We were lucky to catch up with Mimi Botscheller recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mimi thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

After many years as both an artist and educator I became seriously sensitive to the oil paint materials I used both in my personal artwork as well as while teaching painting. The college I worked for had inadequate ventilation and I developed debilitating headaches from the paint and mediums I used. This caused me to seek medical attention and the Dr took me out of the classroom to see if the headaches persisted. They in fact stopped as soon as I distanced myself from the source of the migraines.

Long story short I proceeded to reinvent how I produced my artwork substituting mixed media materials with a minimum or no use of paint. I also began experimenting with digital media and computer oriented motion art. I found I could create very similar artwork, following similar processes of layering, color and transparencies where needed.

The result was a wonderful hybrid strategy of varieties of media that became recognized throughout the artist community in South Florida. The reinvention provided me the incentive to keep breaking new barriers in my art with new challenges and solutions. My only regret is the expense of reproducing the large scale artwork I make.

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.

I am a mixed media artist combining traditional painting media with fabric, digital applications, and both found and personal objects. I became fascinated by photography and art throughout my childhood, high school and later, college. My first encounter making art was drawing and paint by number projects. My dad introduced me to photography and set up a darkroom for me in our basement where I developed and printed black and white photographs. To observe images materialize in darkness on a piece of paper never ceased to amaze me and believe in the wonder of making art. In college I would later discover a love for painting, its connection to nature and arts ability to communicate new points of view. A multifaceted approach where meaningful coincidences and dual experiences are intertwined is a hallmark of my style.

This opened ended process opened the possibility of intuitively selecting whatever media was best suited for a particular idea. In turn I have been able to work in varieties of industry from gallery exhibitions to art for the music industry which included making stage backdrops for the Bob Marley Caribbean Festival as well as album cover and promotional art for up and coming musicians. My public art spans from multi paneled oil paintings for Port Everglades, Surrealism art installation for Young at Art Museum and multiple murals and wrapped traffic boxes for several Broward County cities .

My newest endeavor is making digital art on the iPad using the app Procreate. I have developed a style that is versatile yet recreates a virtual version of my original paintings. This work combines Photoshop with digital drawing and painting that can be reproduced as limited edition prints and archival large scale giclee works on canvas that can be printed in custom sizes.

I continue to exhibit art and produce both small and large scale mixed media art on paper and wood. I continue my journey and fascination with motion art that adds new vocabulary to incorporate into my brand of art.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Rick Rubin’s recent book The Creative Act: A Way of Being reinforced my unconventional methods while working on diverse projects. I have been fortunate to be able to test my processes of accessing ideas through totally trusting my intuitive instincts which are informed through years of witnessing and making art. Ideas can appear in an instant as a gift that I as an artist can access. This method I do apply to the start of a project and allow for different directions to emerge to guide a project. The technical part of actually making the art is tapping into an effortless flow that I can equate to a meditative experience. I love doing personal projects with no constraints where I can move completely in the intuitive state that Rubin alludes to in his book.

I also have developed ways to open up to new concepts that can always get me started on a project or when I feel an idea is stale. I was able to communicate and share these ideas with my students who solved design problems unconventional ways. I was a college professor teaching painting and conceptual thinking to graphic design students. The results were often startling and fresh.

The Creative Act: A Way of Being reinforced my philosophy to making art, a philosophy which is only now becoming recognized.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I have been intrigued with NFT’s and the possibility that art can be introduced and shared to a much greater audience. I attended the panel discussions about this new art form during Art Basel Miami in 2021. The communal aspect of sharing images and finding your niche community in which to sell art is admirable.

I have been approached via Instagram by platforms featuring NFT artwork. I never participated because I did not feel my art fit in with the majority of the NFT’s being offered. To participate in the higher end of collectable NFT’s needed crypto currency in order to initiate. I was and am skeptical of this approach to selling art. I know artists whose accounts have been emptied and hacked. While the NFT’s were gaining traction in last years art week here in Miami with many video displays the market has appeared to have not been sustainable.

I do feel that selling virtual art that can be reproduced for less expensive means where the original is minted and is collectable has merit and will need to more time to become more mainstream. The wallets and passwords are easily hacked and this is a problem.

Contact Info:

• Website: mimibots.com
• Instagram: mimibots
• Facebook: Mimi Botscheller
• Linkedin: Mimi Botscheller
• Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/30138159 https://vimeo.com/25483558 https://vimeo.com/25347183

Image Credits
Mimi Botscheller owns all the right to the submitted images