Nathalie Strand - 10 Artists 10th Anniversary
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Our 10 Artists for our 10th Anniversary celebration continues! Over the next 10 months our newsletter will feature 10 of our 'amaeyzing' Kids & Art artists who have been with us on our journey from 2008 to now.
We will compile all 10 artists' stories into a small book ready for our 10th Anniversary gala in San Francisco on December 1, 2018. Each of the 10 artists will also be given one word on which they will create a piece of art. These 10 pieces will be displayed together at our gala and will encompass the mission of Kids & Art. We thank these artists for taking part and inspiring us with their artwork and insightful words.
For June please meet artist Nathalie Strand.
1. Name, website
Nathalie Strand - www.nathaliestrandphotography.com
2. What inspired you to begin your journey as an artist?
My mother worked in a prominent modern art gallery in Paris, and I grew up with amazing art on the walls and countless visits to galleries and museums. She also had many artist friends we would visit in their studio.
3. What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work? What do you do
to get into your creative zone?
I just don’t give up. Creating my own deadlines is most important. I sign up to competitions, exhibitions, workshops, fairs, conferences etc. Then I have no choice then to create more. Shame is a great motivator too.
Order and calm in my studio and in my head, then some music will get me in the creative zone.
4. What are you working on now?
Series of composite digital photography. I take a million pictures, then combine them two by two, discovering stories along the way. I let this process take control and surprise me.
5. What does your art mean to you?
Art is my oxygen, my escape, my refuge, my story, my truth. It is my way to assert my right to exist alongside 7.2 billion other people.
6. What has been the most difficult challenge as an artist and who are your biggest influences?
Accepting, rejection without giving up is quite difficult. Making an active choice to be and stay vulnerable to anyone’s opinion, taste, mood or judgment is daunting but it helps me grow stronger. I am influenced by everyone and everything! I am interested in so many mediums, styles and subject matters, I just devour everything I see. Maybe nature is my biggest influence, as it is the most talented and uncompromising artist of us all…
7. What has been your favorite accomplishment as an artist?
When my girls tell me: “Mom, you are going to be famous!”, and when they brag about me to their friends or some stranger in the street. And when they tell me they want to become artists, like mamma.
8. What advice would you give to someone starting out as an artist?
Persist, explore, copy, learn, try, try, try, be you, please only yourself, just do it! Also, keep failing. It is part of the process. You will learn more from rejection and failure than from success, compliments or awards. Last but not least, read Art and Fear, Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, by David Bayles & Ted Orland.
9. If you could live in a different artistic period, which one would you chose?
Mid 1850’s, early 1900’s. The early age of photography. And also the Renaissance, obviously :)
10. Do you have a favorite art gallery? Do you have a favorite color? And why?
The world around me is my favorite art gallery.
My favorite color used to be Blue. Now it’s its complimentary: Orange. To be more precise, Amber. It is warm, complex, rich and enigmatic.
Art is my oxygen, my escape, my refuge, my story, my truth. It is my way to assert my right to exist alongside 7.2 billion other people.
I believe art has the power to heal because…
Order and calm in my studio and in my head, then some music will get me in the creative zone.
Persist, explore, copy, learn, try, try, try, be you, please only yourself, just do it!
About the artist:
I was born in France in 1974 and studied at l’Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris, training in Lithography and Sculpture. I moved to California 1999 and graduated in Traditional Illustration at the Academy of Art in San Francisco in 2005.
As an illustrator and a graphic designer, I always have been drawn to very graphic images. I started taking pictures at age 15, and already was interested in details, corners, lines, shadows, stains...
My latest photography work is a composite series which blends figurative pictures and photos of textures or details. When merged, they surprise me into telling stories I didn’t even know existed.
There is a big element of chance in the process, as the pictures are taken separately, with no specific end goal in mind. This process is always unexpected, exciting and enigmatic.
The possibilities are endless…
I am also an exhausted mother of 9 year-old twin girls, and an “Apple” wife. Visit my website at www.nathaliestrandphotography.com, and follow me on Instagram @nathstrand.
Kids & Art Foundation is thankful to have a vast community of artists who create with us. Our artists share their passion for art and their commitment to make the world a better place. Without them we cannot heal pediatric cancer through art.
If you believe in the healing power of artists then please support our artist stipends with your donations and corporate matching. All donations are 100% tax deductible and our EIN is 27-1415727