Interview with Vicki Bethel(nickname-Maggie)

Collage by Vicki Bethel

1. Who are you and what do you do, and what is your background?

Vicki Bethel. (Nickname – Maggie). I was born in Kansas, as were both of my parents and all four of my grandparents. They really liked the place. I lived there until I was six months old. I have moved more than forty times and lived in seventeen states. I’ve been making art all my life. I studied art at Kansas City Art Institute, Minneapolis College of Art & Design, and California College of the Arts.

2. What's integral to your art and or art career?

Thinking and experimentation. Most of the work takes place in my head. After the thought process I make things to see what happens. I have no interest in doing something if I know what the end result will be.

Colored pencil on Notes by Vicki Bethel

3. What themes do you pursue and what medium do you use?

Repetition, contrasts, relatedness. pattern, rhythm, color and their possible relationship to emotion, loss, memory, meditation. Mixed media. To that end my background includes: drawing, painting, etching, lithography, papermaking, bookbinding, letterpress, silk screen, photography, weaving, off-loom fiber, sculpture, collage, assemblage, installation, clay, wood carving.

4. What makes you angry, what makes you happy?

Injustice, waste, and cruelty make me angry. Happy is easier – so many things! Family, friends, old movies, gardens, sleep, raspberries, color, postcards, coffee, wind, cats, books, bats, music, cotton, music, paper, travel.

Front and Rear by Vicki Bethel

5. Who and what inspire you in your work and or in your life in general?

Jacques Cousteau and the animated Disney film, Bambi.

6. What superpower would you want?

Not interested.

7. Who is your favorite artist and/or other person?

Again, too many to mention, but here are a few off the top of my head: Sonia Delaunay, Gauguin, Andy Warhol, Anne Ryan, John Lennon, Milton Avery, Maria Sibylla Merian, Kandinsky, Groucho Marx, Vermeer, François Truffaut, Wayne Thiebaud, Eva Hesse, Busby Berkeley, etc.

Solar Maximum by Vicki Bethel

8. What advice would you give to other artists ?

Go to law school.

9. Contact details.

www.vickibethel.com