Based in Maine, Kate Cleaves is a trained artist who's art work she says expresses an obsession "with creating a synthesis between all things, as well as the notion that before forms are forms, they are: thoughts, dreams, ideas, etc." If you go to www.katecleaves.com you'll definitely agree that Kate's tapping into some pretty surreal stuff. Working primarily with acrylic and oil paint (but also some mixed media like fabric, glitter, yarn) she's establishing her name in her home town of Portland and beyond.

Plateau: Where did you start as an artist?
 
Kate Cleaves: I started as an artist in Maine, where I grew up, and live today, but I always remember my mother telling me how I have been drawing and painting since the time I was old enough to hold a crayon – so for me it doesn’t really feel like I ever “started” being an artist. The passion to constantly be creating is just something that seems to be inextricably part of me. Sometimes I think “It would have been so much easier to make a living if I had gone to school to become a doctor,” or something like that - but there is this weird, unexplainable feeling, like a force inside me, that’s always telling me that I am meant to be an artist, and that I really have no choice in the matter.

P: Have you ever started a piece of work in a particular direction and ended somewhere else?
 
KC: Yes, definitely. In fact, it is often a better result if that is the case. If I start a painting and keep trying to force it to go in a predetermined direction, it often ends up feeling strained and looking too static. It is almost as if as soon as my brush hits the surface, the painting takes on its own life - and I have to work with it, and have a “go with the flow” mentality. It is sometimes hard to let go of a particular direction that I wanted the painting to go in, but once I allow myself to become part of the dance between artist and canvas, I find myself in a very zen-like state, and the results are much more rewarding.

P: Do you ever get angry when you start a piece but you can not finish it?

KC: Sometimes when I am in the middle of a painting I will get extremely frustrated, and one of the things that I have learned to make myself do is to switch to working on a different piece. I generally have many paintings going at the same time, which allows me to not risk over working one piece if it is starting to become frustrating. After switching to another piece for a while, I will go back to the initial one that was giving me a hard time, and I can see it in a new light and the answer of what I need to do to it becomes more clear. Or sometimes I just need another set of eyes. For example, I have this one piece that I have been working on for probably two years now, that never felt done, and the more I worked on it, the more I hated it. It would seriously keep me up at night thinking about it. Then, one night this past summer, I was at the opening of a solo show I had in Portland (Space Between), and for some reason I hung the piece even though it drove me absolutely crazy. When two of my colleagues came by, I started explaining just how crazy that piece drove me. When they saw it, they told me it was one of their favorite pieces in the show, and explained why. From that moment on, the way I saw it shifted and I could finally sleep at night.

P: So who or what other artist where you inspired by?

KC: I would have to say that my parents were the first to inspire me to be an artist - by always showing unconditional love and support for what I do, and never batting an eye (and actually showing enthusiasm) when I would draw, paint, and collage all over my bedroom walls. Some of the visual artists who inspire me are: Lynden St. Victor, Phyllis Bramson, Shazia Sikander, Daniel Merriman, the German Romatic Philip Otto Runge, Amy Yoes, Laurel Sparks, Wangechi Mutu, Dana Carlson, Colleen Kiely (who's work introduced me to glitter), Sean Foley (who taught me everything - not only about painting, but how to be a painter), and Vladimir Kush (who's book Metaphorical Journey got me through many hard times in the studio).

P: You have some really special pieces and I was wondering what are you thinking about when creating them? where does each piece of work start at?

KC: Thank you. As I said before, synthesis plays a key role within my work (in many aspects). I believe in a more universal synthesis between science, and spirituality (and/or philosophy) - and that we need a balance between these things to better understand the world. The idea of chaos and order, and that underneath what often seems to be this complex jumble of everything, there is in fact a grand design - an eternal rhythm, or dance. I am often inspired by fractal patterns in nature, or the nautilus shell which I use as a metaphor to depict this absolute (scientific) beauty. My favorite image to describe this comes from the idea of the big bang theory - I think it is amazing to think about how at one time, everything that makes up the billions of life forms on this planet was all part of this one tiny seed of exploding cosmic energy - and that the only real separation we experience is due to the distance between our ever expanding energy in time and space. To me, this seems equally spiritual as it does scientific. I am also concerned with ancient earth based "religions" or philosphies, as well as their creation myths (I think we are an age that is in dire need of more of our own myths and stories). Reviving and reclaiming sacred symbols of the feminine - which for the most part have been given a negative connotation and have been disintergrated and hidden among new patriarchal religions - is also present within my work (the snake, egg, and creatrix, are often a recurring theme). Imagination plays an important part in the communication of my work, because our own perception of reality is primarily based on the myths and stories that we have heard (or told ourselves) - which are the memories of our own "hallucinations." I am constantly thinking about all of these things when I'm in my studio, and when I start a piece I may have certain imagery or symbols in mind, but that doesn't mean it has to stick to the initial idea - it is more like having a melting pot of thoughts and imagery that I can dip my ladle into and pull out various ideas that can then be transfused into paint and woven into a painting. I feel like painting is a kind of alchemy.

P: What can we expect to see from you in the near future? Are they any new projects you are working on? Any major goals your reaching for?

KC: My studio will always be a place of continuos work, with it's own cyclical life cycles. In addition to painting, I have also recently had the epiphany that I need to write/illustrate children's books - it just hit me one day last spring - and although they are in the very preliminary stages, I do have a few projects in motion.

P: What would you say to the independent artist doing art for the love but that has not reaped any rewards for there hard work?

KC: I would say never give up, or lose sight of your dreams. I know it's hard and can be discouraging, but if you feel it with all of your heart and soul, just know that one day all of the hard work will pay off. Never stop fighting for it, or believing in what you do.