We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Donna Torres a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Donna with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I consider myself a late bloomer in that although I always thought of myself as an artist, I spent my first adult years bringing up children. As they went off to school I returned to university to get my BFA and my MFA. The time spent as an organizing mom certainly fed into my work ethic. I had an earlier degree in liberal studies but it was at that time I felt I could dedicate myself fully to learning the skills I would need to go forward. Before my studies I developed my work over time languishing over each painting but studying gave me the skills to move forward with my work. I could have a clearer picture in my mind and after studying drawing and painting I could move to fulfill my goals with more efficiency. My days are set with specific hours to work and rest. I also travel a bit seeking out new inspiration but that usually that takes the form of notes and ideas jotted down. To actually work on my projects I like to work in my studios. I have one dedicated to oil painting and a drawing/sewing studio where I create the drawings, watercolors, print sets and do my textile work.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I work as an artist and illustrator, and I am also adjunct professor of painting at our local university. My work is primarily in drawing and painting. This work serves as a foundation for textiles and installation. I have an upcoming solo show at Miami International Airport, “The Radiance of Proximity,” opening in October 2023. This exhibition will focus on painting and drawing, and will include landscape and narrative, exploring ideas of travel, nature, and identity. My last solo show was in Santiago, Chile, December 2022- February 2023, at Sala Gasco Arte Contemporáneo, a non-profit gallery run by the Gas Company of Chile. “Caminos y Enlaces”, (Pathways and Connections), included painting, drawing, a print folio, and textile installation. This year I will have my work in the second volume of The Nature of Drugs, by Alexander Shulgin. My botanical artworks include a large collection of plants that have been used in ritual and shamanic practices. These were also featured on the cover of The Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs among others. I continue to work on my small online shop bringing archival quality prints and custom textiles to the public at donnatorres.com. I also connect with my local community through art events and live painting. I am a co-founder of the local artist collective, Tropical Botanic Artists.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
One of the qualities that has helped me on my journey has been to be open to influences outside of western art practices. I enjoy studying other cultures and seeing how they approach their art making. What are the stories they are trying to tell through their work? I am influenced by cultures in and out of my local world. That being said I do think it is important to engage with one’s local community. To that end, a friend and I created a local artist’s collective of botanical art concentrating on our local native flora. Our organization, Tropical Botanic Artists has successful shows which travel to many nature art venues including a variety of National Park art spaces. And lastly I would say try to also work outside your comfort zones. Since I wanted people to be able to purchase my art easily I decided that having a website for prints and textiles would be doable. I learned how to make an online store and handled all the electronic presence for myself and for my botanical art group. It wasn’t a skill I had thought I would learn but designing webpages, invitations to exhibitions etc. has definitely taught me principles of design that have definitely helped my work.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
For me I think it was my education. I knew I need to become proficient in painting and drawing if I was to become a successful artist. The work I was interested in doing required some good skills in this area. I studied at Florida International University and had two teachers that really stood out. Clive King was my drawing instructor and he taught me the skills to put my ideas down on paper. He could see things that I couldn’t see, or had yet to see, not only in my drawing practice but also just improving my focus on the ideas I wanted to explore in my work. I also studied painting under Jim Couper. He gave me the skills of painting as well as making clear to myself what my work would become. I also studied botanical illustration with Priscilla Fawcett. Her classes at Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami, gave me the skills I needed to make the plants I was painting and drawing more realistic. After my MFA I began teaching Botanical Illustration and it was a bit of learning on the job. I had studied botanical illustration but as a teacher I began to explore ways to update my knowledge. The American Society of Botanical Artists ran classes by experts at their yearly meetings. I became a member and on a yearly basis honed in on different techniques I could teach to my class and incorporate into my work.
Contact Info:
- Website: toseeclearly.com (artist website), donnatorres.com (online shop)
- Instagram: @toseeclearly
- Facebook: @DonnaTorresart
Image Credits
Donna Torres Ivan Santiago
