show at Pen + Brush Gallery in Manhattan last year, I pitched an idea that had been forming in the back of my mind: what if I turned this personal archive into a collective one? What if, over the course of the show, folks sent me photos that were meaningful to them, and I painted them and added them to the wall? Using an anonymous submission portal, I did exactly that. As I painted photos people sent, their memories began to feel like my own. Many people who saw the works experienced the same thing- as they looked at paintings of strangers’ memories, they felt like they were looking at moments from their own lives. The resulting paintings based on cherished images from strangers and friends felt intrinsically linked to one another: an archive of collective memory.

This project meant a great deal to me because it brought together the two aspects of art that are most important to me: preserving memory and creating human connection.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a visual artist currently living and working in Brooklyn. I paint with liquid ink on mylar: a volatile, fast-drying combination of materials that compels me to relinquish control and embrace unpredictable outcomes. Ink adheres to the surface of mylar and water droplets evaporate, lending each work a sparkly chaos. For many years I thought of myself as a portrait painter, but in the past five years I’ve used these materials to paint everything from immersive landscapes, to empty rooms, to snapshots of daily ritual. This expansion of my subject matter has helped me discover what draws me to creating: a desire to archive moments I’ve lived, to render them in such a way that they feel both immediate and ethereal– as memories often do.

When I’m not making art, I co-lead the Being An Artist Course with fellow fine artist and filmmaker Liam Alexander. We created the course eight years ago when we felt a need for structure, accountability, and community in our creative practices. We work with artists all over the world to bring these elements to their own work. Supporting visual artists, writers, and filmmakers as they accomplish their creative goals is, next to painting, one of my great joys in life.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

For many years I painted full length ink portraits at a life size scale, believing it was the way to carve out my niche in the art world. I thought that in order to be an artist I needed to have a “brand”: an easily identifiable kind of work I produce. It worked for a while, but I felt increasingly boxed in and ultimately not excited about what I was making. Painting became much more fun when I let go of that belief and painted the full range of what I wanted to paint, which turned out to be much more than portraiture. The wonderful intensity that comes with creating authentically always shines through- and makes for better work. And the more I paint, the more throughlines emerge – memory, intimacy, vulnerability – that link the works to one another, even if at first glance they appear wildly different.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being an artist requires building your life from scratch. Unlike many professions, there is no clear pathway to being an artist, no existing structure (once you’ve left school) within which to pursue your goals. You have to generate everything – your schedule, income (which rarely comes exclusively from art sales), inspiration, accountability, and community. The process of building all of this into a sustainable life is challenging and takes a lot of time, but it’s deeply rewarding. And the best part is that you get to be part of a brilliant, tenacious community of people who have all done this for themselves in their own lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alidawilkinson.com
• Instagram: @alliewilkinsonstudio
• Other: Being An Artist course website: www.beinganartist.art

  Tender Archive collection: https://www.thefeministinstitute.org/collections?id=24