[KELP JOURNAL] Before we dive into the work, I always like to ask our artists what their origin story is. How did you come to be an artist? A siren call, or magical talents bestowed from a pithy forest gnome?
[CYNTHIA YATCHMAN] I was lucky enough to grow up in a household that supported and practiced the arts; my mom was an artist. I went to elementary school at a time when art was still a valuable part of the curriculum. While growing up, my refrigerator door was the proverbial art gallery! As an undergraduate, I took life drawing, and black and white photography while focusing on education. These were the key components in starting my own art practice. However, my first true passion in art was kindled after college when I did a several-year-long ceramic apprenticeship with master potter, J.T. Abernathy in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Years later I shifted from 3D art to 2D where my passion currently lies and remains. I went back to school to study painting at the University of Washington.
However, I will always be enamored by the work of clay artist J.T. Abernathy, master artist/living legend from Ann Arbor, Michigan. JT is now 101 and still making pottery! His work is housed in 23 museums across the United States and Canada. A world-renowned potter, JT had a huge influence on my ceramics, and his inspiration continues today in my painting and printmaking. Even though for the past several decades I have been working in 2D and my personal art now revolves around drawing, painting, and printmaking, the passion, sensitivity, and devotion that I witnessed in JT and adopted as my own while working with him stays with me no matter what medium I work in. He taught me a way of thinking, a way of appreciating art and life.
I received my BFA in painting from the University of Washington and was privileged to study with Mr. Michael Spafford. Mr. Spafford said of his own work, “Basically my intelligence as an artist is reactive. I had one idea in 1958 and I’ve been reacting to that same idea ever since.” I believe many of us do this in our art; we may keep revisiting some of the same art themes and those can stretch out over a lifetime. Mr. Spafford taught with acceptance and encouraged a sense of acceptance has stayed with me both in my own art and my teaching.
A third key influence for me was growing up with a mother who was an artist and art instructor. Art was a very big part of her life and, consequently, of mine. Ruth Carol Yatchman worked in all the painting media and clay but became best known for her work as a porcelain painter. She was a huge admirer and prolific painter of flora and fauna. In the “China painting” tradition, Ruth Yatchman worked on fine white porcelain using a series of overglazes fired in multiple layers at relatively low temperatures (1112-1556F). The medium is akin to watercolor but done on very fine porcelain, so there is an added translucency, smoothness, and delicacy to the art. Her immersion in her art and her enthusiasm was contagious and, interestingly enough, as I go forward in my art career I find myself visiting one of her favorite subjects: florals!
[KJ] Your artwork caught my eye because of the movement of the color. In fact, I spent a long time debating which ones to exhibit and you were so patient, sending me so many. They all have this hypnotic, wave-like quality. Was this what you intended with this series?
[CY] Thank you, yes, I’m very interested in movement within the art I make. I often paint on a type of paper called “Yupo”, which is a synthetic, recyclable, tree-free, non-absorbent paper that I love. It has a smoothness and slickness to it that enhances the paint flowing and it allows the paint to move on the paper in what I find to be very interesting ways. One can control the movement of the paint but one can also allow the paint to dictate where it wants to go in some areas. For me it can add a spontaneity to the intention of my work.
[KJ] You mentioned that you use highly saturated colors for both the alcohol ink and watercolor paintings. I was wondering if you could talk more about why highly saturated colors, and the process you use to create these beauties?
[CY] I love working both with alcohol inks and liquid watercolors. The alcohol inks are a very fluid color, highly saturated, vibrant, transparent, fast drying and they work well on slick surfaces, like “yupo” paper. They can be dripped, dropped, poured and layered onto the surface, then manipulated with a brush, palette knife, or even moving air to create unique effects. I love the intensity of the colors and the way they interact with each other.
For me, liquid watercolors function in much the same way. With liquid watercolors I most often use bamboo brushes to move the paint and I can achieve some of the same effects as with the alcohol inks, but the liquid watercolors give a softer, gentler, subtler look and feel to the paintings.
I love laying down washes of alcohol inks or liquid watercolors as my base and then printing or painting or drawing on top of this foundational color and sometimes letting the color stand as a work of its own.
[KJ] Colors tie into our psyche and have a psychological effect on us as humans. Does that play into your choices and inspiration for color combinations?
[CY] I find the color psychology fascinating, and certainly in the past I have used, say for example, shades of green if I want to represents growth, fertility, kindness, and dependability or use a red to draw attention to a certain part of a painting that I want the viewer’s eye to go to …but these days I just love working with color, period, and much of it for me happens at the moment I am painting. Unlike many artists who will prepare a set, pre-determined palette of colors to paint with for a particular piece, I arm myself with all the colors and the work tends to unfold.
[KJ] You, like so many other artists, work in a variety of media. I know that you used to work in ceramics and I was wondering if you saw any cross-over between the way you use your body to paint now and how you used your body to shape the clay before?
[CY] That’s an interesting question! When I worked in clay, it was mainly wheel work, where I, as many potters are, was very close physically to the clay, with feet planted on the ground. What I find I do now as a painter and 2D artist is also where I am kind of connecting to the ground, as I often sit on the floor to work, to paint. I work on a series of paintings at one time with the several to many painting surfaces surrounding me, it feels very much like working in the round that I did when I was a ceramicist. With my body connecting to the ground.
[KJ] I was giving a presentation recently to a group of writers and part of my presentation was on the power of art, specifically the power of sharing art. And I was wondering, as an instructor, how do you teach that to your students? Is it something they naturally experience as part of the class, or do you make a point to emphasize it in some way?
[CY] Of course, a very gratifying part of teaching is learning about the students’ connection to their own art and their personal interpretation of their work. It can be a meaningful aspect of class for students to share their work and their understanding and appreciating the work of their fellow students I generally do some kind of a sharing in each class, never mandatory but often the traditional “show and tell” at the end of each class. After a few class sessions have passed, when I have a better idea of who my students are, I will sometimes group students in the classroom seating in ways that can contribute to more informal sharing among students, and/or have students work on some collaborative pieces. I also sometimes bring in work of my own to discuss and offer up as a way for students to help reach a comfort level in sharing their own work.
Cynthia Yatchman is a Seattle-based artist and art instructor. A former ceramicist, she received her B.F.A. in painting (UW). She switched from 3D to 2D and has remained there ever since. She works primarily on paintings, prints and collages. Her art is housed in numerous public and private collections. She has exhibited on both coasts, extensively in the Northwest, including shows at Seattle University, SPU, Shoreline Community College, the Tacoma and Seattle Convention Centers and the PaciNic Science Center. She is an afNiliate member of Gallery 110, a member of the Seattle Print Art Association and COCA.
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