Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Teri Swinhart. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Teri, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I have always loved working with my hands and knew I wanted to pursue a career in art from a pretty young age. I have an incredibly supportive family and when I was in high school my grandparents were kind enough to gift me a beginning torchworking class at The Vinery (a small glassworking studio in Madison, WI). I fell in love with the process and ended up pursuing both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Glass Sculpture.
I was very fortunate to do my bachelor’s degree under the guidance of the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Arts’ faculty, who encouraged me to check out the incredible community of craft schools available outside of the university system. Taking classes at these institutions during my summer breaks really helped me to expand my practice and push my comfort zones, both personally and professionally. I got to meet so many amazing people from all over the world and ended up creating a global network that has been essential in getting me to where I am today. I am incredibly grateful that most of these institutions offer classes on scholarship, which helped to enable my participation.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a sculpture artist living and working in the Los Angeles area. I create work as an independent artist as well as through my role at Artscape Sculpture Studio in Sun Valley, CA. My personal artwork has a multimedia focus but usually incorporates glass as a large component. I started my career as a glassblower, but I began to change my process as I found that kiln casting glass often makes more sense for the aesthetic I want in my work, as well as for practical purposes. Kilnworking glass is much more accessible for me financially, and I find the precision and hands-on quality of mold making extremely satisfying.
My art is a personal narrative focusing on the idea of “home” and how that relates to the body. It’s a deeply personal topic for me (“What/where is my home? Does experience create a home? Am I at home in my own body? Etc.) but I think it’s a topic a lot of us encounter in different ways. I love being able to create a sculpture that means something so specific to me, yet it resonates with someone encountering the work for an entirely different reason. Despite the infinite factors that shape our experiences as humans, there are so many beautiful and painful things that we share – I find that overlapping space is where my art thrives.
Much of the aesthetic of my work comes from a love of delicate fabrics and traditional handcrafts, such as weaving and quilting. Honestly, I enjoy subverting the traditional expectations for these materials as a woman in the present day.

In my role at Artscape, I have been able to take everything I’ve previously learned about a wide variety of sculptural materials and really increase the scope of what I know how to do. Under the guidance of our wonderful studio head, Nick Petronzio, we provide custom sculpture and art production services in an extensive range of materials. I work on (and have learned so much about) sculpted prototypes, small and large scale sculpture fabrication, mold making, casting, and a variety of finishes. While we don’t work in glass at Artscape, I have found that much of the skill set comes in handy. I am someone who wants to understand how everything works, and these two sides of my artistic practice combine to keep me constantly learning and growing. They absolutely inform each other, and help me to keep challenging what I want my art to be.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I touched on it earlier, but I love finding the spaces where experiences overlap and starting a conversation in them. I think art can be so unifying and is an incredibly powerful tool to help us understand each other. I would love for my work to add even just a little more compassion and understanding to the world.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Even little changes to our mindset can go a long way: buy from artists, share their stuff on social media, recommend them to your friends, send them to your mom, whatever works! Instead of buying that mass produced print or cute mug at Target, check out some local artists or an online selling space. Support your kid/neighbor/friend when they tell you their dream is to be an artist – it can be a challenging road to head down and it means the world to have someone in their corner. And back that support up by funding the arts in our public school systems.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.tswinhart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luckyglass
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teri-swinhart-137936204/