We were lucky to catch up with Cecilia André recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cecilia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I’d say taking risks comes hand and hand with choosing to be an artist. In order to make work that is exciting for your public, you must embrace the ideas you deem random or too far out of your reach. Two big leaps of faith led me to making the immersive textile installations I work with today. The first was using stitches to join pieces of canvas as background for my oil paintings which of course led me down a rabbit hole of textile possibilities and gaps in the works which filled the traditional canvas space with light. The second was embracing transparent colors and using colored vinyl as material to be stitched that led to a playful experimentation with natural light and has brought me to a place where viewers identify and differentiate my work from the work of others.

Cecilia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have always worked in fine arts. I exhibit my work in galleries and museums. My work is featured in many collections. I also create immersive color light installations where spectral light modifies natural light in a playful and intriguing way for my audiences. I have followed a path of curation of artist shows in outdoor environments and in galleries. I give tours of the contemporary galleries in NYC for over a decade as well. This is a complementary activity that keeps me current and focused on the developments in my field. My goal in the near future, actually starting this summer at the Pelham Art Center, is to create public art which can be seen and partaken be everyone to encourage their love of colors and textures as well as a curiosity about the physics of light transforming into color by taking note of ephemeral color shadows cast by my large scale works.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I believe every artist has their own particular seed to develop. To hone one’s craft is a lengthy process. For me, sticking with it has helped me not only know myself but unfold ideas I had grappled with a long time ago in deeper and better ways. It has given me lots of resources to understand myself and the art work and process of others. I am very grateful to have stubbornly pursued my art ideas. Many people have supported me so that I would be able to do so. I think being an artist is an odd stance in society but at times I believe just being myself and doing my craft has been helpful to others wanting to take a similar path.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I have a reasonably large instagram following of 2.5k . I have done this by figuring out the kind of content I want to post which is based on a mix of my art work, the art work of other artists which I find interesting or of art/ecology related trips I am able to take. I post many videos of places I wish to share with others. Having a social media following is rewarding for me because I find that even people who don’t respond or give likes, seem to feel they know about me and my art work. It has been useful as feedback and exchange of information, however I try not being overly consumed by social media and focus on doing posts as a service to others and a way of having more storage of images for myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: .ceciliaandre.com
• Instagram: @cecilia_andre_art

Image Credits

Anne Tan-Detchkov and Erika Fujyama