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Q&A
with the Flying Artistas - Lacey Bryant and Lara Sophia
Oh Sheet Exhibit Opens July 4th, 8-11PM at South First Billiards
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Q:How
would you characterize your work? Do you have an artist statement?
Lacey and Lara: We
are a collaborative art duo based in the South Bay. The two
of us, Lara
Sophia and Lacey
Bryant, are solo artists who work together in a unique
collaborative style. We paint on the same piece of art at
the same time, creating colorful and expressive artwork in
acrylic paint and in oil pastels. Building on each other’s
marks, each piece of art is unique and spontaneous. Although
each of us brings different ideas and styles to the piece,
an important element of our work is a cohesive composition
and color palette that works together as a whole. We focus
on portraiture and the expressive quality of human faces and
hands. To make things more confusing, we sign our work “Sans”,
San being the Japanese word for “friend”. We have
become active in the live, collaborative, improvisational
art scene and can be found painting for an audience at many
San Jose events. Recently, our focus has shifted to include
large scale works and public art.
The “Oh
Sheet!” show focuses on a group of paintings created
on recycled bed sheets. The paintings are vibrant portraits
of a variety of people done in a very large version of our
unique and colorful style.
Q: What is your favorite medium
and why? What is your range of mediums?
Lacey and Lara in enthusiastic unison: Oil
Pastels! We like them because they are thick, smushy,
bright, fast and easy to carry with. You can work in layers,
blend, make bold marks or soft ones. We also work in acrylics
together.
Lacey: I also work in oil paint, ceramic and polymer
clay. I’ve worked in many other media as well and I expect
I will work with many more before I’m through.
Lara: I enjoy sketching with
pencil or pen sometimes and drawing with oil pastels of course
the most. I have worked with water soluble oils, acrylic paints,
play doh, clay, paper, chalk, ink, mixed media. I have mostly
worked 2 dimensionally but I would like to push my talents
by working more 3 dimensionally.
Q: Where have you studied art?
Where have you exhibited work?
Lacey: I have an AA degree from
Ohlone College in Fremont. I have exhibited all over the Bay
Area and as far north as Sacramento. I have taken part in
group shows at galleries, including the Olive Hyde Gallery
in Fremont, the Sacramento Fine Arts Center and the Peninsula
Museum of Art; and I have had many solo and duo shows (with
Lara) at alternative art spaces including Barefoot
Coffee Roasters, Great Bear Coffee, Caffe Pergolessi,
Gardner Community Center and others.
Lara: I have gone to various
community colleges ending with an Associate’s degree
in Fine Art from Ohlone Community College in Fremont, CA.
After that I went to Humboldt State University in Arcata,
CA for a bachelorette’s degree in Art with an emphasis
in Education. Lacey and I recently exhibited at Good
Karma Vegan Café in downtown San Jose. We’ve
also shown at Barefoot
Coffe Roasters a few times. Barefoot is now our home base
for art and we just recently completed a collaborative mural
there. Most of the places I’ve shown in the bay area
have been duo shows with Lacey. I’ve shown some work
up in Arcata while I was going to school amongst the redwoods.
Q: What is your favorite work?
And what is your favorite response from others to your work?
Lacey: I don’t think I could
choose a favorite! We have made well over 300 pictures between
us. We put out a comment book for people to write in at our
shows. My favorite comments are a tie between "Your shit
sux!', "Great job. Nice colors. Get a real job."
and "Very bright and vibrant (like drinking a symphony
in C).” I just like it when people like what they see
and feel inspired. It’s cool when a piece gets someone
thinking, but it’s just as nice when all they do is make
people smile for a minute!
Lara: I like making the art more
than I like picking a favorite. I would like other people
to have a favorite because then maybe they would take it home
and love it. My favorite response is when someone walks into
the location of our art show and looks at the walls and smiles
and feels the need to say out loud that they like this work
and that it makes them happy. My usual response, if I happen
to be the one they tell, is that Lacey and I like the bright
colors and that they make us happy, so we want to share that.
Q: Where are you going now?
What direction is calling you?
Lacey: We are planning to do
some work together using play-doh. I’m working with a
lot of scrap wood and recycled materials these days, so I
expect to be following that for a bit. I’ve got a couple
of series of new paintings in the works, which I hope to be
ready to show early next year.
Lara: I’d like to teach.
I’ve been doing this in various forms for about a year
now. Teaching and art are calling me, sometimes at the same
time. I plan to continue with these and somehow make more
than 24 hours in a day and never get tired so I can make art
for longer periods of time. Especially since Lacey has so
much energy and would greatly appreciate me being able to
make more art work with her.Come join us in celebrating Lacey
and Lara's art!
Artist Receptions
July 4th and August 1st
8-11PM at South First Billiards,
420 S. First Street, San Jose 95113
Admission is FREE and the event will feature an art auction
and live music by local bands! The Oh Sheet! exhibit will
be on display at South First Billiards until the end of August.
If you would like to find out more about the Flying Artistas,
check out their blog at:
http://www.theflyingartistas.blogspot.com.
Also see http://www.laceybryantartist.com
and http://www.larasophia.com.
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