We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Veronica Ibargüengoitia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Veronica, thank you so much for making time for us today. We’re excited to discuss a handful of topics with you, but perhaps the most important one is around decision making. The ability to make decisions is a key requirement for anyone who wants to make a difference and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your decision-making skills.
I am not the best at decision-making, but I will do my best to share my method. First, I make my decisions in a calm environment and peaceful mind. Therefore, no matter what, if I am anxious or over-excited about something, I try to avoid making important decisions at that time. I prefer and take a few hours or even a few days. I have learned that everything can wait, and if your decision will affect the outcome positively or negatively, it is better to make it with a cold head. For my decisions, I will always think of a Plan A and a Plan B from the beginning. Of course, things happen, such as mistakes or wrong approaches to solving problems, but it is easier to find solutions if you have a rerouting plan from the beginning.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a Mexican interdisciplinary migrant artist living and working in Denton, TX.
I see my work and myself as a builder of connections and understanding. Migrating to another country for me was an opportunity to open my knowledge.
From the first moment I used my migration experience to interconnect with other migrants, cultures, and countries, I made friends with local and migrant people for curiosity and to learn and exchange experiences. Besides migrating to a different country, I moved to ten houses. Every single time is a constant recalibration, an adaptation process; I learned to use this process to understand myself and others in the way how we claim and adapt to the new space. I previously worked in Mexico in corporate interior design. My art practice is significantly influenced by space planning and how we function within a space. My previous art practice was two-dimensional, and my subject matter levitated between architectural elements or interior spaces, evolving later by adding objects in a trump l’oeilesque approach. Later, I began building my canvases from images of windows shared by people and friends worldwide during the Pandemic years. I intended to have a physical object in my space connecting me to those miles away from me.
The months of isolation provided a space for thinking and researching in my practice. I am intrigued by the different forms of appropriating the area regardless of the place of origin, how we design and dwell in our spaces, and how we build psychologically and physically a home from those spaces. This warren will give the sensation of sheltering. I am invested in the meaning of the objects we use for living and the subject in the space.
I am working on a couple of proposals for temporary exhibitions in small spaces during June 2023 at Denton, TX, and a collective show in Houston, TX, during October 2023 with a group of dear friends from the Block XX program of the Glassell School of Arts in Houston.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
A person always continues learning or accumulating knowledge. If you stop doing it, then you will probably start going downhill. I will frame my skills/qualities knowledge up to this point.
The first skill that has developed throughout my life was learning to use power tools. At eight to ten years old, I first came across one of those intriguing machines. I was helping my dad fix something at my house. I do not remember what it was. But I clearly remember wanting to use the driller and learn to change the drill bits. He taught me how to do it. Later on, I added more power tools to my belt, and then in my undergraduate years pursuing a major in Industrial Design, I learned to use many machines at the workshop.
More than learning how to use them, the important part was not to be afraid of them and use them carefully to achieve results. That was my first skill to learn to operate things to be able to make what I wanted to make.
My second skill was to run as a meditative experience. I used to run every day or at least six days a week. It took me a few years to have the ability to be with myself. It takes patience, discipline, and commitment. You have to wake up, dress up and go. In the beginning, it was about having to go out and run. Later it became necessary because I enjoyed that time of thinking a lot. The space where I was with myself allowed me to rethink my art-making processes and work. If there were unresolved decisions, finding solutions in that space that opened while I was running was more accessible. So my advice will be to find an activity that gives you a personal thinking space.
The third quality is commitment, don’t think, do! I mean it; get up and do it. Things don’t move by themselves; art does not make itself. You must make, explore, research, investigate, and start again. Making art takes time and is a different process for every artist, but a quality that repeats in each artist is that you must commit to your practice before art can happen.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I enjoy collaborations and use them to make art accessible to other communities. I am looking for artists or creative people who are not afraid of challenges, will take risks in stepping out of their comfort zone, and are willing to give time to others or a public project. I am open to collaborating, so I am open to listening if you want to share an exciting idea. The easiest way to connect with me will be by email.
I enjoy collaborations and use them to make art accessible to other communities. I am looking for artists or creative people who are not afraid of challenges, will take risks in stepping out of their comfort zone, and are willing to give time to others or a public project. I am open to collaborating, so I am open to listening if you want to share an exciting idea. The easiest way to connect with me will be by email.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://veronicaibarguengoitia.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veronica_ibarguengoitia_art/?hl=es
Image Credits:
Rick Wells
Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
