Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Muffy Clark Gill. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Muffy Clark thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

My art specialty is the ancient wax resist art process known as batik. It originated in Indonesia thousands of years ago and has spread around the world as most civilizations have some sort of access to wax, dye, and fabric. Many people don’t quite understand what is batik or how it is created-it commonly gets confused with tie-dye, also a resist process. As it is constantly misunderstood, artwork created using wax and dye on silk does not generate the same prices as an oil painting even though it can be a lot more time consuming than doing an oil or acrylic painting and can also look similar to these other art forms. I have learned to be patient and am constantly explaining the process. The most common comment I hear is “How long did it take you to create it?” I often comment:”All my life” as I started learning it while in high school and the number of hours spent creating a painting don’t match up with the cost per hour which often turns out to be below minimum wage.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My journey with art and batik came at an early age. I started with art in kindergarten and my mother encouraged me to pursue it all through high school and into college. In the process I learned about batik while taking a family trip to the African nation of Uganda while I was in high school and became hooked on the art form after seeing an exhibit of batik crafts in Kampala. I later on attended Morris County, NJ Vo/Tech and got my certificate in Commercial Art followed by a BS in graphic design form Boston University. My work has been acquired by many of the buildings in the Florida Art in State Buildings Program including Executive Board Room, Florida Gulf Coast University, Office of the Florida Secretary of State, Volusia County Court House, Deland, Florida, Marco Island Historical Museum, Marco Island, Florida. I am currently the Vice President/Exhibitions for the Florida Chapter of the National Association of Women Artists, the oldest women’s art organization in the country. I also serve of the Board of Directors of Silk Painters International. I enjoy teaching the art of batik through in person workshops. An important part of my artwork is recreating memories of places I have traveled around the world, usually in batik paintings that are mounted and stretched on gallery wrapped canvas. My current “Portal series” features antique doors from Morocco, and I expect to add more of them when I visit Turkey later on this year.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I haven’t gotten involved in NFT’s as I do not feel that they can be trusted as currency. The art company that helps me manage my website frowns on them as well.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have always been a media junkie. When I graduated from Boston University, I had a degree in graphic design. My first job out of college ended up being the “Art Director” of a small weekly newspaper in Newton, Massachusetts that was created by a group of former anti Vietnam war protestors. I worked there for about 8 months until I was laid off as I could not paste up up straight due to an astigmatism in my right eye. My next job was working as an advertising artist for a larger weekly newspaper in Brookline, Mass. After several months there they moved me to the sales department and a 47 year newspaper sales veteran trained me in advertising sales. I did that until I got married to my first husband. Later on I moved to Florida and worked as an ad director for a small ad agency until it went out of business.(I still couldn’t paste up straight). A couple of small jobs later and I ended up in advertising sales for the Naples Daily News, a position I held for almost 20 years, then on to WGCU Public Media selling underwriting for public television and radio for 5 years. I then retired to pursue my art career full time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://muffyclarkgill.com https://mcgilltropicalart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/muffyclarkgill/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MuffyClarkGillFineArt
• Linkedin: Muffy Clark Gill
• Twitter: @muffyclarkgill
• Youtube: Muffy Clark GIll

Image Credits

Lyne Simmonds, Warren Gill