We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sali Swalla. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sali below.
Hi Sali, 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?
While I feel extremely blessed to call myself an artist and be able to work at it as my occupation, I do find myself wondering what it would be like to focus solely on being a mom and wife… two positions that are constantly pulling me away from the studio and creating extra tension in my life as I try to find a balance. This then leads me to to wonder if this would be the same if I held a regular 9-5 job. Would the same assumptions about my time be made if I was in an office rather than my backyard studio?
I sense It’s hard for others to understand that what we do as career artists is as “real” as any other occupation. People seem to think the hours are “flexible” and we can always squeeze in time to create later. Sometimes keeping away encroachments into studio time is often a full time job in itself!
We wear many hats as artists – we are the creative art department, the marketing department, the finance department, and the shipping and logistics department. When they all need to be attended to at once, along with being a mom, wife and CEO of the household, it can seem impossible and the call of a regular job, in one department, which everyone sees as real work sounds like a much easier path.
But…. then those magical few hours come together in the studio and I’ve created something I love., feeling like I’ve touched a slice of Heaven and all those contrary thoughts disappear and it’s all very much worth it.
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 am a painter of imagined landscapes and gardens. Through them I strive to make tangible the intangible, just beyond our reach, spiritual side of nature. I am drawn to the close up nooks and crannies of a garden, the whimsy of a bouquet and the horizon line where tree and flower meet Sky. They imbue me with a sense of communing with the Divine in a kind of active mediation. I wish for my work to allow others to experience the same and to see more than what is right in front of them.
I work in the mediums of oil paint and cold wax in a process driven style. I start with many multiple layers of oil paint and cold wax; building a history and depth, alternating between opaque and translucent, organic and structured, warm and cool, big and small. I use a variety of tools – brayers, squeegees, palette knives, ceramic tools, stencils and razor blades to lay down these layers over many days, allowing each layer to fully dry. Eventually these layers are covered over and then scraped and carved back into to reveal the piece’s final form and true nature. Like a mystery revealed, my work becomes a diary of my experiences in the world as well as a dream of how I’d like the world to be.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
My goal for this creative journey is to rewind time, or at the very least slow it down as much as I can. Not in the literal sense of minutes passing, but in the context of civilization’s warp speed forward into a science and technology based society and back to the simpler times, where Nature – the rising of the sun, moon and stars and flow of seasons- was the touchstone by which each day was lived. I hope to create a feeling of nostalgia within the viewer which will cause them to pause as they look within to clarify the feeling. In this pause and look within, I hope they catch a moment of connection with the divine. A connection I feel our ancestors held with a familiarity we have let go and lost in our distracted rush to a future driven by instant gratification. So with each piece I release from the studio I hope to remind each viewer there is fulfillment in slowing the pace and reconnecting with nature.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Back in October of 2020, during the height of the Pandemic I had a duo show with a fellow artist at one of my galleries. It was the first one of such scale for me and I had been working since February on all the pieces. Due to the fall surge of the new variant, the US was heading back into a stricter lockdown phase after a slight easing up over the Summer. When the night came for the opening reception for the show, not only could I not travel to be there for the reception not one guest attended. Even though I knew it was due to factors beyond my control, I was mortified and questioned the very essence of my creativity. As a creative I tend towards intuition, emotion and feelings as my guide, but in this moment I had to call upon my logical, rational, brain driven alter ego and I gave myself one week to feel “devastated” and then I forced myself to put it behind me. I knew I would never give up painting and that required me to have thick skin and a short memory in regards to failure!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.saliswalla.com
- Instagram: @Sali_Swalla