We recently connected with Carla Golembe and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Carla, thanks for joining us today. How has Covid changed your business model?
Covid changed my business as both a painter and an art instructor. I’ve always painted from my heart and my mission as an artist is to put beauty and joy into the world. Before Covid my paintings were often inspired by my travels, socializing with friends, fun, whimsical things. In lockdown my inspirations came more from within, from a deeper emotional state. I struggled to paint beauty during scary times and the imagery helped me transcend my fear. Sometimes I painted the joyful interactions I remembered but, in general, I worked from inner depths. That time reinforced the sense of magic realism often seen in my work. As an art instructor Covid opened new doors I’d never imagined. Before Covid I was almost technophobic. I’d been teaching adults in person for many years. Teaching is the bookend to being a painter. I get to share what I love most and to help others fall in love with the painting process as well. Suddenly that was no longer an option. I began teaching on Zoom with great trepidations and it was a learning curve! I was Zoom teaching through an arts center and when they closed my students encouraged me to continue on my own. That was in 2021. I’m still teaching on Zoom and it’s wonderful. I’m thrilled and grateful I could make the instruction work in a meaningful way. My students now live in many places and these classes have created. such a community. In person everyone went to their “Spot” and often didn’t interact. In my Zoom classes we’ve become an art family.
Carla, 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 didn’t choose to be an artist, rather art chose me. Painting is my center, my meditation, my joy, my frustration. It’s a dialogue, a dance with the muse. When I fall into creating a painting I often feel like a vehicle for the imagery that comes through me. I’m fascinated by that flow. I majored in painting and printmaking at Bennington College and did my graduate work at Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Mexico was life changing and had a profound influence on my work. Having grown up in Boston and gone to college in Vermont, living in a world drenched in color was a revelation. It felt like coming home. I have been a printmaker, children’s book illustrator and oil painter but acrylic has been the core of my work for the last twenty six years. More than ever, I have felt the need to put beauty and hope out into the world through my art. My paintings are human and universal, multicultural and cross cultural. My intention is to create a visual haven that encourages viewers to enter my domain, rejoice in color and breathe. The figures emanate wonder and mystery. The work is evocative rather than descriptive. My interest as an artist lies in expressing how something feels rather than what it looks like. My subject matter includes both my inner vision and the outer world. I am painting hope. This is my authentic personal expression and my purpose as a painter. The world of my paintings is not “realism” but perhaps it’s “magic realism”. It’s the reality of what makes my life worth living, what makes us human and what I want to bring into the world.
My time painting in my studio is solitary. My classes open up the door to creative interaction. As an art instructor I work with each student to help them evolve creatively in their own way and at their own pace. Beginners are welcome as well as experienced students. I limit my classes to twelve students so that everyone gets ample attention. I start each class with either a demo or an introduction to an artist or art movement and talk about how this relates to the paintings my students are creating. My classes are a safe and inclusive space for people to develop their skills, be playful and experiment. The official title is Discover Your Personal Painting Style. I’m kind of like a guide on my students’ creative journeys.
I’m a woman painter who paints women. I express the strength and compassion, the beauty and emotion of the feminine spirit. My women are stylized, magical goddesses. They are the embodiment of women I know and of myself. I’m proud of having lived my life doing what I love and sharing it with others. I’m happy that I don’t paint like other painters and that my teaching is always tailored to those I’m teaching. What I do is unique and always done with love and good intentions.
In terms of products and services I create original paintings which I sell through galleries, through my website www.carlagolembe.com
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist and a creative is that every day, every painting, every class is an adventure. Although my prior work as an artist and an instructor provides the basis upon which I continue to evolve every time I have a blank canvas on my easel I’m creating a new world, a new vision that has never existed before. Although I’ve been teaching for over 40 years each class is a new opportunity to share, to help, to encourage others. My work is fun! It’s also, at times, frustrating, and always completely absorbing and consuming.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think non-creatives may struggle to understand the nature of the creative process. When you create something unique there’s really no road map. Yes, there are the years of study and experience and the cumulative knowledge. But there isn’t (or shouldn’t be) a formula. By nature this means that sometimes what you create is wonderful and sometimes it isn’t. And that’s an integral part of the creative process; being willing to try things that may not work and being open to experiments that may turn out great or may get painted over. In conversations with non creatives, often someone will assume my work is easy or that I “just paint”. Artists dig deep into their souls and put in a lot of hours. I am a vehicle for the imagery and emotions that flow through me and I try to bring that to life on the canvas. Painting is also a physical activity.
I also view teaching as a creative process. What I’m doing on my easel may influence what I teach on a particular day. If I see an exhibition that moves me I want to share what it was about that show that touched me. I don’t know what my students will create or the questions they will ask on any particular day so each class is unique and special. Teaching is interactive. It’s not just about me telling my students about color or brushstroke, composition or imagery. It’s about how we interact together and that is different with every student.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.carlagolembe.com
- Instagram: carlagolembe
- Facebook: Carla Golembe Painter/Illustrator
- Other: email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Joe Eudovich, Carla Golembe