Carmine Magazine

Carmine Magazine: What drives you to create? Also, what inspires you and your work?
Nyela: I am driven by a need to create that I don’t even understand. It is a way to express everything for which I cannot find the words. I am inspired by stories and experiences, both my own and those of people around me. Black American culture, as well as the cultures of others of the African diaspora, is also a source of inspiration.

CM: Were you formally trained in art or self taught? Do you think it has helped you or hindered you?
N: I am formally trained, although it was after college that I really learned how big a role making art plays in my life. College helped me a great deal in becoming confident in my abilities. I miss the free exchange of ideas of academia.

CM: Do you have a ritual, quirk or superstition that influences you and the way you create? (example: I must wear the green underwear when I paint hair or it will look horrid, etc.)
N: I listen to music. It influences my mood, and therefore my work. Sometimes, I just put iTunes on shuffle, but there are specific CD’s that I like to listen to when I need to focus, usually artists like Angelique Kidjo or India.Arie, or Putamayo compilations such as Women of Spirit or Women of Latin America.

CM: What mediums do you work in the most? Do you have a particular brand that you love working with? Why do you use them?
N: Right now, it’s watercolor and mixed media. Sometimes, its acrylics or oils. Still other times, it is printmaking or even sculpture. I am kind of limited now by space constraints, so I am working smaller. My choice of media is determined my what will best suit the ideas I am trying to convey.

CM: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? And now?
N: An English teacher. I’ve always loved writing, books, and reading… Now, I want to be an artist and art professor.

CM: If there was one style of art that you could take up, what would it be?
N: Lithography. I see what others have produced in the medium, and I am intrigued. Others include found object/mixed media sculpture and performance art, because I believe these forms present a challenge to alter ways of thinking in ways other art forms don’t. Oh, and book arts, because of the love I’ve always had for books and writing.

CM: Do you think the internet, technology, media, etcetera are helping or destroying the art world?
N: A little of both. It is easier to see what others are doing, which makes it easier for those who wish to plagiarize to do just that, but it also allows artists to do research and view how others use particular techniques a lot more easily.

CM: How do you deal with creator’s (or writer’s) block?
N: Stop. Spend some time reading, talking to friends, listening to music or podcasts. Have sex. Have a drink. Meditate. Doodle. Write. Flirt. Sleep.

CM: How do you prepare for art shows where your work will be shown?
N: If I’m going to the opening, I’ll spend some time getting dolled up and ready to chatter away to people. If not, light a candle and say a prayer, and then celebrate.

CM: At what point did you realize that creating was going to be a large part of your life?
N: When the internal pressure to create was greater than anything external.

CM: What was your worst experience with art?
N: Not making art when I needed to.

CM: What was you best experience with art?
N: My best experience with art is when someone looks at something I’ve created, and I can clearly see (or they tell me) that they are affected by it in some way, that they are forever changed, even in the smallest of ways.

CM: How would you define your style? Is it an extension of yourself, or something else entirely?
N: I consider myself a surrealist, a symbolist. My work is most certainly an extension of me, and is reflective of my experiences in ways that I sometimes find disconcerting.

CM: What does your workspace look like? (Pictures or a description work for this one)
N: Right now, my work space is my living space. An easel in a corner, a palette and a drawing board at my feet, paintings in various stages of completion against the walls…

CM: Aside from art what do you do with your time? Is there anything else that drives you or that you’re passionate about?
N: I read, I write, meditate and pray. I often participate in arts and service activities in my community. I listen to music and spend lots of time online. I’m passionate about my culture, as a “daughter of the [African] diaspora”, about living and loving and just being.

“When we are loved we are afraid
love will vanish
when we are alone we are afraid
love will never return
and when we speak we are afraid
our words will not be heard
nor welcomed
but when we are silent
we are still afraid

So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive”

–from “A Litany for Survival” by Audre Lorde

Find Nyela’s work at these places on the web:
The Rebirth Of Me on Livejournal
nyelanashay on Myspace

Some artwork from Nyela: