12: Carolyn Lavender
Carolyn Lavender is a Phoenix artist who was raised in the Northwest. Her work has been political, abstract, and self-portrait based. Most often she is exploring ideas with animal images.
She graduated from ASU in 1992 with a MFA in drawing and has since shown steadily. She was included in ASU Art Museum's "Democracy in America" show in 2004 and helped found the eye lounge collective in Phoenix.
1. List five things on your inspiration wall: - A Life magazine photo of a mother black bear carrying her hairless cub in her mouth. I clipped this photo when I was in grade school and it has been hanging where I can see it ever since. I never tire of it. - On the same wall with the bear photo is my mummified rat that has been spray-painted gold. Not sure why my husband sprayed this guy gold after we found him, but it is one of my favorite things. - My journals, which are stacks of notebooks that I have been writing in since age 14. They started to get visually interesting in the early '90s when I began collaging in them. - My yard. It is a place where I can deal with scale, manipulate nature, plant obsessively, and observe urban wildlife. - Art history. While my interests continually evolve, the subject never gets old.
2. What was your last big project? Last fall I finished a 24 x 54" piece that took almost 3 months of more than full time work to complete. It is an intricate graphite drawing that is a mindscape picturing the scene of an actual suicide of someone I met once. I populated the scene in the woods with 50 birds and animals that are reacting to the sadness of the place.
3. What's your next big project? The "What Goes On and What Takes Place" show at Modified Arts in February 2011. Monica Aissa Martinez curated Sue Chenoweth, Mary Shindell and I in what will be a four-person group show. The large canvas piece I am doing will have 200 individual animal portraits all drawn in graphite. Each animal is making eye contact with the viewer. It will be the most time-intensive piece I have ever done.
4. Why do you do what you do? It is like talking and breathing, it can't be separated from who I am and how I live.
5. What's something you want Phoenix to know about you? I like to walk the walk. I am a sometimes neighborhood activist, political activist, feral cat tamer, and I always recycle, compost, and conserve. I am proud of 18 years of teaching art part-time. And if you're game, what's something you don't want Phoenix to know about you? Maybe Phoenix doesn't want to know that I collect and keep the shed cat claws I find in the house from my two cats. I have filled five-eighths of an inch of a spice jar in three years.
The Creatives, so far:
100. Fausto Fernandez
99. Brian Boner
98. Carol Panaro-Smith
97. Jane Reddin
96. Adam Dumper
95. Mayme Kratz
94. Daniel Tantalean
93. Yuri Artibise
92. Lisa Starry
91. Paul Hoeprich
90. Betsy Schneider
89. Mary Shindell
88: Gabriel Utasi
87: Tiffany Egbert
86. Angela Cazel Jahn
85. Dayvid LeMmon
84. Beatrice Moore
83. Michelle J. Martinez
82. Carrie Bloomston
81. Paul Porter
80. Rachel Bess
79. Karolina Sussland
78. Aaron Abbott
77. Mary Lucking
76. Erin Sotak
75. Greg Esser
74. Matthew Mosher
73. Mark Klett
72. Tony Carrillo
71. Paul Morris
70. Joe Pagac
69. Alison King
68. JJ Horner
67. Kim Porter
66. Marco Rosichelli
65. Heather Hales
64. Amy Lamp
63. Kevin Vaughan-Brubaker
62. Lindy Drew
61. Robbie Pfeffer
60. Neil Borowicz
59. Lynn Fisher
58. Tanner Woodford
57. David Tinapple
56. Casebeer
55. Tom Leveen
54. Patti Parsons
53. Tedd McDonah
52. Mike Maas
51. Chris Todd
50. Monica Aissa Martinez
49. Stefan Shepherd
48. Jenny Poon
47. Matt Moore
46. Andrea Hanley
45. Julie Hampton
44. Ted Decker
43. Saskia Jorda
42. Michael Bergfalk
41. Scott Baxter
40. Carrie Marill
39. Kobina Banning
38. Suzanne Falk
37. Jon Haddock
36. Kade Twist
35. Cindy Dach
34. John Wagner
33. Roy Wasson Valle
32. Sue Chenoweth
31. Patricia Colleen Murphy
30. David Quan
29. Lesli Yazzie
28. Nathan Feller
27. Cassandra Coblentz
26. Matt Dickson
25. Tara Logsdon
24. Gennaro Garcia
23. Tiphanie Brooke
22. Dan Semenchuk
21. James Angel
20. Tessa Windt19. Mitch Fry18. Miro Chun17. Randy Slack16. Abbey Messmer15. Jessica Jordan14. Brent Bond13. Peter Shikany
