Neoteric Art: You received your BFA from Drake University. Discuss your art school experience and also the early years of being an artist after graduating.
Joanne Tomi Aono: I chose Drake because I wanted a University that provided exposure to other disciplines and people interested in a wide variety of fields instead of attending a school that focused exclusively on art. I also liked the idea of being someplace where no one else from my high school More…
Neoteric Art: Interior space is the subject for your current paintings. When did this begin and why are you interested in interiors?
Jennifer O’Connell: I think the concept of the interior has always been at the core of my paintings even before it was my subject. My initial painting interests were with figures; my family and friends; people I knew so well, that I really wasn’t after a likeness as much as underlying psychology. More…
Neoteric Art: Give us some background history on yourself.
Terry Dixon: I am originally from the East Coast and grew up in a family that introduced me to the arts at a very young age. I started out learning about photography and this allowed me to start developing my creative eye. As years moved on and my vision for what I wanted to do with photography More…
Rebecca Zurier is Associate Professor of the History of Art and Faculty Associate in the Program in American Culture at the University of Michigan. She is the author of Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and their New York (with Robert Snyder and Virginia Mecklenburg; 1995), Art for The Masses: More…
Neoteric Art: Give us some background information on yourself.
Wynne Hayakawa: I grew up in California. My father encouraged my interest in art, and I drew a lot as a child. I worked as a potter as a young person, and considered studying ceramics in Japan. I rejected that course as being too narrow, and instead went to graduate school in ceramics. More…
Neoteric Art: You are originally from Minsk, Belarus. Give us a little history on yourself.
Anatole Upart: My family moved to US when I was eighteen. Most of my life up to that point was spent in an art school in Minsk which gave me a solid foundation in painting, drawing, and Art History. That’s all I have been doing since the age of seven. Eventually I went to the More…
Neoteric Art: Most of your work deals with the human figure. Why have you been drawn to the human form?
Chuck Walker: Now, I could say “what else is there!” but as a kid I think I just drew whatever it was I was into at the time—or wanted. The first face I just had to learn to draw perfectly was Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein monster. That movie was one of the first I recall being riveted to the screen as they say. More…
Caroll Michels has served as a career coach and artist advocate since 1978. The author of the classic handbook How to Survive & Prosper as an Artist. Selling Yourself without Selling Your Soul (Henry Holt & Company, New York), which is now in its 5th edition, she has helped More…
Neoteric Art: You studied in Chicago and New York and then traveled Europe. Discuss your early years.
Andrew Conklin: I was born in Chicago, IL, where I attended Catholic schools, and my first art school (the American Academy of Art). At the time, I was also working in a graphic design office and considered a career in that field. My first oil painting class changed that, as I became fascinated More…
Neoteric Art: Give some background history on yourself.
Helen Oh: I was born in Korea, and grew up in Seoul. In 1979 my family immigrated to the US, and settled in Queens, New York. The following year I passed the vocational high school entrance exam, and was accepted to Manhattan’s High School of Art and Design. To a teenager More…
