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

Hi Alicia, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

‘A Mother’s Voice. Rages. Global Warnings. (Helen)’ a sculpture I created about the community activist, Helen Jones, who lost her son to the LAPD in 2009. This large scale work was created for the Orange County Biennial (2022-23). A serendipitous set of circumstances connected me to Helen and her story. During 2020 while participating in a protest, I had the opportunity to hear her speak to the crowd about her story. Holding onto the photographic images that I took of her at that protest for a few years, when I was given this opportunity to create a large scale work for a museum..I knew this was this time. Not only did this platform allow her story to grow and be shared, but touched her personally when she visited the museum.

Alicia, 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 am a LA/Inglewood based mixed media artist, who loves to merge & experiment with new and discarded materials, while attempting to reconcile questions about the current state of our times. Large and small scale works mimic forms of cellular biology and nature to help capture the energy surrounding historical traumas, both political and environmental. I also still sell my sculptural jewelry at the Craft Contemporary Museum here in LA. This craft practice was the basis for how my sculptural forms were born.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

The goal for my practice is to attempt to speak to the world at large; for the greater purpose of awareness and change. In each and every work, I am responding to the times, highlighting the present, but really looking back to the past to understand. My practice dissects history, questioning the world around us; elevating and magnifying stories suppressed.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think some non-creatives don’t quite understand the urgency that I feel inside to create..to sometimes spend 10 hours straight working. That need is so strong that sometimes it makes it hard for artists to have a 9 to 5 job. I have been able to find the balance in my life always finding jobs that require less than a full week of work; to the joy of my parents who have always worried about how I will support myself without a 9-5. Being a sculptor is a little bit of a crazy thing to be! Dealing with storage, space issues, my very ambitious mind.. can create a less than easy path, but I know this is my calling and what I meant to do in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://aliciapiller.com
• Instagram: @thereal.Aliciapiller

Image Credits
courtesy of the artist