Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Erin Cline. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Erin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

I had been selling collage art through a third party site for about two years. My sales are usually very low – I have another full time job, so the income is secondary to the enjoyment I get from creating – so it’s hard to get a gauge on if anyone is actually seeing or enjoying the work I’m making and posting. Out of nowhere I received a very nice DM from someone I know through through the internet but had never really talked art with. He told me he had bought several of my pieces and wanted to let me know how much he enjoyed them and how they brought him joy every day to look at them. I was extremely touched and it made me feel very connected to the reason i make art: to make myself and others happy.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’ve been into creating art since I was a kid, but it was only really in my 30s that I realized what I primarily wanted to work on was collage work. My style has changed and evolved a little over the years, but it primarily starts with the same idea: I want to take contrasting pieces and fit them together to trigger than emotional response (usually joy or curiosity). In the last few years my work mostly centers on black and white photos of Old Hollywood stars recontextualized or juxtaposed against colorful backgrounds. I feel like there is so much beautiful black and white photography that doesn’t speak the same way to contemporary audiences, and I like being able to present it in this “new” way.

Honestly, one of the things that makes me most proud of my work is when people tell me that they bought a piece for their parents who have childhood memories and nostalgia of the featured Old Hollywood stars. I love the idea of artwork uniting generations and family members, so the idea that my work can help a kid connect with their parent makes me extremely happy.

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 a lot of people who don’t make physical art (creatives or non-creatives alike) don’t understand the whole process that goes into it. It’s not just that you get an idea and you sit down and work on it, and then it’s done. It’s a massive, complex, and time consuming process that involves setting yourself up for success in every way possible so that when inspiration does strike – or you need to force inspiration to strike – you have everything you need already ready.

For example – I gather supplies of all kinds for sometimes years before I know what exactly I want to do with them. Magazines, cutting materials, glues/pastes/tapes, gathered photos, cool pieces of fabric, paints and other drawing supplies, basically anything visually interesting in addition to actual paper or canvas to mount finished pieces on are all things I collect as I find with no immediate end-goal. I have a big cabinet that I keep everything organized in so that when I want to work on something I can easily find what I need.

For the first few years we were together my partner didn’t really understand it and felt like my office and workspace were constantly cluttered. It wasn’t until i started doing a huge project (#ercpromptproject on Instagram) that involved me making a new piece of art every day for three months that he really started to understand why all the prep had been necessary. Without working for years to set myself up for that kind of project it would have been a much larger undertaking to have to come up with ideas and then start looking for supplies from scratch every single day. Giving yourself the time and space to do creative work also means taking proper time to set yourself up long before you sit down to work.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

They’re horrible and they encourage a culture of art theft. In addition to being absolutely awful for the environment – the power needed to “mine” for the cryptocurrency being used to buy NFTs is catastrophic and is hastening climate change – cryptocurrency is a barely veiled curtain for scams, money laundering, and theft. We should not be encouraging this.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.society6.com/erincline
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyderngenc/