The Interview as Art

Helen's Flickr Page

Helen Derici Interview Part 2




17. Do you have an interest in films or video?
I love films and movies. I must watch at least one film every day. That must sound a lot but I am often unable to sleep at night so I lie down here on my 'day-bed', probably sanding, filing, drawing or messing around on my laptop and watching whatever movie happens to be on. 
We have a really good film channel in the UK. It's called Film4 and it shows good movies - no dross!!! I like decent films - no chick flicks for me :-) I like British cinema, a more gritty type of film, films that haven't had millions and millions of pounds spent on them - by contemporary directors such as Mike Leigh, Danny Boyle, Shane Meadows and Ken Loach as well as the older British directors like Alfred Hitchcock and David Lean. 
I also like many American films - films by directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorcese and Quentin Tarentino. Some of my favourite movies off the top of my head are Trainspotting (Danny Boyle), Quadrophenia (Frank Roddam), This is England (Shane Meadows), Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarentino) and Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola) - lets put it this way - yes, I love movies!!! In fact, I'm watching 'The Shining' at the moment - scary!!! Jack Nicholson is super-deranged in this film - a brilliant actor. I only like to watch movies - I've never had the desire to make them or mess around with video either. And I will publicly declare without shame - I have never seen 'Dirty Dancing' and I am in no hurry to watch it either!!!

18. What kind of toys do you have?
One of the many definitions of the word 'toy' is '...a thing for amusement...' so, bearing this in mind, I consider my laptop one of my toys. I use it to amuse and to entertain myself - social networking - keeping in touch with my friends and chatting on Facebook and The Mod Generation site; learning -researching, finding out information and facts and just generally using it to amuse myself. 
I consider my pencils, paints, paper and all my art-y stuff to be my toys - I could 'play' all day with those and be a very happy Helen. 
I also like children's toys - I am attracted by their bright colours and I especially like simple mechanical/kinetic toys - I'm alway thinking if I could use any of the ideas in my jewellery. I bought myself a bright, shiny 'windmill' last week just because I wanted it :-)
When I get new tools - hammers especially, they are treated as my toys until their novelty wears off and another new 'toy' arrives in the post :-)

19. Do you have any habits you’d like to kick?
I am the world's worst procrastinator - I'll do it tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow and the day after that :-) And I have another very bad habit that I really should kick and that's all I shall say about that one!!! I love chocolate too but I'm not quite sure that I'm ready to kick that habit yet as I'm just tucking into a bag of Cadbury's Dairy Milk Giant Buttons at this very moment - yummy!!! :-)



20. What do you do when you’re not working?
I don't work in the conventional sense. I don't have a job that I have to work at every day. I used to be a Primary School teacher with a specialism in Early Years (hence my love of toys!) however I have retired early because of ill-health. I am a 'pensioner' at my age - how ridiculous is that? :-) At first, I hated not going out to work every day. It made me very sad. It has taken me two years to feel happy about not working in the usual way. 
My work is now my jewellery and I think about it ALL the time - ideas for jewellery, designs for jewellery, patterns for jewellery, textures for jewellery, the construction of jewellery, the fabrication of jewellery, photographs of jewellery and so on - it's never-ending!!! But I can do it pretty much in my own time, I am my own boss - I don't have dead-lines as such any longer. I am rid of planning, preparation and assessment, lesson observations and personal targets forever - yippee!!!

21. Do you play any games?
I love playing 'Scrabble' - that's really the only game that I like to play - I am very competitive and I play to win!!! (but I never cheat!)

22. How old were you when you got your driver’s license and is there a story attached to it?
I was quite old when I got my Driver's License. I lived in Manchester, a city in the North of England. Cities have buses, trams, trains, taxis - you don't have to drive. When my son was 5 years old, we moved back down to Cornwall. Cornwall is a very rural area and you really need a car to get yourself around. I had to rely on lifts everywhere and I hated it. So learning to drive became an absolute necessity so learn to drive was what I did. Let's put it this way, I wasn't a natural driver :-) Three driving instructors later and I was ready to take my test and I passed my test the very first time and I was extremely pleased with myself. Independence at last!!! :-) Oh by the way, I was 32 when I got my Driver's License.



23. What time do you go to bed and what time do you get up (most of the time.)
This is a difficult question for me to answer. I don't often get to go to bed. I suffer from insomnia yet also chronic fatigue, all because I suffer from a condition called Fibromyalgia. I kind of pass out with tiredness rather than make a conscious decision to go to bed to sleep. When I have my awful bouts of chronic fatigue, I can sleep almost ALL day and through absolutely anything. Nothing can wake me up whatsoever. Gary knocked down the entire kitchen with a lump hammer and a big drill, ready to renovate the room and put our new kitchen in. I was asleep on the other side of the wall in this room. Gary absolutely couldn't believe that I had slept through it all!!!
For example, this week I have slept through most of Monday and Wednesday. Yet often when I can't sleep, I can be awake all night. This is when I go into my workshop and get on with things whilst everybody else is asleep. I seem to get a lot done whilst everybody else is snoring away in their beds :-) As for getting up, I take a lot of medication so it can take me a while to 'come to', as it were. I am always up before midday.

24. How much time do you spend on the computer?
I am frequently on my lap-top - on Facebook, on The Mod Generation site, checking my mail, loading photos onto TADA365 and RAW52. I'm on-and-off my lap-top all day really. I absolutely know that I would find it really difficult to be without my lap-top.

25. Do you watch TV, (if so, what are your favorites?)
 I enjoy watching TV - as I said earlier, I love watching films on TV. I'm trying to think what I actually like to watch on TV - comedy shows, both British and American, stand-up comedy, lots of documentaries on a whole range of topics, all the CSI programmes (they're so formulaic - you know what's going to happen but I still like watching them) and I love watching football (soccer to you!) I'm looking forward to watching the final of The Champion's League on Saturday - Barcelona v. Manchester United. I reckon it's going to be a tough game. My son Isana and I support Manchester United so I am hoping for a good game with the right result!!!

26. What do you eat?
Again, this is another tough one for me to answer. I have no appetite whatsoever because of all the medication I have to take. If I didn't live with Chef Villa who cooks me delicious nutrional food which he places in front of me, I would live on breakfast cereal, yoghurt, fruit, cake and chocolate, hardly a balanced diet :-) Gary is an amazing cook - he can whip up a veritable feast out of seemingly nothing. I am a very lucky lady :-)

27. Do you believe in flying saucers?
I have an open mind on that one - I have never seen a flying saucer but that is not to say that they don't exist.

28. Do you believe in magic?
Of course I believe in magic - what a boring place the world would be without a little bit of magic everywhere ;-)

29. Do you think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone?
I don't think Lee Harvey Oswald was involved in anything at all. He was in the wrong place at the right time or the right place at the wrong time - whichever way you want to look at it.

30. Do you look in the mirror when you get up?
Yes - I like to look after my skin - wash my face and moisturise, moisturise moisturise as my grandma told me and I will never leave the house without my make-up on either. 

31. Do you think the world can be saved?
I don't know - who can ever really be sure of anything? We do our bit but who knows if it will ever be enough? Perhaps we have already done too much damage already?

32. Do you think there should be censorship?
It depends what form the censorship comes in and what is being censored. I want to know everything about everything to make informed choices. 

I would like to dedicate this interview to my fiancee Gary Villa. Without him, I would never have started making jewellery. He has encouraged me every step of the way. But most of all, I would like to thank Gary for the way he looks after me. He is thoughtful, kind and caring without ever making me feel that I am losing my independence. All my love, Helenxxx
Helen's Flickr Page

The Interview As Art

Helen Derici -- Part 1 My name is Helen Derici and I live in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. Cornwall is the most beautiful county - it is at the bottom of England and surrounded by the most beautiful coast-line and countryside. It is a place that cannot fail to inspire. It is also a place that has a very rich historical connection with the arts.  I have been making jewellery for the last few years and Here is a picture of St.Ives where I grew up, the home of many artists because of the amazing light  quality and where Barbara Hepworth lived and worked. silversmithing for the last couple of years. I am enjoying so much being part of the TADA365 group - it really does give me a kick up the butt to work on some aspect of what I am working on at the moment every day. I am the world's worst procrastinator. It has also made me plan out my year loosely - to experiment and 'play' with materials for the first 6 months of 2011 and then to work on building a couple of 'collections' for the end of the year. Being part of TADA365 has also given me the chance to explore new materials -- one being wood. Using wood has opened my eyes to what I can do with it -- the possibilities are endless. Anyway, thank you to all who are taking part in TADA365 alongside me  -- you are all an inspiration to me. Presently, I am working with a new material to me -- wood -- and it is working with this  medium that I have seen how much  Barbara Hepworth has influenced me subliminally,  without me knowing 1. What was your first work of art and how old were you? I had to think quite hard about this and two very vivid memories came to mind - one of painting on an easel with lovely bright red paint on white paper outside my grandparent's house on a beautiful sunny Summer's day - I would have been about two years old. My second memory was when I would have been three years old, I went to a Nursery School (Kindergarten) that was run by nuns from a local convent. I remember being given a piece of white paper and a pencil. I drew on it a stick man - a very fat belly, a big round head with eyes and a mouth and sticks for arms and legs. I was just so proud of this drawing and I couldn't wait to show it to the nun who had given me the pencil and paper. She didn't say'...Oh, what a lovely drawing...' or seem in any way pleased with the drawing that I was so very proud of and even remembering this as I write, I can recall the enormous disappointment that I had felt, aged three, that my drawing had not been appreciated. Having spent 15 years working as a Primary School teacher over here in the UK, I can honestly say that I have always, always taken the time to talk about every single picture presented to me with pride by a child, even just a series of marks on paper drawn by a three year old or the more detailed artwork of an older child. Current TADA work 2. What did you do for fun when you were a teenager? Hmmm - what did I do for fun when I was a teenager? I spent most of my teenage years practicing the violin and piano or, at least, looking back at it now, it certainly feels like it!!! Don't get me wrong - I loved practicing - I practiced, practiced, and practiced violin and piano for four, five, or six hours a day from about eleven years of age until I was twenty years old. I started playing in orchestras and string quartets at age twelve and my love of orchestral playing has never gone away. If my health was better, I would still be playing in orchestras today. I am making myself sound a very serious teenager and I wasn't really :-) Apart from all that practice and my love of classical music, I also loved drawing and painting, pop music - punk and the mod-revival scene music (The Sex Pistols, The Stranglers, The Clash, The Jam, The Specials) clothes, make-up, boys, going to discos and clubs, drinking and smoking behind my parents' backs and I found out last year that they knew all the time and that made us all laugh - all of those in no particular order!!! *I must point out that the British attitude towards alcohol is very different than the American attitude towards it. Drinking over here is seen as very much a teenage 'rite of passage'.* 3. What and when was your first job? And having said what I have just said, my first job was working in a pub at 19!!! Run by a tyrannical land-lady called Brenda who put the fear of God into me :-) 4. What was your first work that really pleased you as an artist? The first piece of work that really pleased me as an artist was painted when I was 15 years old - a still life of a jug and some fruit, painted in acrylic paints for an exam submittal. I remember adding layer upon layer of paint, I began applying the paint with paintbrushes and then I started using my fingers to apply the paint. It just felt so natural to get the effect that I wanted - and I loved the tactility of daubing the paint onto the canvas with my fingers. My painting was displayed in our school art room and I can remember feeling very proud of myself. Barbara Hepworth Sculpture 'Three Uprights with Circles' 5. Who was the first artist to influence you? Barbara Hepworth is the very first artist who inspired me without me knowing at all and her works still inspire me to this day, probably more than I realise. Barbara Hepworth is a world-famous sculptor and a contemporary of Henry Moore. She lived and worked in St. Ives, the small fishing village where I lived as a child. In the 1940s and 1950s, St. Ives had become an artists colony known as 'The St. Ives School of Artists'. Barbara Hepworth's works were displayed in various spots all over St. Ives - in the library, just where you checked out your books was a small sculpture over which I ran my hands every Saturday when I took out my new books for the week. I don't know the name of this piece but I loved it. There is another sculpture placed outside The St. Ives Guildhall called 'Dual Form'. As children, on 'Feast Day' we ran round and round it, chasing each other. It is one of my favourite sculptures. There are various other sculptures positioned around the town. There has always been one of her works that I wanted to see so badly - a piece called 'Four Square Walk Through' - I had only ever seen photos of it. You would expect as I live in Cornwall that I would have actually been to 'The Barbara Hepworth Museum' - created out of her workshop and her garden where she placed many of her pieces amongst the plants in a deliberate fashion. We had Australian friends come to visit last year and we decided to go to St. Ives and just happened to decide to visit the museum. I walked into the garden and guess what was positioned right in front of me - the sculpture that I had always wanted to see and experience 'Four Square Walk Through'. I was absolutely awe-struck and now I feel so priveleged that I can go and see Barbara Hepworth's sculptures any time I feel like it!!! 6. Who were your favorite movie stars growing up? Immediate answers to this question; I didn't have to think at all - Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Humphrey Bogart, Gregory Peck, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Busby Berkeley movies, John Travolta, Marlon Brando, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Martin Sheen, Charlie Sheen, - the list could be endless :-) 7. What were your favorite TV shows growing up? Bill and Ben, The Flowerpot Men, Bagpuss, Roobarb and Custard, The Magic Roundabout, The Clangers, Camberwick Green, Swapshop, The Virginian - I actually really didn't watch much TV. I spent my time upside down in the garden doing handstands, reading books as well as practicing, practicing and practicing the violin and piano. 8. Has your work gone up in price compared to when you first started? I am fairly new to silversmithing - I am working with a web-designer to create two web-sites - one for my more serious art jewellery work and one for my 'Dolly Allsorts' jewellery which is big, bold and funky beaded jewellery. I was selling my 'Dolly Allsorts' jewellery in a couple of shops and I felt like the customers were being ripped off, as was I. My work will be competitively priced. I do not agree with under-pricing jewellery as I feel that it then becomes artistically under-valued and that is never going to be any good to the jewellery artisan world. 'Violin Girl'. At university we were told to make a figure that reflected ourselves - hence 'Violin Girl'  9. Where do you get your ideas? My ideas come to me all the time wherever I am. I have a one-track mind where jewellery is concerned :-) I carry around a notebook to jot down ideas or materials. I draw on the backs of envelopes, anything I can lay my hands on whenever I have an idea. Everything i faithfully stuck into my journals. I use everything around me as inspiration - I pick up rusty washers off pavements, thinking how I can use them. I always have a camera with me to 'point and shoot' anything. I am having to 'rein' myself in as I plan to build a couple of collections in the second half of the year, the first half of the year has been devoted to 'play' :-) 10. Who do you think is the best business artist in the world? Damien Hirst, without a doubt. He is worth 215 million pounds, a phenomenal amount of money earned in any arena, never mind the fickle world of art. 11. Do you think that there are any art movements now? I actually don't know - we could be in a post- this or a pre-that - it is difficult to know what we are in the middle of whilst we are in the middle of it - if you understand what I'm trying to explain ;-) Here's a picture done by the grafitti artist, Banksy 12. Do you think kids should get grants to decorate subways? Absolutely - Graffiti Art is a recognised genre so why not? It gives kids something positive to do and an asset to their communities. Human beings have decorated their environments since Stone Age times - what's different now? In the UK, there is one very famous Graffiti artist who resides in Bristol where he has created many of his works. His name is Banksy ('google' him) but no-one knows who Banksy actually is. He has been able to remain anonymous, protected by the arts community. He had a sell-out exhibition at The Bristol Art Museum and it was kept under-wraps until its opening. Only the Head Curator knew anything about it - what a great idea!!! 13. Have you or anyone you know been involved in street art? The answer is 'No' ;-)  The first ring that I ever made - you can see the 'miniature sculpture' idea even here 14. Do you ever think about politics?  Very frequently - it's very hard not to follow politics when I listen to or watch the news and political issues headline every programme. I just wish that here in the UK, we had one party not a coalition party. I just wish that politicians could be honest to their electorate. 15. What is your favorite color? I can never decide - white, black, grey or red - yep, those will do. 16. Do you do all your own work, or do you have people working for you? All my work is done by my own fair hand :-) TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK!

The Interview as Art

www.evelynmarkasky.com

Evelyn Markasky
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markasky/

1.  1. What was your first work of art and how old were you?

The first thing I remember doing was probably when I was about 7? I would tape long pieces of paper together, 2 or 3 pages, and then draw a house on the front sheet. The front sheet would have doors and cabinets that I would cut so that they would open and then I’d draw what was inside the cabinet on the sheet of paper under that one.

2. What did you do for fun when you were a teenager?

Oh, I was a bad teenager. For fun we would go hang out at MacDonald’s with a 6-pack of beer and chain smoke. My friend's grandfather owned a corner store and we would sneak out cigarettes and beer and wine, because of course we weren’t old enough to buy them. Popular favorites were Boones Farm and Ripple, when I was in college we discovered Mad Dog 20/20. 

3. What and when was your first job?

I was 16. My first job was as a telephone solicitor, selling magazines. That lasted about a week, then I got another job with my friend, Dennise, as  telephone solicitors selling photo packages for Olan Mills. That lasted about 2 weeks. My best job was selling candy and popcorn at the Newport Theatre. We got to see movies for free.

4. What was your first work that really pleased you as an artist?

Other than the paper houses, probably a collage I did when I was in college in the privacy of my basement. I spilled my life onto it. It was very emotional. My mistake was showing it to my art teachers. They didn’t like and weren’t afraid to say so. Of course me and my friend, Nancy, balanced things out a bit when we did independent studies and told them we were going to do a conceptual art piece and lock ourselves in the bathroom in the art department every Wednesday and record our conversations as art. We used to have a comedy act and we did lock ourselves in the bathroom each week so we could write our show. I think we got an 'A.'

5. Who was the first artist to influence you?

I don’t know about the first, but the most influential was probably Andy Warhol. He makes you see that you should just be yourself.

6. Who were your favorite movie stars growing up?

Vincent Price, Cary Grant, Robert Dinero, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, Shirley Temple

7. What were your favorite TV shows growing up?

     When I was little I would build forts in the living room with blankets and chairs and  watch Queen for a Day and Loretta Young Theater. I also liked The Dick Van Dyke Show, I Love Lucy, The Twilight Zone and of course the westerns; Sugar Foot, Cheyenne, Bat Masterson, Bonanza…

8. Has your work gone up in price compared to when you first started?

      Maybe a little. Depends on where it’s located.

9. Where do you get your ideas?

Sweet Potato Ring                     

Everywhere. I look through a lot of books for inspiration. Cooking, I always visually like the scraps of food that I’ve cut up laying on the cutting board. I’d always save them for inspiration. I’d have little bits of the ends of peppers, and sweet potatoes, and cucumbers… they’d dry up and sit on my windowsill for months. Fortunately, doing Ring A Day, I was able to insert many of those vegetables into rings!

  

10. Who do you think is the best business artist in the world?

Someday I’d like to say me and I’d like to do it without having to sell my soul.

11. Do you think that there are any art movements now?

Copper and Ruby... uh I mean Sucret

I think that the internet has leveled the playing field for the arts and music. You don’t have to be in a gallery to be seen or successful. We are free to chose what we want to do and art is very diverse now. We can all be artists and be successful no matter where we live or how many children we have. 


Also, I love the turn in the last decade to using non-traditional materials for jewelry. I never related that well to precious metals and precious gems. 

12. Do you think kids should get grants to decorate subways?  Yes. I think teenagers need more legal creative outlets where they can express themselves and what they are going through without being judged all the time. We need to stop being afraid of teenagers.

13. Have you or anyone you know been involved in street art?

This is one of my son's paintings
UCLA live painting

When I was in high school there was someone (or more than 1 person, we never really found out who did it) that wrote Joe/Val all over town. It was very influential. They were kind of a legend. I never did graffiti myself other than chalk on the sidewalk for hopscotch, but my son became a graffiti artist in high school. Unfortunately, he got caught (twice) and that ended his career (at least that’s what I like to think) He got caught doing graffiti on a wall miles long next to some railroad tracks that was covered (for miles) with graffiti.

14. Do you ever think about politics?

No, only when it’s thrown in my face.

15. What is your favorite color?

Turquoise

16. Do you do all your own work, or do you have people working for you?

I do it all myself, although it would be nice to have some to at least clean my house or do my yard work. Those are not my strong points.

17. Do you have an interest in films or video?

Yes. When I was in college me and my friends made many many movies. We used super 8 cameras that would take film that only lasted 3 minutes. Actually 3 minutes was usually enough! I would love to do some video now, I just haven’t had the time to pursue it.

18. What kind of toys do you have?

Hmmm, pick-up sticks, dominoes, dolls, Pokey, Rubics Cube….

19. Do you have any habits you’d like to kick?

       Eating too much.

20. What do you do when you’re not working?

I like to read or watch scary movies. My husband doesn’t like scary movies so I have to watch them when he’s not home. I also really like low budget scary movies.

21. Do you play any games?

Me and my husband have a standing Parcheesi challenge. We’re playing to see who will win 25 games first. I’m winning so far. We’ve had this going for about 15 years. We don’t play very often. I also play bocce ball sometimes and we have a washer pit in our back yard. Washers is like horse shoes only you use large washers and try to get them in the cup.

22. How old were you when you got your driver’s license and is there a story attached to it?

 I was 16 and the day before I went to take the test, my parents went on vacation for 2 weeks. Probably wasn’t a good idea to leave a 16 year old with a new driver’s license AND a car, especially one that was a very bad teenager!

23. What time do you go to bed and what time do you get up (most of the time.)

I think if I could do it how I wanted, I’d probably stay up till about 3 or 4am and get up around 11am. So my compromise is I usually go to bed around 1 or 1:30am and get up around 9:30am. I am not really a morning person. I hate to go to bed at night.

24. How much time do you spend on the computer? As much as I possibly can.

25. Do you watch TV, (if so, what are your favorites?)

http://www.artfulvision.com/Earrings-Royal-Crowns-Copper-Enamel.html
http://www.etsy.com/listing/72892122/earrings-royal-crowns-copper-enamel

I love TV. I tend to watch old situation comedies, like I Love Lucy, My Name is Earl, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond… new stuff – Raising Hope, Bones, and sorry, but I am an American Idol fan! James Durbin is from Santa Cruz! Oh, yea and you probably already know I watched the Royal Wedding! I love pop culture!

26. What do you eat?

I like to eat the same things all the time. If I could, I would eat the same thing every day. I like sautéed vegetables, fish, hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, although I am trying to cut back on those last 3. I like to cook, (not every day) and I make soup a lot, beans, rice…

27. Do you believe in flying saucers?

Of course! You’ll have to hear those stories another time.

28. Do you believe in magic?

Fold Form Ring Colored with heat & Prisma colors

Yes! Bending, folding, coloring metal is magic!

29. 29. Do you think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone?

No. I am extremely paranoid and strongly believe in conspiracy theories!!

30. 30. Do you look in the mirror when you get up?

Yes, and I look pretty good as long as I don’t put my glasses on. It’s like having one of those special fuzzy lenses they use on old movies stars.

31. Do you think the world can be saved?

I think the world has been around for a long time and gone through many different types of things. I don’t think we have that much power that we can save or destroy something so much bigger than ourselves, we can only continue to do what we think is the right thing, and I guess that may be different for each of us.

32. Do you think there should be censorship?

Only if we can trust who is doing the censoring.
From Wikipedia: Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the general body of people as determined by a government, media outlet, or other controlling body.

The Interview as Art

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polymerclaybeads/

Ponsawan Sila

1. What was your first work of art and how old were you?

Must be when I was in 2nd Grade and attended a new school. We had Art class and I got 10/10 for my first drawing. I was thrilled.

2. What did you do for fun when you were a teenager?

Growing up in Boarding school, I spent most of my time with friends, lots of them, from morning till night. We slept in the same room - with 50 girls, so it was like having slumber party every night.

3. What and when was your first job?

We are not allowed to have a job while going to school. This is in Thailand. My first job was after graduating from college with a degree in Architecture. So I was an Architect.

4. What was your first work that really pleased you as an artist?

Because I love the drawing board, I love drafting and drawing all those buildings.

5. Who was the first artist to influence you?

My brother. He had a drawing on every page of his text book. I guess he must have gotten bored in class. He went on to get a Fine Art degree.

6. Who were your favorite movie stars growing up?

David Cassidy.

7. What were your favorite TV shows growing up?

Growing up in Thailand, who would have thought I watched the same TV shows as kids in the US. So, I watched everything; Gunsmoke, Leave it to Beaver, I love Lucy, to name a few. 

8. Has your work gone up in price compared to when you first started?

Not really. I am not famous yet.

9. Where do you get your ideas?

Being an Architect, I was trained to be creative, to always come up with ideas and new concepts, and, of course, I borrowed the ideas from famous artist and designers from time to time.

10. Who do you think is the best business artist in the world?

Those who were dead and their works became desirable.

11. Do you think that there are any art movements now?

Not in the US, but the rest of the world where, unlike our government, their government supports the arts. Our US govenment keeps cutting funding for Arts and some schools had to cut Art programs. The future is not so bright here. With internet, the artist can share their ideas with the rest of the world. Art can be done on the computer, fast and acurate and in volume. The idea of "One of a Kind" is dying.

12. Do you think kids should get grants to decorate subways?

Of course, that would be wonderful.

13. Have you or anyone you know been involved in street art?

Nope.

14. Do you ever think about politics?

All the time. I worry about my kids' future. Young people should pay attention to Politics. I make sure my children vote for Democrats. LOL

15. What is your favorite color?

Red

16. Do you do all your own work, or do you have people working for you?

All on my own two hands and I have finger prints to prove it, too.

17. Do you have an interest in films or video?

Not really.

18. What kind of toys do you have?

Give me a paper and pencil, I can play all day.

19. Do you have any habits you’d like to kick?

Thinking too much. No, I am perfect the way I am.

20. What do you do when you’re not working?

I take care of my daughter.

21. Do you play any games?

Some easy games on iPad. 

22. How old were you when you got your driver’s license and is there a story attached to it?

Ah-ha. I got my driver's license when I was 30. Again, growing up I had no need to drive, we had a chauffeur. Later on my mom, my brother, my boyfriend drove me everywhere I wanted to go. After I decided to stay and live in the US, it became necessary to learn how to drive, so I did. I slid on Black ice and totaled the car within a week, then drove without license for a few years because I was an Illigal Alien and can't get a driver's license. And I failed the written test 3 times.

23. What time do you go to bed and what time do you get up (most of the time.)

Go to bed before midnight and up at 8. Not my choice, it's Ada's time. I would stay up all night if I could. It is nice and quiet and I can hear me think.

24. How much time do you spend on the computer?

All the time.

25. Do you watch TV, (if so, what are your favorites?)

Yes, tv is on all day. I like "Iron chef" but Ada prefers "Sponge Bob Square-pants."

26. What do you eat?

I will eat everything that doesn't move on my plate, but just became a vegetarian a few months ago. Love it.

27. Do you believe in flying saucers?

No, but won't rule that out.

28. Do you believe in magic?

No, but won't rule that out either.

29. Do you think Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone?

No.

30. Do you look in the mirror when you get up?

Nope. We still haven't put up the mirror in Ada's bathroom. FYI, I sleep in her room. I don't really care much about how I look, it is the inside that shines through.

31. Do you think the world can be saved?

I think so, I hope so.

32. Do you think there should be censorship?
Yes, for the sake of young people who believe in everything they've seen and told and think that everything is real.