We were lucky to catch up with Carol Prusa recently and have shared our conversation below.
Carol, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
One of my most meaningful projects was working with IS Projects – an artist run press based in Miami, to create through a Knight Foundation Grant, an artist book. As I had never done this before, it was a steep learning curve just to begin to tap the possibilities and processes. Collaborating with book artist Ingrid Schindall and her staff allowed me to expand my capabilities to utilize their expertise in realizing my vision for the book well beyond my capabilities. Ultimately the book I envisioned, titled “unknowing“, offers a liminal experience between knowing and not, calling on scotopic vision (night vision) to peer into darkness. This silk hardcover, laser and letterpress printed on black paper, book is a download of what I know, at least for the moment, before it resolves as something else. The book is accompanied by a volvelle; a paper computer with rotating parts, that functions as an instrument to point to confluences that might provide insight into the unknown. unknowing contemplates the mystery of our existence and the possible worlds we divine to construct meaning. A possible world is tucked in behind the book in the form of a copperplate etching on white paper. The three parts (tri-via) are housed in a tri-part case bound in black and pewter silk. This expansive project could not have been possible without working with skilled artists who could manifest my ideas optimally and at the highest level of book craft.
Carol, 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 visual artist, my symbolically charged work responds to liminal locations, using graphite pours and geometry in a dance between the known and unknown to express the chaotic interactions central to the formation of our world; destructive and generative. My work expresses the vital beauty of our universe while acknowledging the fragility of life due to pollution, human intervention, climate change and ocean rise. As cataclysmic as our effect on the earth is and can be, my work celebrates the resilient, overwhelming fecundity of life. Digesting contemporary cosmologies in astrophysics and seeking liminal euphoric spaces (like eclipses, night skies), is resulting in worlds with erotically charged geometries. The direction emerging in my work embraces the magnitude of the universe with the lawlessness of imagination to distill the sacred. Known for large scale silverpoint drawings incorporating sculptural forms and new technologies, my darkly lit worlds point to disquieting possibilities brought to mind by recent observations of the Higgs boson – the metastable “God” particle in physics that might instantaneously blip us out of existence (as well as eruptive political and environmental events), that fill my mind with dread. I yearn to realize a radical vision that gives form to thin spaces that evoke the dark matter that both surrounds and tethers us together, echoes from billions of years ago. As Mary Oliver beautifully wrote in Upstream, “ Its (arts) concern is the edge, and the making of a form out of the formlessness that is beyond the edge.”
I became an artist after receiving a degree in medical illustration and realizing what I really wanted was not to make work according to the dictates of others but to be absolutely free to make the work I needed to make, without concern for its place or function. This propelled me to get an MFA in painting and to make a living by teaching art so that the work that I make could be made with complete freedom.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Early in my career I supported my artmaking with another job; teaching art. This enabled me to develop my art without concern for it meeting outside demands. Fortunately, through grants and commissions I began to make money with my art, allowing for me to be more ambitious for it in terms of scale and materials. I have truly benefited from grants and fellowships, artist residencies and supportive arts institutions. Society can support its artists by offering fellowships and grants that allow artists to develop their work and to create work that isn’t commercially driven. Having worked as an artist in the south Florida environment for years, watching the art fairs and participating in them, I know that when communities support their artists, both the communities and artists thrive, creating a vibrant and dynamic environment that ultimately increases incomes and quality of life for all.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
While it is exciting to sell an artwork, I have found it most rewarding to be awarded fellowships and artist residencies as it is a validation by my peers. As well, it is extraordinary to have an exhibition of my work and have people be moved by it and to spend time with it. I am so appreciative of the opportunities for my work that I have been given and for the many people who take the time to care about it. Ultimately what I truly care about is to make the work as fully as possible, with complete freedom. Making something that goes beyond what I already know, connecting with me in unexpected ways, and resonating deeply is the most exhilarating aspect of making art.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.carolprusa.com
- Facebook: Carol Prusa