CREATIVE SPOTLIGHT- Rebecca Volinsky

1) Where were you raised? Syracuse New York  Can you paint a picture of your childhood? Mmmmm my grandmother was an artist. I have the most vivid memories of her. I can smell and taste and just so be there will everything around her. My household in many ways was unexpressed and repressed and art gave me a window into so much possibility beyond the minds eye. My parents are beautiful and simple beings that gave me so many gifts. 

2) Did you always create art as a kid, or did you come to it later in life? I began creating art at 15. I knew I found the window of possibility to wherever life would take me. Imagination and reflection creation itself was born within me. 3) which artists have influenced your work? Why and how? I’m most influenced by the gentle fierce truth bearing souls I meet on my feet. I love out there visionary art. Absurd ideas become possible. Land art. Salvation mountain in California. Chapel of sacred mirrors. Community projects that seem unreal until they are quite real. 

4) any other influences (people, places, ideas)? Fascinated by spirituality psychology human behavior universal principals shamanism 

5) tell me about your practice—how do you generate ideas, what medium do you use? All. I’m interested in manifesting ideas. Brining visions to life I don’t care much anymore what form they take. It could be dance a necklace. A house I build. I will build a house called house of dreams one day. I love writing spoken word poetry dance song. I love expression and possibility. 

6) is your art more concept-driven or image-driven? Both - inseparable. Images come to me from concepts. They feel born together like roots intertwined. 

7) why do you make the art you make? Because I don’t know any other way of living! It’s how I process reality past present future, through images. 

8) does your art influence your life, and vice versa? My art is in my being well before it’s born. My art is my life and my life is my art. In a way I don’t think about anymore really. It just is. 

9) what do you think about the notion "the lonely artist"? Mmmm I think the artist spends time alone in order to connect deeply with all things. We retreat to connect almost like meditation. 

10) does your art connect you to the world in some way, or does it help you navigate the world? Both definitely it shows me how to be in the world and what I’m here to bring forth create and share. 

11) do you make art for yourself or other people? Both! 

12) what purpose do you think art serves today? Presenting the endless possibility of human creation our power to create despite perceived limitations.