Karen Goetzinger

Mixed media artist talks about the compulsion to create, city inspiration, and ‘non–germinators‘.

Bread for Beggars: How did art become such an important part of your life?

Karen Goetzinger: Even as a child I drew a lot. That practice continued into high school with taking art courses for those 4 years and continued at university with an emphasis in Fine Arts. There were times in my life that I didn’t specifically do artwork but the urge to create is always there and found its way into other projects, including banner work for churches. When other responsibilities keep me from the studio, I can feel myself getting a bit cranky and resentful of those other things. Regardless of if my work is selling on a consistent basis or not, I am compelled to continue to make. Moving to Canada seventeen years ago afforded me the opportunity to begin my studio practice full time.

BFB: We’ve heard differing views on the validity of ‘inspiration’. What’s yours?

KG: I think everything I see gets stored away and has the potential to influence my work somehow at some time. That being said though, I love the vivacity of urban life: the sights and sounds, the lights, the play of light on the buildings, the architecture itself, the bustle, the colors, marks, textures and the imperfections.

BFB: How about outside inspiration?

Truthfully, I don’t have just one favorite but I do love the work of Julie Mehretu, textile artist Dorothy Caldwell for her mark making, Richard Pousette-Dart’s white series, the incredible thread installation work of Chiharu Shiota, and abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell.

In this recent podcast, artist Jason Jaspersen talks about getting through the ‘ugly duckling stage’ of any project. What’s your method?

I go for walks and will often take photos along the way. Helps clear my head. Seems counter-intuitive but most often I will go to the studio, crank up the jazz music and make small works on paper, allowing myself to create with absolutely no expectations. Whatever happens, happens. Some may lead to a larger work (that is the hope in the back of my mind) but most of the time they get tossed. Simply going through the motions helps keep me from becoming totally frozen.

You have a lot of experience in the art world. What wisdom could you pass on to someone looking to get into the field?

 Get a tough skin. The art biz is not easy— both the making and the marketing. You’ll receive lots of rejections (or as a colleague of mine calls them, “non-germinators”) as you submit proposals to galleries and exhibition venues but you have to keep going and moving forward. Just show up and do the work and lots of it.

I realize that not everyone will be drawn to or even like my work – that is part of the great subjective nature of art, but perhaps contemplation of a piece will elicit for the observer, the desire to dig a little deeper into their imaginations and find the emotional and symbolic potential of abstract art.

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