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Interview: Tony Corsini August 16, 2005
1. How long have you been a resident in Siskiyou County?
Three years.
What brought you here?
Well actually, our daughter Shasta. When she came out, Ra-el very clearly heard that she wanted to be called Shasta. When we got married in Colorado, we decided we wanted to move a place that suited both of us and where we could start new. Mt. Shasta came up five stars. We had a psychic reading. It has been three years of dance, art and amazing growth.
2. Can you give a short explanation of your specialty or your artistic medium?
Acrylic paints and watercolor. No oil, acrylic is much more manageable for me right now.
3. How long have you been making art (professionally and unprofessionally)?
Since I was probably eight. My parents would read the Hobbit during the winter, and the Lord of the Rings, and while they were reading, I would draw whatever was going on. It was about learning how to capture the imagination and put it down on paper.
4. How have you learned your art? Have you had any formal art education?
Yes. I went to college to study art education but it turned out that the art education programs were not geared toward the way an artist would teach. They were too 'by the books'. It kind of soured me. Then I went into landscape architecture which married my love for the outdoors with art. I went straight into the field when I graduated college.
5. Then art is your full time career?
Yes, absolutely. Even irrigation is art. It's building, it's constructing and creating. That's what I'm addicted to, the act of creating something from nothing.
6. Have you had any special mentors that have influenced you and your style?
I wouldn't say as individuals. There are the great artists of history who have inspired me, Van Gogh especially and the impressionist painters. I think I feel connected to them more than any other of the historical painters because they paint from a place of emotion as much as what they saw visually and allowed their passion to spill over into the paintings. What you are seeing is an expression of the painter in the landscape as opposed to a realistic representation of it. You get a feeling of the soul of that individual. That's what makes great art, when it hits you that you are catching this little glimpse of somebody else's soul.
7. Can you talk a little about your experience as an artist in Siskiyou County? (In other words, what is unique about being an artist in this area?) (Pros and Cons) (economic, cultural, physical/geographic)
I think the mountain draws a lot of pilgrims, people who are seekers, and often that is coupled with people who are creative. Here there is a growing community of different types of artists that are very supportive inter-inspirationally. We spark each other. It is like riding a wave.
8. Do you feel like living in Siskiyou County has influenced your art? What aspects have you drawn inspiration from?
Funny enough, I wouldn't say that the landscape is really that inspirational. I paint landscapres because they are more meditative for me. However, the downloads I have gotten from opening myself up to learning more on a metaphysical and spiritual level have blasted me wide open. I think it's due directly to the fact that Mt. Shasta is so special. It has opened doorways to my creativity that have never been opened before.
9. Do you feel like art in Siskiyou County has any prominent trends or patterns? If so, how do you see your own art in relation to these?
There is trend that I see which is a resurgence of the bohemian, beatnik artist and the grassroots art which is about expressing truth and creating social change, as opposed to just putting pretty pictures on the wall. Not about creating social change here in Mt. Shasta necessarily, because it is already such an amazing center of conciousness. But maybe moving it out of the area, and representing a source for that kind of art work.
10. If you had to describe your style in a few words how would you do this? First 5 words that come to mind?…
Joyful, passionate, earthy and chunky.
11. What is it about making art and the creative process that you find most interesting or are most passionate about?
It is such a part of me. It's not like it's something I do to unwind, you know. It's too integrated. It's not always joyful. It's not always easy. It's not always uplifting. It's an addiction! I truly feel that I love the feeling of creating. It's my nature. I will always find a way to make that a part of my life. It's source.
12. Do you teach art in anyway or are you interested in being a teacher?
Yes. I used to teach kids. I taught in Colorado for three years. I taught privately and in groups. It takes a lot of energy. I know that the teaching cycle will come around again. I just don't feel like now is the time.
13. Is there anything else you would like people to know about you that we haven’t already discussed?
For me art is about losing the fear of having to capture something exactly. What you are doing is trying to get something that is inside, outside. To look at it. You have to get over the fear and you have to be able to look a blank piece of paper and fill it with something so that eventually you feel like you are accomplishing your original goal which is to have that feeling that you are creating.
14. Do you have one particularly interesting story about your adventures as an artist? The most unusual work you've done, the hardest work, the most interesting commission, celebrities you’ve worked with, your biggest success story or biggest failure, or your earliest memory of making art.
I did a painting for a show once when I was living in Colorado in a cabin up in the woods where you had to ski into it. I wanted to be really isolated but every once in a while I would come out and do a show or something. I had a stack of paintings on a toboggan skiing out and this crazy dog got really nervous and jumped up on the painting that was on the top and was clawing and poked all these holes in it. The painting still went into the show with all these claw marks in it and it totally gave the impression that it had been painted years ago and it was the only thing that people commented on.
15. Is there any way you would like to see your county arts organization better assist you?
It would be great to have group shows and events. Allowing the event to be multidimensional. Not necessarily just about the art hanging on the wall. It is good to maintain an aspect of tradition but art should inspire people to think outside the box. It would feel great to have supportive events that incorporate interactive street theatre and a whole range of creative expression.
