Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Eve Wood. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Eve, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I suppose my resililance comes from having grown up with a schizophrenic mother and an alcoholic father. I realized early on that “no one was coming,” meaning if I wanted to survive, I had to rely on my own wits to get me through. I’ve often credited my survival with being an artist as I think I had the unique ability, as most artists do, to imagine myself out of my personal predicament and into some place else. This can be both a blessing and a curse, but as a seven year old kid in a dysfunctional household, it served me well.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a visual artist, critic and writer. I am currently represented by Track 16 Gallery, but have exhibited my work widely in galleries such as Susanne Vielmetter, Angles Gallery, Western Project, The Vincent Price Museum, etc. I work primarily on paper, though I also have a sculpture practice. I am also a writer and poet and my poetry has appeared in many journals including The New Republic, Poetry, The Denver Quarterly, The Antioch Review, Triquarterly, The Best American Poetry, 1997 and many more. I have a multi disciplinary practice which I cultivated while an MFA student at Cal Arts. I believe being a poet has informed my visual work and vice versa in that most of what I do is infused with a kind of poetical imagination, and for this, I am very grateful. It feels hard to be alive these days, and poetry somehow makes it bearable.
In terms of new events, I have a new book, entitled Remarks on Color, coming out in November from Doppelhouse Press. MOCA will host the book launch on October 28th. I will have a solo exhibition of my drawings next October at the Riverside Museum of Art.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I would say the three most important qualities, skills and area of knowledge would be 1) personal vision, (not following in the footsteps of others, but cultivating my own vision of the world) 2) The “no one is coming” attitude, meaning being completely self reliant, and a self starter rather than thinking the art world is going to come knocking at my door. 3) be generous whenever possible — I find that this quality is seriously lacking in the world today, so I make a point of paying it forward whenever possible. You never know what’s around the next corner, and it is always preferable to err on the side of graciousness.
My advice for folks starting out in pretty much ANY profession is — be kind, generous and honest — don’t cut corners, but put in the time do things the right way because, trust me, it may not seem like it, but the world is watching. It takes more energy to be mean spiritied and miserly, and as Charles Dickens once famously said, “no one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
The most impactful thing my parents did for me was to leave me alone and allow me to flourish on my own terms. They were very hands off, which had it’s own unique set of challenges, but I would MUCH rather have had parents who were preoccupied with their own lives than a helicopter mom and dad. This freedom, whether they intended it or not, gave me the necessary framework to be an artist. I spent a lot of time alone as a kid, and I think this was invaluable as it taught me to go inward and develop strategies for interfacing with the world on my own terms. Kids today don’t seem to have this innate sense of themselves, and are too reliant on outside stimuli for validation. I think this is dangerous. It’s important to develop the muscle of seeing critically and learning to excercise your own free will, even if it feels scary.
Contact Info:
- Website: evewood.net
- Instagram: evewoodstudio
- Facebook: eve wood
Image Credits
Sean Meredith and Track 16 gallery
