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

Adi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I have always been interested in a career that connects creativity and community. I double majored in art history and education studies in college, and went on to work in various art nonprofits. But I was always the facilitator/administrator, not the artist in the room. I remember a few years after college sitting on a park bench in Central Park with my roommate, and saying “I want to be an artist.” It was a very scary thing for me to say aloud. And even after admitting that to her, and to myself, it took me time to work up the courage to leave my job, and go back to school for visual art. Even after that, it took another ten years to allow myself to prioritize being an artist full time. When my kids were 6 and 9, and I had just earned a masters degree in social work, I felt like I was at a crossroads: do I go into full time social work, leaving the art world behind completely, or ?? I realized then that I had never given art a real chance. It was always second to other needs and priorities. So I decided to give it a real go, and center my art career.

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

I am a visual artist, working mostly with screenprinting and mixed media. I am interested in questions around cultural identity. As a first-generation American with parents from two different countries and cultures, where am I from? What do I claim from my ancestors? What do I hold on to, and what do I pass down to my children? In my work I investigate these questions through the language of geometry. Drawing from my grandfather’s paper-folding games, foundational geometric shapes, traditional Polish craft materials, and the language of Gee’s Bends quilts, my work explores the complexities inherent in identity and family.
I believe that geometry is a foundational connector of all people. Certain shapes are present again and again in very different cultures across the globe. The 8-pointed star, for example, is the Star of Ishtar of ancient Mesopotamia, a traditional American quilting pattern, a Morning Star of the Lakota, and an ancient Slavic protective magical symbol. In my practice, I investigate these fundamental geometric shapes. I examine the rhythms the shapes create in repetition, the way light and shadow play with their folded forms, and how they exist in 2D and 3D space. Through patterning and sequencing, I create my own language of symbols and meaning. I hope that people interacting with my work will find connections to their own cultures, families, and add their own layers of meaning to the work.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Artists need more affordable studio spaces. There’s a cycle of artists moving into an area that has affordable studio rentals, and then it becomes trendy and over-developed, and then artists are priced out and forced to move. That has happened to me as well, and it hampers creativity and community. Washington DC has very limited studio options within the city. I feel very lucky to now work in a studio in Hyattsville, Maryland, just a few miles outside of DC. This area is literally crawling with artists – there must be over 250 artist studios in a few mile radius. It is a wonderful supportive community, and I feel very fortunate to have found it and be a part of it. I

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish that I was taught how to research and apply for grants earlier in my journey, and generally about the business side of the art world. No one mentioned this part in art school; that was focused solely on the creativity. Making art is only half the work; the other half is the researching, marketing, applying, networking. There are many resources out there to help with this, but it took me a while to find them and make use of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.adisegal.com
• Instagram: adisegalart

Image Credits

photographs by Adi Segal or Vivian Doering