We recently connected with Margie Schnibbe and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Margie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I love being an artist. Creative inspiration is what keeps me alive. I sell my art and I also have a day job. After working fulltime in the day, I make my art at night and on the weekends. I work seven days a week and most nights I do not get enough sleep. I have worked this way for many years.
One day I hope to make enough money from my art to quit my day job. My dream is to make a living from my personal creative endeavors one hundred percent!
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.
When I was in my twenties, I put myself through college and art school after working as a decorative ceramics fabricator- a job I landed through a family friend. From there I went on to study ceramics at Hunter College of the City of New York, earn a BFA in sculpture from Kansas City Art Institute, and an MFA in film/video from California Institute of the Arts. Education has always been important to me, but I was bored in high school, and it was in college and art school that I found my true calling.
I have been making experimental artwork professionally for over thirty years. I make paintings, drawings, sculptures, performance, as well as commercial and underground movies. I write poetry, prose, rants and have recorded music and radio shows. I’ve worked with not-for-profit organizations and community groups as a part of my art practice.
My work is about the human experience, in all its complexity, contradictions and messiness. I am interested in the ways in which we construct and perform our identities, and how these identities are shaped by everyday life, popular culture and other media. I’m also interested in the ways in which our bodies are sexualized and objectified. My work often explores these themes in a humorous and provocative way. My work is personal, introspective and autobiographical, but it is also rooted in a broader social and cultural context. My work explores the ways in which our identities are shaped by our experiences with gender, sexuality, and the body.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I am turning sixty years old this year and I am incredibly happy to be alive. Many of my closest friends, my last serious romantic partner, as well as both of my parents and two of my siblings are dead. I have endured many career fluctuations, financial and emotional volatilities, and have worked all kinds of day jobs to pay for my rent and art supplies. I’ve overdosed on drugs and almost died, had guns pointed at me and been shot at, have engaged in all types of risky behavior in my youth, and miraculously I am still here and making art every day!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
One of the most rewarding aspects of being an artist is knowing that I can make whatever I want to with my own hands and/or with the help of others. I am grateful to be actively engaged with a diverse and progressive community of artists in Los Angeles. I love living in a city that has so much art to discover and explore, and I thank my fellow artist friends for their support. I always look forward to discovering new galleries, art events and meeting new artists!
Contact Info:
- Website: margieschnibbe.com
- Instagram: @margieschnibbe
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@babyhans
- Other: https://vimeo.com/schnibbe https://www.etsy.com/shop/SchnibbeBadAtCrafts