My World of Art: Interview with Rachel Veeneman

I had to privilege interviewing a fellow peer of mine, Rachel Veeneman. You can e-mail her at veenemrl@mail.uc.edu or check out her blog, Roachie's Exploration. I've attached our interview below.

1.) How would you describe your work?

My work is typically geared towards the darker side. My work isn’t really conceptual, it’s more of the imagery that I find interesting. I don’t want to make up a reason for it because there really isn’t a reason. It’s how I’m feeling or what I’m interested in. My art process is very cathartic.

2.) Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I draw inspiration from my feelings and as mentioned before, interesting imagery. I also find Tim Burton, Audrey Kawasaki, Lee Bul, H. R. Giger, and Ernesto Neto inspiring.

3.) What’s your choice medium?

Currently I’ve been involved in a lot of metal forging and welding with wrought iron. I have also added fabric to my sculptures to create this tension between the hard metal and showing this flexible material. It deals with contrast between materials.

I also work with digital painting. I primarily use Photoshop. I like taking physical objects, like a piece of wood, as using the wood grain by enhancing the aspects of the physical object with the digital media. After that, I would print it out a plank of wood. I’m also interested in collage by taking 2D media such as lace, newspaper clippings, and photographs and then m.

4.) Where do you prefer doing most of your work? (studio, at home, or other?)

I like being around people that I find stimulating and that I’m comfortable with. I find it more valuable to me. Location doesn’t really matter to me as long as it’s peaceful. I use candles, music, and incense in order to get this ambiance.

5.) What is your goal?

I want to be an art therapist because after struggling with depression for almost all of my teenage life and into my adulthood, I want to help people who suffer from that too. I wouldn’t mind working with prisoners or people who have suffered from some kind of sexual abuse. I would like to still continue with creating my own work and show my work within gallery spaces.