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

Carmon, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

Being in the sciences, people misconstrue that as being so totally opposite to art and creativity, when in reality they are the same. I’ve always said the creative scientist deals with data bits and the artist deals with sensory bits and success in either area relies on the creativity of the person involved and what they can see that many others can’t see out of that milieu of information. Many scientists are basically replicators and not truly creative. I spent many years dealing with talented and gifted education and that supposed 20% are basically the population that makes the major breakthroughs in human intellect and enlightenment. I’ve worked in many different media in the art world, but much was involved with textiles and the fiber world which typically is considered a woman’s world, so I’ve always been out of context therein. And often talented and gifted kids are born into households that are not in that realm and I call them born out of context. So it is all the same.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I don’t fit into any particular mold and often refer to myself as working with anything esthetic. I’ve designed houses, landscapes, design work for interiors, often write also. Spent several years as a medical writer translating technical research into lay language. With a doctorate back in the 80’s, it was difficult to find employment when I had to move with a partner to a new state, so then began to rely more on the artistic side of my being and remained so to the present day. I’ve been president of two state arts organizations in two different states and was named by the governor to be on the Iowa Arts Council where I was vice-chair. I love working with clients to discern their tastes, interests, and their thoughts before embarking on projects for them. That is the most satisfying when you are able to put all of that together for the satisfaction of them as well as myself.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

There is no room for boredom as variety is the spice of life. Being a creative person means something is always happening, is new, is making your mind work and solve problems. That is true when doing work just to please yourself and satisfy your own heartbeat. It is also rewarding to work with clients with a specific project in mind, getting to know them, and then creating from that knowledge base. So people and your work are both very satisfying.

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

Artists are inveterate problem solvers. I’ve always maintained that city councils and leaders should be looking for artists to be on their Boards because of those abilities. Problem being many creatives don’t want to work with those institutional constraints by and large and would be misunderstood and under appreciated as a result. Quite often the best solutions would be that timid, weak voice from the back of the room, but would easily be dismissed and lost in the process.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.windsreach.com
• Other: Word of mouth and being seen elsewhere or referred by someone else

Image Credits
Blanden Art Museum