Audio By Carbonatix
Phoenix is brimming with creativity. And every other year, we put the spotlight on 100 of the city’s creative forces. Leading up to the release of this year’s Best of Phoenix issue, we’re profiling 100 more. Welcome to the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives. Up today: 47. Constance McBride.
Time inspires Constance McBride.
When the sculptor lived on the East Coast, she says, she had a tough time finding her voice and figuring out her aesthetic. “Now after being here 12 years,” she says. “I’ve come to realize that this gorgeous Southwest desert I live in is another significant influence on the work and it seems to have really tied things together for me,” McBride says. “The effects time has on our bodies and my evolving emotions concerning them are what drive the direction of my work.”
See also: Tempe Filmmaker Cary Truelick: 100 Creatives
McBride is a member of Roosevelt Row gallery Eye Lounge, where she recently wrapped up her first year and her first solo exhibition “Timescapes,” and she serves as chair of the Arizona Artists Guild Sculptors’ Group. As 2015 marks Eye Lounge’s 15-year anniversary, she says she’s gearing up for a themed group show at Chandler’s Vision Gallery and that she will curate Eye Lounge’s member group show for next year’s Art Detour.
“I am also continuing work on The Lonely Girls Project which I began in 2012 (prompted by my mother’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease),” McBride says. “I am expanding the project to add more figures as well as a larger scale suspension element and an expanded audio element. I am also collaborating with my sister, a poet, on a book about the series. Our draft plan includes images of the original seven Lonely Girls sculptures, seven poems and seven drawings.”
I came to Phoenix with a truckload of furniture and other stuff from Philadelphia (PA) that I quickly discovered didn’t fit the new lifestyle my husband and I wanted to create here. That was in 2002. I’ve been recycling my old stuff out ever since.
I make art because it feeds my soul. I was hungry for quite awhile; I worked in the corporate world for a really long time. There wasn’t a lot of soul nourishment going on for me in that world but I’m lucky. Since 2008, I’ve been able to devote a lot more of my time to happily making art.
I’m most productive when I am excited with a lot of ideas in my head, when I am collaborating with other artists and when deadlines are looming.
My inspiration wall is full of works of other artists; posters, magazine covers and articles, and torn out images of anything that gives me an idea I want to explore more.
I’ve learned most from my failures. Following each failure, I’ve learned by having patience, being persistent, and never giving up. I’ve learned these qualities from my father, my mother, my husband, my children, and my dogs.
Good work should always be the end goal. It should always be the best I can do.
The Phoenix creative scene could use more artists, curators, critics, patrons, sponsors, collectors, educators, visionaries, entrepreneurs, and competent political leaders; the more the merrier. I remember when Richard Florida came here to give a talk related to his “creative class” book at the Orpheum Theatre. My husband and I went to hear him. It was late 2003; I’d only been here a little over a year then. I didn’t know a lot about Phoenix yet but I did know it wasn’t anything like the city I grew up in. Phoenix has come a long way since then and with new funding and new plans being approved, it seems there is a strong drive and commitment to making a vibrant, urban downtown work. We are on the verge now and it’s an exciting place to be. I really like that I am contributing to the effort by showing my work in downtown Phoenix.
See the 2014 edition of 100 Creatives:
100. Bill Dambrova
99. Niki Blaker
98. Jeff Slim
97. Beth May
96. Doug Bell
95. Daniel Langhans
94. Nanibaa Beck
93. Nicole Royse
92. Ib Andersen
91. Casandra Hernandez
90. Chris Reed
89. Shelby Maticic
88. Olivia Timmons
87. Courtney Price
86. Travis Mills
85. Catrina Kahler
84. Angel Castro
83. Cole Reed
82. Lisa Albinger
81. Larry Madrigal
80. Julieta Felix
79. Lauren Strohacker
78. Levi Christiansen
77. Thomas Porter
76. Carrie Leigh Hobson
75. Cody Carpenter
74. Jon Jenkins
73. Aurelie Flores
72. Michelle Ponce
71. Devin Fleenor
70. Noelle Martinez
69. Bucky Miller
68. Liliana Gomez
67. Jake Friedman
66. Clarita Lulić
65. Randy Murray
64. Mo Neuharth
63. Jeremy Hamman
62. La Muñeca
61. Kevin Goldman
60. Emily Costello
59. Kerstin Dale
58. Vara Ayanna
57. Nathaniel Lewis
56. Ruben Gonzales
55. Lisa Poje
54. Bobby Zokaites
53. Frances Smith Cohen
52. Julie Rada
51. David Miller
50. Xanthia Walker
49. Kyllan Maney
48. Cary Truelick
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