We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Carla Winterbottom. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Carla below.
Carla, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
In addition to exhibiting regularly there have been a few projects that stand out as meaningful. When the pandemic shut most exhibits down, I started an art postcard project that I called “Pandemograms” and mailed them to various friends and artists I knew. The feedback was wonderful, some wrote back, some framed them. People appreciated getting actual mail at a time when the digital was so heavily relied on. I was with the Beverly Area Art Alliance then and we featured Pandemograms as an official project for that years “Alt-Walk”, a name I coined for the usual “Art Walk” that the pandemic interrupted.
I have directly integrated my climate activism in an installation called “Refusing the 6th” at Boundary, a local alternative space that included planting apple trees are still fruiting prolifically.
https://www.boundarychicago.
Ive been involved with Extinction Rebellion and exhibited their protest banners and photos of climate marches at the Beverly Art Center this year for an Earth Day related event. We did a wheat pasting demo and a climate discussion with attendees.
Carla, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
As a child I lived in a neighborhood with towering elm trees, owls, bats, cecropia moths, toads, Garter snakes- all part of a magical and awe inspiring formative time. I would inspect and collect insect wings that were on car bumpers and grills, and feathers from the ground. Occasional iridescence was riveting and these were the prize parts later used in my collages. Sadly, most of these insects and feathers are declining rapidly and replaced by plastic scraps, ironically also iridescent. Thus my collages are an index of change and extinctions brought on by fossil fueled consumerism. These psychological and eligiac landscapes are deeply personal and diaristic, I often use pinhole photography that I feel captures a dreamlike essence. To these I often add insect wings, feathers and plastic scraps until an emotional and esthetic impact is achieved. The process is often both meditative and visually entertaining for me. My artwork has been exhibited widely and often collected by other artists, collectors, and first time art buyers to my delight.
I have worked as a curator for arts organizations in Chicago, the Beverly Art Center, The Beverly Area Art Alliance and currently for The Vanderpoel Art Association.
Despite some serious health challenges, including Neuro-invasive West Nile virus, I continue to make art, exhibit, curate, and engage in climate activism.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In 2012 while I was working as curator for the Beverly Arts Center and also making and exhibiting art regularly, I was bitten by the ‘wrong mosquito’ and developed Neuro-Invasive West Nile Virus. I was hospitalized for over a month, developed paralysis and had to relearn to walk. Despite this challenge, I managed to continue to work as a curator and exhibit and make art. I’m grateful to have survived and though I have a limp, continuing fatigue to deal with and have stepped back from some obligations, acceptance and adaptability are key.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I have met so many intriguing and fascinating people through my art journey. This includes the famous Chicago artist and musician Wesley Willis (1963-2003) whose bigger than life personality and inspiring work ethic garnered the respect of people and musicians worldwide. He was my roommate for many years and greatly enriched my life. American Records and Juxtapoz Magazine hired me as his tour manager in 1998, and we traveled all around the US including renowned venues such as CBGB’s in New York City. Another very rewarding aspect is the engagement with the public that exhibiting allows. I have been moved to tears when a teenager purchased my work with his hard earned money, and listened with deep appreciation to stories and memories shared that were inspired by my artwork. I have a cherished art collection, purchased, traded and gifted from artists I’ve met and worked with. This network of friends, colleagues and art appreciators has been a most important aspect of my career.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://carlawinterbottom.com
- Instagram: @carlawinterbottom
- Facebook: Carla Winterbottom
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/carlawinterbottom
- Other: https://www.wglt.org/2016-03-25/carla-winterbottom https://illinoisartistslist.com/listings/carla-winterbottom/ https://leslietate.com/2019/10/21/7771/ https://www.beverlyreview.net/news/community_news/article_b18eeffc-fcee-11ea-a3da-2bf7faf7867e.html
Image Credits
Carla Winterbottom