Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katia Meisinger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Katia, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
Oh man I am over the moon that I am an artist! I can’t imagine not creating things or getting my hands dirty! I do teach, I’ve worked in a gallery, and I’m a department assistant. I’ve had many “regular” jobs related and unrelated to art. I think if I didn’t fall into being an artist I believe I would have picked a different creative path. What that could have been… I’m not sure. But, art has always been my first love. So no, I’ve never wondered about having a different career path. Ugh, the thought of having a non-creative based life makes me sad.
Art has helped me process so much from my life, good and bad. It has made it possible for me to get out my thoughts I don’t know how to articulate and express the world within my own head. In undergrad I did a room instillation about my broken childhood, it didn’t start that way. Originally it was about rooms and the space we take up within that room, but it quickly became this subconscious release. It heals and helps you grow.
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 became an artist later in life rather than starting young. I’ve always been interested in color and subject matter but really found my love for art when I took my first sculpture class in undergrad. That was the class that really made me go, “Woah! I can make and create anything! I have potential!” But I never called myself an artist until everyone else did. I had this thought that “real” artists were like the old masters where everything was clean and realistic.
I had a hard time viewing myself as an artist because I was never into realistic depictions of landscape or the body, I was always drawn to abstraction or surrealism because that was more visually and psychologically appealing. Once I started making work that spoke from my heart I found it hard to sell work. I’m from a small area where that type of artwork isn’t as appreciated. In my first year of grad school I quickly came to terms with being okay to just make art and not have to sell it. Which raised so many eyebrows because meeting other artists who did the same wasn’t common. I found that by not being held by the thought of, “I must sell this work.” I was able to make whatever I wanted. I could make work about being a fat body, or create paintings of fragmented landscapes of my dreams. I felt free! This then caused me to branch out into other methods beyond sculpture and started dipping my toes into performance art.
At the moment my performance work, even though its a new realm for me, it is what I am most proud of. Last year I did a piece called “I’m Not Invisible” where I took up space within a gallery, undressed, used my body as a tool and printed my body onto the gallery walls. My whole life I grew up as a invisible body, a plus size body, functioning in the same time and space as everyone else but never get noticed. You walk down the street and no one stares at you, no one buys you the drink at the bar, or you simple exist but to almost no one. It played with the idea of a few things. One, what it takes to become visible to others. Two, how leaving marks behind as a plus size body in a public space can function as a literal mark of invisibility. And Three, challenging the audience to accept my presence and watch or prove my point that I am invisible by looking away.
My artwork and methods are changing and evolving every year. If it catches my eye I want to try it, collaborate, and explore as much as I can. Currently I am working on a performance piece about vulnerability and how sharing vulnerability is an empowering, and freeing, action. I’ll be doing multiple performances that require audience participation and not even I know how it will go. But, I don’t want to give away too much since I’m about to do that performance in Fanny Fox Decker Gallery in Baltimore from June 21-July 9 2023.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Hmm…Good question. At the moment it is to learn and evolve. I believe that bleeds in from my personal beliefs about going through life; keep learning and never stop. I want to learn every method and historical importance. I want to keep changing and seeing what inspires my art making. I started as a sculptor, became a drawing instructor, and now I’m doing performance art. As long as I am still able to create I hope I will continue to explore and evolve as an artist.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Not everyone will like your art. They will even tell you to stop making art but keep going. Even if someone doesn’t like your artwork, or your methods, you don’t have to change or stop. Your art can be for you or someone else, but its up to you to decide and there is NO wrong answer! Years ago I had a visiting artist look at one of my sculptures. It was surrealism sculpture depicting my body as an armchair. it was a piece from a larger installation. They looked at it, took a moment, and said, “You put too much time and effort into your artwork and get nothing back from the viewer. Its too much! You should stop making this and move onto something else.”
Well, after the critique I thought about it and realized, “Who cares?” I enjoy what I make, and sure other people may not like it but that isn’t the bottom line. There are no rules as to what good or bad art is so why not keep making what I enjoy? At the end of the day a one, or a few, people not liking what you do doesn’t define an end.
Contact Info:
- Website: ktmeisinger.com
- Instagram: katiatmeisinger