SVS: Melissa, what were some of your inspirations for “What We Make of This World”?

MS: The one that comes first to mind, that I gravitated to early on in this work, is a red spiral stake. It’s actually a tomato stake, and in the garden store I purchased five of them and stuck them in my tiny back yard, making an informal garden sculpture. Several years on, I decided to try moving and dancing with them, and that took on a life of its own. The spiral is such a powerful shape, found pretty much everywhere in the universe. For me, the spiral became both physically and symbolically important—as a way of extending my reach, the reach of the “seeker” in my videos.

Viewers can see the spiral stake in the gallery, along with the other objects I used in the show’s videos. It was fun to think about this sculptural element as tangible evidence of both my and my character’s exertions. I also like that it connects to your assemblages. I did a preliminary sketch for placing my objects in the gallery, but I’m sure it will evolve in interesting and unexpected ways during the installation!

MS: What ideas have you focused on for this exhibit?

SVS: I wanted to tell the story of the years I was a caregiver for my husband. I felt both love and grief at the same time. My work shows this collision of conflicting feelings. The collision is expressed in contradictory references and materials, such as a confection that is a candy-like pink but filled with sharp-edged chicken wire. Or a cake slice whose melting icing is a slurry of needle caps, pills, and decorative eggs. The totems I created most recently emerged during a period of greater peace. With this body of work, I will be able to show an arc of time and feelings.

Vander Sluis, Studio Shot with Decal and “Ebullient”

MS: Sylvia, how did you evolve into being a sculptor? Might you go back to painting someday?

SVS: I’ve actually worked across media since before graduate school, but I didn’t think of myself as a sculptor until recently. Synthesizing disparate materials has been at the core of my work for a long time.

Limitations can often create opportunities. The summer before grad school, I started making large unstretched paintings on the floor because my workspace was so small. The physicality of the canvas was a revelation – it launched many years of manipulating, sewing, and constructing mixed media work that was sculptural. I also created handmade paper pieces, which I sewed and painted.

Some years later, I returned to painting on stretched canvas with a collage approach. By 2017, I felt I had said everything I could with painting. I thought back on what tied all my work together these past few decades and it was weaving different elements together. Why not try actual weaving, I wondered? When I interviewed for Fountain Street membership, my work was a series of experiments with handwoven material, chicken wire, and fabric, which ultimately evolved into the Torso series I showed in 2019.

For the past couple of years, my work has focused on assemblages. Creating meaning by grouping pieces and having them relate to each other.

SVS: Melissa, I’ve been struck by the way your work has leapt from the two-dimensional surface to become three-dimensional, and then video based in a relatively short space of time. What can you tell me about this progression?

MS: The progression has been very surprising. A few years back, when I decided to make art full time, I remember thinking that I wanted to see what was “in me” artistically. Who knew? It has evolved from painting to transforming paintings into sculpture and video, which in turn led me to the intersection of video and performance art. There were some early signs though, as when Bob Siegelman, in teaching a drawing course at SMFA, recognized and encouraged my inclination to include “performative elements” when sharing my work. Or when I “married my muse” in a mock-ceremony during Creativity Lab at the New Art Center.

Shaak, Improvisation at Creativity Lab, 2018

MS (continued): When I joined Fountain Street, I had the pleasure of getting to know two core member artists whose work in video drew me in – Allison Maria Rodriguez and Joseph Fontinha. They have generously encouraged my own experiments in video, and, while their styles are vastly different, each continues to be an important touchstone for me.

I have also been drawn to the pioneering spirit of Nam June Paik, who has been described as the “ground zero” of video art. He was wildly experimental, and often used his own persona to point to the larger theme of the artist’s place in the world. I couldn’t NOT pay tribute to him in this show, which I do in “Homage.”

Shaak, Image of Nam June Paik which inspired “Homage”

MS (continued): While it has been a BIG learning curve, on most days I find video to be a fun and interesting challenge. I’m still working at a very basic level though, staying close to what I can do on my own as opposed to involving others or creating digital special effects. That feels truer and closer to my interests and what compels me to do video—which is to explore and embody, in my own quirky way, the creative process. To take the creative sparks and offer them up in the hope of encouraging others to do the same. It’s a deeply meaningful pursuit for me.

SVS: Can you say more about the importance of supporting others? It reminds me of what you said in your artist statement about your “...deep desire to connect interior and exterior worlds.”

MS: My decades working in higher education trained me to look for ways I could support individual students as well as for opportunities to develop programs and policies that helped create more access for all. I hadn’t thought about the connection before, but the word “access,” which is used widely in describing educational opportunities, also resonates for me in terms of the creative process. I came to artmaking mid-life, with no background, just following one of those sparks. And so, it was really important for me to find easy ways “in” (a big shout out in this regard for gel plate monotypes). And probably even more important to find people who would encourage me to tap into the deep well of creativity (another big shout out, this time to Adria Arch). Now it’s about passing those gifts along in whatever ways I can.

MS: It has been three years since we overlapped at our residencies at Vermont Studio Center. I remember being inspired by how you were able to transform some very basic materials – I’m thinking especially of the red rosin paper – into something artful. I see it in your sculptures in “What We Make of This World,” as well. Can you talk about what draws you to work in this way, and how it all comes together?

SVS: Material is a major impetus for me – how it looks, feels, and acts when I manipulate it. Almost any kind of material I can form with my hands, from tree branches to plaster to Styrofoam to cellulose.

When I start a new project, I approach it from either of two directions: I’ve found material that I want to play with, and the concept emerges after I make a few pieces….or I’m aware of a concept I’d like to explore and scan for materials that will support the concept. I am alert to what materials might call out to me in daily life – while sorting through detritus in my back yard or roaming the aisles of home improvement stores.

Material suggests forms. Through experimentation, I discover the material’s potential. After completing a few pieces, they will tell me what I seem to be interested in conceptually. On the other hand, I may already have a central concept that I’ve been working with for a while. I may develop multiple projects related to this concept over time, using different sets of materials.

Then, there are those times – such as at Vermont Studio Center – when a change of environment or circumstances will trigger some unexpected results. At VSC, when I stood in my expansive studio space, I lost interest in the weaving-related work I had been doing. I looked around and found a roll of red rosin paper for covering the tables. I remember tearing off a piece and scrunching it – I loved how it could be crumpled and yet was sturdy enough to hold its shape.

I focused on what I could do with the paper. I remember twisting long pieces of it and realizing it looked like one of my bulky yarns. What kind of structures could I make with it, what happened when I painted it, how about incorporating some of my yarn in the forms? The material itself was so exciting to work with that its banality was unimportant. My emerging forms suggested I was in a new emotional place – and so, a new concept / project theme started developing.

Vander Sluis, *Studio Shot Making “Hideout”*

MS: I can’t wait to see more! Also, I’m thrilled that we’re incorporating soundscapes of our voices into the installation. Thank you for finding audio creator Katie Semro. What inspired the idea to begin with, and how does it look, or, better yet, “sound” to you now?

SVS: Katie contacted our gallery saying she was interested in collaborating with a visual artist. At the time, I had already broadened the scope of my work from planning individual pieces to installations and collaborations with other artists, though I was in the early stages. I jumped at the idea of working with Katie because I was excited to experiment with not only another artist, but with another medium. We discovered some common interests and started brainstorming ideas.

Thanks to serendipity, you and I soon started talking about the exhibit and our mutual interest in telling our stories. I thought that bringing Katie in as a collaborator might be really interesting, and it would give us an immediate opportunity to try something out. Fortunately, you loved the idea!

Katie has a talent for layering and designing sounds. She has taken recordings that you and I’ve made about our work and produced something very moving. When viewers approach certain sculptures, their motion will trigger the audio track embedded in the sculpture. The soundscape will add another, rich dimension that I hope will deepen people’s response to our exhibit.

So far, this experience has been very exciting, and it has given me more ideas for future collaborations!

SVS: What has this experience been like for you so far? Have you ever worked with an audio creator before?

MS: It has been a tremendously fun and new experience. I shipped to Katie over 20 minutes of fragmented voice recordings, and she managed to create an artful, poetic, rhythmic 2-minute piece that captures the essence of all I was trying to say. I was amazed. I think our respective audioscapes will add interest and make for a wonderful, shared element in the show. Can’t wait to see and hear.

MS: I’ve really appreciated collaborating with you on “What We Make of This World.” Thank you for all, Sylvia!

SVS: Creating this online dialogue has been a great opportunity to learn more about each other. Thanks for coming to this project with such enthusiasm and energy, Melissa!

WHAT WE MAKE OF THIS WORLD: A dialogue between Melissa Shaak and Sylvia Vander Sluis