q a with Jen Corace..

I must confess that I decided to put off this latest q&a due to the holiday season until now, I absolutely love Jen Corace's work and I did not want the interview to get lost in the shuffle of all the holiday madness. Jen answered these questions right after her solo show, Our Finest Hour opened at Giant Robot. I've included a bunch of the paintings from the show in this post, as well as images from her latest illustrative endeavor Hansel and Gretel with Cynthia Rylant. It was a pleasure to read about the goings on behind the scenes of Jen's illustrations, process and cooking with whiskey!What do you love most about being a working artist?

Ihave always loved the schedule the most. There's no beating having acustom schedule to do what you enjoy most. I am a night owl...I havealways known this to some degree but I have finally come to fullyaccept it. I prefer starting work around five or six and then workinguntil two or three in the morning...you know, with some dinner and afew breaks here and there. Can you tell us a little about the mediums you work in? What are your favorites?

Mymediums of choice are pen and ink...which sometimes isn't ink, butconcentrated watercolor, acrylic and watercolor paint on eitherwatercolor paper or Rives BFK. I tend to stick to this formula. Itworks best for me, I've learned most of their strengths and have foundways to navigate around their weaknesses.  

Oneof the many things I appreciate about your work is the abundance ofanimals. As a child did you have lots of animals around you?

Wehad our share of family pets. There was Ginger...the family dog, shewas a Collie mutt, and then three cats...Tara, a mutt-like Siamese,Tia, our Grandmother's cat, and Casper who was my own cat. When mybrother was in the first grade we discovered that he had severeallergies to pet dander. The cats went to different homes and Gingerled a cloistered life in our laundry room and garage. It was a bummerof a time...for my brother and for me. And I'm not going to lie...Iheld it against him.I have always lovedanimals...constantly took books out of the library on dogs, elephants,turtles. Biology was a favorite class in middle and high school.These days I have a solid reference section on animals in my libraryand collections of images in binders. Do you start drawing first, or do you develop an idea first?

It'ssort of a fuzzy mix. I draw, randomly, over a series of sketchbooks.I usually have three or four going at once. Then the sketchbooks willsit and percolate for awhile, I start staring and thinking... Eventually I will look through old sketchbooks and will pull ideas outwhat I have drawn months ago, combine it with things I have beenreading or thinking about and then make a series of lists to organizemy ideas.

It's the lists that structure what Ido. It's not until I have written two or three collections of editedlists that I will start on thumbnails. And even my thumbnails are ajoke. They're really loose, almost unreadable...sometimes even to me.The lists generally directly translate into the final piece.

Weatherinspires me. Water. I am more inspired by atmosphere and any figurein the piece that finds their way to fit into that atmosphere. I have somehalf-finished final drawings that went nowhere because I started withthe person and not the feeling/atmosphere of the piece as a whole. Ihave thought of ideas for shows based on a doodle in a sketchbookwhere, at the time, my mind clearly clicked with ideas at that momentwith that one image. More often than not I have scrapped those showsbecause I didn't set down the foundation first.  Your work often seems to be peering into a child's life. Would you say that your work is autobiographical?

Ifmy work is autobiographical then only distantly so...I think that mylife and experience has influenced how I think and what I put out, butI don't think that I have directly translated events in my life ontopaper. My images have a narrative quality, but the story itself has avague quality that I could never pin to an instance or moment in mypast.

Youhave illustrated a few children's books. What's it like knowing thatyour drawings are subconsciously and consciously inspiring children?

Aroundthis time last year, maybe a little later, I had just finished up workfor Hansel and Gretel. I was visiting my dad, his wife's sister andfamily were there at the same time and we were all looking at theimages on my laptop. After I had finished showing the artwork Iprobably spent another half an hour with my three year old step cousin going through certain images over andover again. He was fascinated by the images of Hansel and Gretel intheir cages, the witch and the chicken bone scene. It was then that Iunderstood what was going on and could remember feeling the same wayabout certain images and stories that I had grown up with...how certainpictures and story lines become internalized and personal and how theystick with you. It was an amazing thing to see happen. 

Idon't think about it too much...maybe I am afraid of jinxingsomething...but if it is happening then that might be my favorite thingabout being a working artist. What were your favorite books as a child growing up?TheLittle Mermaid, The Snow Queen, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. A lot of storieswhere someone has a hard lesson to learn or there is some intense selfsacrifice. I also have a collection of memories of books of the late60's early 70's that are printed in two or three colors...I'm thinkingof "I Know an Old Lady" illustrated by Abner Graboff.  But there were alot of books that used great line work and this particular shade of red. I read on your blog that you like to ad whiskey to almost everythingyou make...what is your favorite recipe and can you share it with us?Ithink that my favorite recipe that involves whiskey are sweet potatohome fries.  I don't have specifics...like measurements or times...Itend to cook a lot on the fly. But generally speaking...onions,garlic, sweet potatoes and red potatoes get diced up and put into aglass casserole, tossed in oil w/ salt, pepper and chili powder. Addwhiskey to the bottom of the casserole...maybe 1/4"...sometimes i dohalf whiskey, half water.  Cover the casserole w/ aluminum foil and popit in the oven (450 degrees) to steam up the potatoes...check in maybeten minutes...you want them soft, but not mushy. Careful removing thefoil because the whiskey vapors can be dicey on the nose. When thepotatoes are tender, remove the foil, turn down the oven to maybe 350degrees and then roast until golden...occassionally running a spatulathrough them. Re-season if necessary.I once also steamed some kale with a splash of gin...it was surprisingly good. OurFinest Hour, your most recent solo show at Giant Robot, features more than50 framed portraits. They are all of women in fancy dress from erasgone by...who are these fine ladies?  What were your thoughts behindthis group?Theladies come from the practice of Victorian or period novels wherecharacters identities are kept anonymous when news or scandal isrevealed about them or they are involved in said news or scandal andtheir anonymity is important to their social character. It's a deviceI have always enjoyed. I just wanted to create a show that was easygoing and and easy fun for me to make. I enjoy all the shows I do, butthe sort of work and the toll of the work differs. I also likecreating women who have their own identity only it's a mystery to theviewer. It opens up possibilities of invention to who they are andtheir stories. What is coming up for you through 2009?Rightnow I am working on my next children's book "Mathilda, the OrangeBalloon" by Randall de Seve. I created imagery and windows forCraftland...Providence's annual holiday craft show. For 2009 I have another children's book in thewings, a group show at Schmancy in Seattle in early February, a soloshow at Art Star in Philly at the end of February and I am planning ontaking March off.To read and see more of Jen's work check out her website and her blog.