We recently connected with Billy Kheel and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Billy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
My most meaningful project is my latest series of fabric landscapes. I started this project in Italy, where my wife’s family is from and a place we’ve been lucky to be able to go to for several summers. When I go, I am very inspired by the landscapes I see there – the olive groves, the rocky beaches and the cities with such ancient buildings. I always feel the urge to sketch what I see there. When I return to Los Angeles I am just as inspired by the landscapes I see around me here. The crazy foliage, mixed up architecture and hilly terrain. I kept sketching landscapes and propelled by positive feedback I was seeing on Instagram decided to translate my landscape sketches into felt appliqué tapestries. I believe that this is a meaningful project because people have so many ways to connect to a place, whether it’s by memory or a song or a favorite restaurant. The phrase “fabric of a neighborhood” applies with this project because our neighborhoods are different layers of people, businesses, infrastructure, and culture all woven together by a shared location. Artwork has the ability to clarify the specific elements of a landscape to bring them together in a way that makes you see the original location in a different way. These pieces will create more appreciation for our neighborhoods.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
About ten years ago I was renting workspace from a friend down in the fabric district of Los Angeles. I would walk around and see the giant rolls of fabric on the sidewalk and the layers of different businesses and shoppers and knew I wanted to use that feeling in my artwork. My first idea was to make appliqué tapestries that focused on my love of sports. I think the dichotomy between macho sports culture and the cutting and sewing of soft fabrics was a new idea that led to a lot of opportunities for me. I did a fabric sports themed art show in Denver at the Blackbook Gallery and was able to work with some amazing brands including Nike, NBC, NBA2K, Jordan Brand, the New York Knicks and the Toronto Raptors. I am most proud of being able to continue to grow and change my work while also working with clients on projects that have a great impact for them. My brand is making projects using felt and thread – soft sculptures, wall hangings, portraits and installations. I use historical fabric techniques to commemorate and analyze sports, pop culture and landscape. My use of material questions the boundary between art and craft. Regardless of the subject of a given series, a sense of humor and warmth runs throughout my work.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I read somewhere that being an artist is like being an oyster. An oyster attaches itself to a place and uses all the sand and refuse that passes by it to both feed and nourish itself, but also to make a pearl. That is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me, to take all the culture that I see around me and on the Internet, the things that annoy me, the beautiful landscapes I see and be inspired to turn them into pearls of art. I hope to convey to people this idea of creating from what is around you, whether by them commissioning or buying a piece of art to live with in their home or business or even just by them seeing a “making of” video on social media that inspires them to make their own pearls.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
As artist that came up before social media was a thing, I would say that is a resource that I wish I had known about earlier in my creative journey. Social media is an amazing place to find inspiration from other artists, find community, find feedback and even connect with people that might be in a position to help you with your creative journey. I have learned new skills such as editing and filmmaking and I have found great opportunities there. I would caution however, that social media can also be a negative and unhelpful place and that you have to approach it with an idea of what you want to get out of it and why. And then stick to that idea, and please don’t just mindlessly doom scroll or use it to compare yourself to others.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bkheel.com
- Instagram: @bkheel
- Facebook: @bkheelart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkheel/
- Twitter: @bkheel1
- Youtube: bkheel
Image Credits
all photos by Billy Kheel