We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Lamb recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?
I’m lucky to have art be my regular job so that I can continually be happy regarding my work, albeit not so happy regarding its profitability. It is a quandary I often discuss with other artists and most recently with my daughter, a young artist who is wondering if personal art has to be a sideline gig while working for that steady “regular” paycheck with which to support not only one’s self but one’s art habit.
Post college, I got a graphic design job…. a good compromise, in that it paid the bills and college loan yet was somewhat creative and included some illustrative/sculptural art at times. This eventually led to freelance – a less steady paycheck since it can be “feast or famine”… however it taught me having major crunch times allows those freer times for making whatever I felt. That discipline of not turning down any opportunity no matter how overworked, tided me over financially, but more importantly, my not resting after, but utilizing that time to pursue my art, satisfied my soul and let it evolve to a place where it could feasibly be full-time.
My daughter took the path of making fine art straight out of college, hence struggles with making ends meet. Her living falls on how much work “sells” and not necessarily on how great the work is or how much you create. Art supplies and materials are dependent on sales, sales are dependent on marketing/exposure/shows, all which require money and time. She teaches, which still means being creative and provides money, but it means less time devoted to her own body of art.
We are an inverted mirror of one another. For me, it’s been a slow journey and I often regret not having started my fine art career far earlier due to playing it safe. My fine art did take off and fairly quickly so I consider how far I might be now if I had jumped into it sooner. On the other hand she lives in constant turmoil of hoping future possible sales will pay the rent and whether to turn down low- but steady paying opportunities in order to pursue and perfect her personal art. We talk about how to combine those two inverted scenarios and our conclusion alway circles around balance. Balancing the practical with the passion and functional needs with creative needs. And If the practical side, the “regular job” has to weigh heavier on the side of security then make a special point that it includes some measure of creativity and/or learning in it.
Michelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hmm, covered quite a bit of this in prior question.
I knew early on as a child I was going to be an artist so my path to my current art varied greatly, yet always centered around creativity. I took any art discipline class I could, I majored in graphic arts in the beginning, took on freelance illustrative and sculptural jobs, filled in with craft shows throughout, took on public art commissions and joined communities and art cooperatives to help get my work on the walls for viewers.
Being multi-disciplined has allowed me to stay in the arts since diversity is key to bending to what sells or what satisfies myself.
Currently I practice and teach assemblage art. Assemblage art relies on found objects and those in turn provide a short cut, in that the elements are already formed, colored, patina’ed and ready to use. This short cut meant I could explore this new discipline without taking too much away from an established soft sculpture career, plus the materials are far far cheaper or are given to me free. I also love assemblage because it’s the antithesis to my other art discipline which involves fabric construction. I could deconstruct obsolete machinery to reveal the mysterious metals inside, then recontextualize them into new arrangements which act as riddles for the viewer. I lean toward harder edged metals, towards rhythmic designs and textures and towards narrative or pareidolia themed art.
Pareidolia; the tendency to perceive or impose meaning to unrelated visual stimulus, is paramount to assemblage artists. I can make common kitchen gadgets, typewriter or adding machine innards and hardware resemble insects or animals such as birds, swans, fish, jellyfish or seahorses. These same objects can in turn be used in more of symmetrical manner to evoke tribal or native motifs. I make a point to manipulate or alter the objects to fit my narrative in such a way that they are not obvious and it requires a puzzle solving by the viewer which they find both curious and delightful to do.
I feel my particular type of assemblage art stands apart by my attention to detail and to making all the parts seem integral to one another and seamless. A fry spatula representing a fish fin, blends into the blades of thatching rake tine which forms the scales. A white wooden ruler, when paired with a recorder, knitting needles or white salad tongs become the feathers of a swan which has a curving rockingchair arm neck and a garlic crusher beak.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Although I initially started my Assemblage art career on the notion that utilizing found objects provided a short cut to creating every element of a sculpture from scratch, I’ve since learned the value of upcycling. Recycling is a buzz word and noble and necessary in and of itself, but it means reusing a particular material to make more of the same, ie, plastic or paper broken down to make other forms of itself. Upcycling means creative reuse by transforming by-products, waste, useless or unwanted objects into new materials.
We currently live in a throw away society where things have built in obsolescence or designed to be replaced frequently. We want the newest, the latest, the trendiest things. Companies profit by this need for new and count on it. Gone are the days where a machine was built to last and out of materials that can not be broken down easily. They became obsolete purely by new technology and not because they weakened. Saving incredible once-innovative workhorses like typewriters, adding machines, check printers, cash registers, from the landfill, along with their more common cousins like kitchen gadgetry, old school toys and broken musical instruments, makes me feel good and can teach the viewer that art can be made from almost anything old, broken or thrown away. It also makes for curious discoveries for viewers and they try to recognize the wide array of elements within a piece and oftentimes remark “wow, that’s a Lionel train track and that’s a computer heat sink under that egg slicer”
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Society can best support artists by providing venues in which they can display/sell their art. Typically, art is found in a lux gallery setting or museum. That is quite a narrow world into which an artist struggles to get into, with the false presumption that it equates to successful sales. Artist’s by nature struggle financially so providing affordable venues for them and for the community to access is key and putting culture before profit would have to be the overriding motive.
Artists also need working space which they might not have at home, or maybe even live/work spaces so that their limited profits aren’t sucked up by rent. Providing communities where work spaces can be shared can only foster more creativity and networking where artists can support and learn from one another, but makes it more practical for all. The cost for individual stand alone studio space, gallery or classroom is much higher than having larger facilities that can house several of those, making it desirable for both the artist and the buyer/viewer and a bonus for learners or teachers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artistmichellelamb.com
- Instagram: michelle.e.lamb
- Facebook: michelle.lamb.756
- Linkedin: michelle-lamb-842568186/
- Other: https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftheknow.denverpost.com%2F2020%2F12%2F17%2Fmichelle-lamb-artist-metalmorphosis%2F250729%2F&e=ATM8q3UnfE5djHaw-8DFsh79uYlwQ51OB1LTf4koUYmGke9hhp89Wrqe6vaKOXYftxaLtBoMH6fgSkP_dgu19g&s=1
Image Credits
Michelle Lamb