"ABOUT."
Joan Hiller is a music publicist, painter and writer based in Seattle, Washington. To date, she has shown her work in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Pomona, Seattle, Koln, Germany and NYC. She owns Riot Act Media, a boutique publicity firm in Seattle, WA, and she's also on the board of directors at 826 Seattle. She is also writing this in the third person. She thinks that's ridiculous, so she is going to stop. If you're really curious for some reason about "artist statement" stuff (people are sometimes!), read this; questions were from a nice curator in Germany named Misti Wilson.
Artist Questions:
1. When did you start making artwork?
I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, making comics and flipbooks and illustrating
little stories that I’d write, and I started really showing artwork while
studying painting at the University of Houston in the late ‘90s.
2. What inspires your artwork?
The complexity and humor in people (individuals with largely horrible personality
traits having endearing qualities, frail-looking people with lots of bravado,
etc), portrait photography and the strangeness that medium can capture, the
little moments in one’s day.
3. Can you describe your process?
Once I decide on a subject to draw or paint, I’ll usually line sketch
the subject, then use an enlarger to fit the composition on wood, if it warrants
that. I’ll usually come up with an idea, sketch it and paint it in one
sitting—I’ll come back to paintings to add things here and there,
but usually it’s a one-pass deal. I think that’s due to both impatience
and my tendency to procrastinate. I get into a completely focused zone when
I’m painting/drawing, though. It’s best if I’m totally alone.
Drawing and writing have always been the only two things I’ve ever been
able to concentrate on for any decent length of time.
4. Can you explain how you come up with titles and why you choose to
title your work?
Titles can make pieces humorous, or contextualize them, which is fun sometimes.
For instance, I did one drawing—it’s an attractive and proper woman’s
head, smiling in a cheesy, posed way—and I titled it “OMG, WTF?”
In doing that, I could change the tone of the drawing so that this character
is now ditzy and gossiping, and kind of laughable.
5. How do you see your work evolving in the future?
In the near future, I want to make very, very large pieces, which I haven’t
been able to do just because my work space is prohibitive. That’s changing
soon—so, with the change in scale, I should be able to force myself to
become more patient when making something work.
6. Is there a particular size or medium you prefer working in?
I like painting on wood with acrylics more than anything.
7. Please describe your studio where you work. Is it chaotic, organized,
in the city, suburbia or countryside?
Currently, it’s a corner of a music room in the loft I live in near downtown
Seattle. There are huge, 30-foot ceilings and a big, glass wall, but all my
work and materials are in piles and boxes that always overflow with whatever’s
in them—paints, felt, googley eyes, paper, wood scraps, brushes. There’s
not enough room, and I have to be careful not to get paint on the floor or walls.
The rest of the space is a very, very clean and organized music studio that
my significant other uses to work in and is pretty particular about. I’m
getting a new space in May.
8. Do you listen to music while working?
When I’m alone in the house, absolutely.
9. When working, what feelings do you feel?
I feel focused, and there’s relief and peace in that focus because most
of the time, my brain’s all over the place, thinking about how something
would be if it was this way, how a conversation would go if I were to have one
with this person, what work I need to get done in the office for the bands that
I work with, whether or not I have a dollar bill for the bus or if I’ll
need to go get change in the morning, whether or not I should finish the book
I’m reading even though I’m bored with it, whether or not I can
really learn the html I need to learn in order to make my website better, whether
or not my ass would shrink if I ate only carrots for a week, etc. Painting and
drawing turns that off—I can actually concentrate and enjoy the moment
without any seeming effort on my part.
10. How do you know when a piece is finished?
I’m not sure if I know when one is finished, but I sure know when one’s
not.
11. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about your work?
I would like for you to buy some, please; it would be very nice of you! Thanks!