We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kate Sullivan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kate, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I have had many wonderful experiences in my career in the arts.
MUSIC
As a musician, I covered territory from singer-songwriter to jazz performer to composer of choral and chamber orchestra pieces, to creator and performer of one-woman theater productions. Music has been my life-long companion.
Fugitum est, fugue for string ensemble, premiered at Carnegie Hall by the Kremlin
Chamber Orchestra.
Sweeney Astray – musical setting of Seamus Heaney’s translation of Sweeney Astray, for
Baritone, chorus and chamber orchestra.
https://sullyarts.substack.com/p/down-the-medieval-irish-rabbit-hole
Eine Kleine Insekt Musik – a collection of short pieces for beginning piano, with illustrations
LENYA, the Love of Kurt Weill – the creation and performance of a one-woman music/theater piece, with 5 piece band, winner of the IRNE (Independent Reviewers of New England) award. https://sullyarts.substack.com/p/lenya-the-love-of-kurt-weill
Piaf, The Little Sparrow, the creation and performance in a biopic of French singer Edith Piaf, featuring Sullivan and accordionist, Roberto Cassan.
Pinocchio, a setting of the classic Italian tale by Carlo Collodi, for narrator, hammer/chisel, musical saw and string quartet, with original art video projection by Sullivan
https://sullyarts.substack.com/p/tripping-with-pinocchio
Music CDs CHRISTMAS WITH THE BEANE FAMILY; NINE LIVES, LIKE A CHILD, original music; LETTRES DE PARIS, French chansons; LENYA, audio/video recording of theater production
PICTURES
As a visual artist, I have followed my curiosities, painted in many media, including exploration of the possibilities in the digital realm.
Drawings for a year-long series It’s a Dog’s Life in The Newburyport Daily News.
My paintings have appeared in many literary journals, including Loud Coffee, Defenestration, Flash Frog, Rush, among others.
Illustrations for Brief Accident, a collection of poetry by Rhina Espaillat and Alfred Nichol
Three Fates tryptich was featured in 60 Over 60 at The Falmouth, MA Art Center
My paintings have appeared in many literary journals, including Loud Coffee, Defenestration, Flash Frog, Rush, among others.
Illustrations for Brief Accident, a collection of poetry by Rhina Espaillat and Alfred Nichol
Three Fates tryptich was featured in 60 Over 60 at The Falmouth, MA Art Center
Birds in High Places – one woman show of ostriches and other expressive birds inserted in John Singer Sargent, Degas, Manet paintings.
I am now in the process of cataloging 50 years of paintings. I am very thankful to ArtStorefronts for guiding me on how to get all these paintings in one place! Shop.sullyarts.com
PHOTOGRAPHY
A painter necessarily becomes a photographer. I have a vast collection of photographs – travel, nature, people.
WORDS
On Linden Square, a children’s picture book about a little girl and a blizzard in the city, written and illustrated by Sullivan, Sleeping Bear Press, 2013
What Do You Hear? an introduction to the orchestra, text and pictures by Sullivan, Schiffer Books, 2018.
My short stories, essays, prose poetry and flash fiction have appeared in many literary journals.
In the works: a collection of flash fiction and prose poetry and the collected stories of Wally and Gert, a creative non-fictional couple who rehab an abandoned rat-infested house.
- ••••
I have recently realized it was time to catalog my work, to tell all the stories that surround all the wonderful opportunities I have had, from singing French chansons at the opening of Mme Tussaud’s Wax Museum in NYC, to attending the premier of my ‘Fugitum est’ by the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. It doesn’t get much better than that!
I have begun to collect all of these stories at Sullyarts.substack.com
Kate, 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?
Combined answer to this section AND Dropdowns 1 and 2. (If you need me to say more about all this, I’d be happy to.
A creative life is certainly not the quick path to fame and fortune! This can be a frustration. Making art necessarily involves selling art, selling oneself, which can often feel exhausting and lonely. You ask yourself, why do I do this? Who cares? Who would care if I stopped? And of course, the answer lies with the creator. The curiosity of the question, the thrill of self-discovery, the rich satisfaction at having solved a problem, created something out of nothing; these are some of the thrills of the rich lives we creatives live!
And of course, we are all creatives, whether it is with paint, with musical notes, with words, or with road-design, robotic surgery, farming, you name it. We are all trying our best with the tools and interests we have.
I do think, we creatives are unique in that we do something people don’t necessarily need or care about. We have to create the need or desire for our work. It is a tremendous boost when people begin to notice and spread the word about what you are up to!
It’s all a slow process, but nothing great has ever happened overnight and in the end, I am incredibly thankful for the trail of creation I am leaving behind. I have a bubbling rich inner life, which is my life force.
- ••••
My writings on Substack will become part of a memoir work-in-progress: MY LIFE IN ART
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I do think, we creatives are unique in that we do something people don’t necessarily need or care about. We have to create the need or desire for our work. It is a tremendous boost when people begin to notice and spread the word about what you are up to!
It’s all a slow process, but nothing great has ever happened overnight and in the end, I am incredibly thankful for the trail of creation I am leaving behind. I have a bubbling rich inner life, which is my life force.
- ••••
My writings on Substack will become part of a memoir work-in-progress: MY LIFE IN ART
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
A creative life is certainly not the quick path to fame and fortune! This can be a frustration. Making art necessarily involves selling art, selling oneself, which can often feel exhausting and lonely. You ask yourself, why do I do this? Who cares? Who would care if I stopped? And of course, the answer lies with the creator. The curiosity of the question, the thrill of self-discovery, the rich satisfaction at having solved a problem, created something out of nothing; these are some of the thrills of the rich lives we creatives live! And of course, we are all creatives, whether it is with paint, with musical notes, with words, or with road-design, robotic surgery, farming, you name it. We are all trying our best with the tools and interests we have.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sullyarts.com
- Instagram: @sullyarts
- Facebook: sullyarts
- Youtube: SullyartsVideos
- Other: sullyarts.substack.com Weekly writing shop.sullyarts.com. – original artwork and prints