We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gina Washington. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gina below.
Hi Gina, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Taking a Risk
When I graduated college, my first real job was working in an abortion clinic. That, however, was not the biggest risk I took. Granted, working as a counselor was empowering, scary, and transformative. The activist in me knew that a woman’s right to choose was important enough to take that risk of getting up, walking through protestors, and helping people decide their best personal choice. When I helped people match their heads with their hearts, their world changed forever. Those changes are indelible. To think that anyone pregnant goes blindly into that decision is ridiculous.
Leaving that full-time job with benefits and going to graduate school a few years after my mother passed to get a degree in art was the biggest risk. I owned the home my family grew up in and turned it over to my father, who was a veteran, to repair it. He was an alcoholic who never really kicked his addiction and ended up losing the house.
When I attended graduate school, I took three cats and a dog. My grandfather and I decided that his home, a 15-minute walk from my childhood house, would be my permanent address and my home after graduate school. That is where I currently reside and have raised my daughter. That one decision led me to an intergenerational household, caregiving for my grandfather in his home until he passed, and a space I am trying to maintain and thrive in.
I have stumbled many times on my path, but I have never given up on myself. I have taken a non-traditional path as an artist who has been unable to make art for many reasons, lacking the funds and being physically tired from outside forces. What matters at this stage of my life is not being defined by my age, my color, or what I lack. As a child of the Universe, I am paying attention to my instincts guiding my choices. Most importantly, I am producing art with every tool.
I knew at the age of 10 that photography was my thing. I studied it in college and while I worked at the clinic. Deciding on graduate school to earn an MFA was truly risky, especially when my artmaking was not validated. I believed in myself and knew art was my way. With my daughter in her senior year at college, I am thriving as an artist, overwhelmed with collaboration, inspiration, and options that all lead to making and connecting through art.
Gina, 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 was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated with an MFA in Photography from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I consider myself “a Child of the Universe” and have traveled to many places collecting images and connecting artists. I have exhibited my work nationally and internationally. Most recently, I was awarded a residency with Akron Soul Train Art Museum and the Cleveland Foundation’s Equity in the Arts Fund grant as I create art “by any means necessary.” I am the founder of Mateza Gallery LLC on Etsy and a master collaborator, who co-founded The Visit Arts Collective. Ultimately my goal is to bring clarity and solutions to the chaos in the world through art and to make art accessible to all people, especially the disenfranchised and underrepresented in the global community.
My general artist statement is this:
I have the spirit of the womyn artists in my family inside my blood. I come from a long line of womyn that created because they had an overwhelming urge to use their hands and imaginations in non-traditional ways. As an artist, I wanted to create imagery that changed the negative perceptions people have in regard to people of color. I wanted to talk about subjects concerning the ‘isms that affect us daily. But these things are expectations in the narrative of what it is to be a Black, Indigenous Person of Color (BIPOC). Over time my interests have shifted towards the things that grew all of us up. Childhood sayings and fairytales have influenced our upbringing. Everyone has an Aesop fable and or a Jataka Tale for children. They reflect and teach how people respond to one another. These stories can be cautionary tales, fortune predictors, and morality stories that guide parents in raising their children. In many ways, they creep into my art-making to deliver a deadly punch and they are the center of my inspiration.
Ultimately, through my work, I hope to make visible the lines that connect us. All of
which are tied to the maternal blood that flows inside me. I utilize photography,
installation art, ceramics, and printmaking to bring my artistry to life. Like my
ancestors, before me, I have no choice but to create. And I do it “by any means
necessary.”
On Etsy, I sell my art and will soon be selling the artwork of others. All mediums are welcome. I formed an LLC named Mateza Gallery to further those sales online and wherever I go in the industry. I create because I have to and that art is exhibited, sold, commissioned, and or waiting to come to life. I have private clients and am continuing to show more now than ever. Last year my work was shown in Barcelona, Spain.
I am proud of the connections and collaborations with other artists and how I am seen in the art ecosystem here in Cleveland, Ohio.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wish I had entered my artwork in as many exhibitions and contests as possible when in college and graduate school. My graduate school days were difficult because the department was undergoing monumental change with the firing of one of the three teachers. Our guidance could have been more complete. If I had known more about the business of art my path would have been more deliberate. My time in graduate school was all about making.
The business of art, networking, and putting my art into the world would be the resources I wish I had in my pocket in the early days.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding thing, at the moment, is watching how people respond to what I produce. I want the audience to actively be a part of what I do. I want them to feel, learn, and always be thinking about something from what they see.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ginawashington.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gg4art/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-washington-73305835/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatezaL
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfoVZYGb-Mb2E1d0t5oHfpA
Image Credits
All images are by me. One image looks like it is turned incorrectly.