They see us as pest. We’re in the way of them making a lot of money. You know like up at Central Park, the hot dog guys pay a lot of money to stand in that space with their little cart. People bid on that space. I don’t know how much the hot dog stands cost but a phenomenal amount of money is paid. And the T-shirt stands, it’s the same thing. And of course if you don’t have the money you can’t bid on it. If you have a concession in the park they can tell you what you can sell, what you can’t sell, how much you can sell it for, they have control, plus they get rent. That’s worth millions of millions of dollars for them. They would love to do that here (Union Square)
There’s backstabbing, it’s like a soap opera. It’s so bad I can’t even tell you, you just want to go move across the country but it’s probably the same there. The thing is that we don’t want to lose our first amendment rights, that’s the basic thing, so if it’s a lottery system that means we don’t have any first amendment rights. If it’s ‘well can allocate this space for you’, we’ve lost our rights. The right to free speech doesn’t hinge on is there a space in there today? You should be able to set up any time, and this is my way of speaking. But in the park if there’s a permit, if there’s a concession, they take precedence over us even with the first amendment because they’ve paid money, they’ve been allocated a certain amount of space so we can’t go in and say ‘Well I’m gonna set up wherever I want in your concession, it’s my first amendment right!’ You can’t do that; they can arrest you, give you a ticket and confiscate your stuff.
Have you had to learn the hard way?
They haven’t taken our stuff; we have gotten a ticket a few times. When we first came out we only had these, they’re double sided prints. We call them miniature framed art. Yes, you can wear it because it’s tiny, but the guy was like that ‘looks like pins to me! No jewelry, no jewelry; write you a ticket! $250 dollars. So we went to court, the judge decided against us, so we had to pay in order to appeal. I paid the $250 dollars, it took two years for the decision and we lost the appeal also. When you get a ticket from the parks officer it goes to the ECB court, not the New York system. ECB stands for Environmental Control Board, it’s like this little Mickey Mouse court, they aren’t real judges, you go into this tiny little office, like a room, they hit the tape recorder and they could be friends of friends who got hired, they don’t even know the law.
So your profession and expression is in their hands?
Yeah and it depends on their mood, not necessarily the law, if they think you’re a smart-ass they say ‘uh denied’. People will say I have a letter from the court saying that I can be here. And yet it’s a t-shirt with a flower on it, because the judge said well the lotus flower represents a symbol of peace and peace is a political statement so this is allowed. I’m not putting anyone down; I’m just saying how unfair that system is. One day I could go and I’ll be approved and then a month later I could go and get a judge saying denied.
So it varies and it all depends on personality?
Yes, not really the law, because we’ve brought them letters saying how we have some political ones. These are actually tiny, miniature prints; it’s my own work, my photography. This is my artwork, the law doesn’t say how big or small my art has to be, this is what I said to the judge, '...so you see the law says prints are allowed...' but the answer we got back was ‘...yes prints are allowed and I’ve seen your miniature framed art but there’s a little thing on the top so you probably put it on a chain, so it’s jewelry. (The law is that you can't sell anything you haven't made yourself. ) So in my appeal I said in every museum you go to and you see a work of art it’s on a hanger. You could put it on the wall, on a doorknob, just because its tiny doesn’t mean it’s not art. So we got denied, but we kept coming out anyway and we were adding prints and my assemblage boxes. That's what I really love to do. That’s my heart.
How long have you been making them?
The boxes I’ve been making for a long time, they’ve obviously evolved and come more sophisticated. I’ve always loved boxes and painting, must be a psychological thing of taking a moment of my life and put it in a box and keeping it safe.
What did you really, really want to be as a child? Was it an artist?
The first thing I remember wanting to be was a nurse. I think it was because my mother was always sick – always in and out of hospitals, lots of operations. I always wanted to help people. But in grade school we did dioramas and I did always like art but my family liked being safe.
And art is not safe…
Yes, ‘It’s not a steady job. Where’s your insurance going to come from? Blah, blah, blah. So I don’t think I ever allowed myself to dream that I could actually ever be an artist, but I really loved those dioramas! I made like a little television with two rolling things and I put a long roll of paper with a little story on it like a movie…
Awww, I want to see that today!
I know I wish I had it still, it was so cool and I always loved making things but I didn’t dare dream to be an artist. I grew up in Seattle Washington and my mother always said when you grow up you’re going to have to marry a nice Japanese boy and get a good job at Boeing so you have good insurance and then buy a nice house and I’m going to come live with you and…
So it was all planned?!
Yeah and after she said it about 500 times I knew what I was not going to do!
Who are your mentors? Your artistic influences?
It may sound strange, but my mentor is my therapist, Peggy. She’s seen me through so much and has been teaching me to be true to myself which translates into: “what do I really want to do with my life?” My artistic influences are definitely Joseph Cornell, Kurt Schwitters, he’s a Dada artist and there’s also Donald Evans (he created hand painted postage stamps of fictional countries).
Does your work engage social history or commentary at all?
I think my work is more commentary on life in general – about feelings and thoughts I have about things that have happened in the past and present. I know I’m not alone in these thoughts and I hope it reaches people to let them know they aren’t alone in those thoughts or feelings.
How much time do you spend creating? Do you do it everyday?
I try to spend as much time as I can creating, but it’s pretty hard since a lot of my time is spent at Union Square Park selling. I’m not able to spend as much time creating as I’d like. I can’t do it everyday but I do have to say that even when I’m not physically creating, I’m always thinking of ideas for my next assemblage box or if I’m working on a box, I’m thinking of things I already have that represent the feelings I want to put in the box.
Do you experience boredom or "blocks"? How do you deal with them?
Yes, I experience blocks all the time – never boredom, though. Sometimes I’ll just “walk away” from my work – just leave it be for a few days and sometimes I’ll make myself do something very small – take a tiny step, just to keep myself “in the work” like paint a box or clean an item that I want to put in a box or look through my stuff and gather up a bunch of things that I like and that inspire me. Just taking a tiny step even though I don’t feel an ounce of creativity helps to keep me involved.
What advice would you give to a developing artist?
I don’t know if I’m qualified to give any advice! I still consider myself a developing artist – but I also think it’s a good thing to always be developing...to always challenge yourself. Otherwise you get stuck in your comfort zone and the work gets safe and boring.
What's the best advice you've ever gotten as an artist?
I think the best advice I’ve ever gotten is to keep pushing yourself – don’t get comfortable...stay out of your comfort zone. I think it makes one’s work more interesting and exciting. The work I do is definitely not “safe” – a lot of people want to hang a picture of a pretty scene on their wall but I challenge them to look inside themselves and think...a lot of people don’t want to do that, though.
They don’t want to feel, they just want to go to work and make a lot of money and be happy. And really, who wants to look inside, it’s scary and it’s a lot of work but if you don’t do that you can't grow as a human being and learn and you’re just like everybody else. Like a robot.
I think when I question myself (for example) “is this idea too strong” I’m also pushing myself, challenging myself and stepping out of my comfort zone. There’s definitely a lot of childhood trauma in my life that I deal with in my boxes and that scares a lot of people. Fill Me With Lies is about abuse as a child, because things that happened to me made me confused and they were lies, what I believed were lies. So the head is a funnel, you can easily pour the lies right in. That's the last box I worked on and it's about incest but I think it’s subtle enough that it doesn’t slap you in the face (Fill Me With Lies). But someone who has gone through a similar experience will probably pick up on it right away and hopefully it will touch them in a good way.
How long does it take you to complete one of your boxes?
It varies a lot. sometimes it takes two weeks and other times it takes a month or two months...I actually have one box that I started two or three years ago that I keep putting aside but still think about and will definitely finish someday.
Where do your ideas come from?
Most of my ideas come from my own experiences. It’s like a therapy session! I know that there are a lot of people out in the world who have had the same or similar experiences and usually those are the people that really understand my work. I also have a pretty good sense of humor and that does show up in some of my work sometimes. I made one box with a chicken in it – I put rhinestones all over her body and a silver lame turban with fruit in it and called it “chicken Miranda always had flair.”
"This one is called 'Yes I Can See' and when I made that one I made it about people who manipulate and use you and they think you don’t know what they’re doing, but you can see exactly what they’re doing."
We were talking about how people define and categorize art, your expression is very unique, tell me a little about the reactions you get to your style.
Some days its discouraging because people come up and say is this about the movie Saw because they see dismemberment. And I think you’re an idiot, not everything is about a movie. I put a lot of my heart and soul into these boxes so it hurts me when people say things like that, a few people don’t get it and they think it’s a puzzle and you have to put it together but as I start explaining a few do understand, but most say ‘it looks weird to me’ and they just walk off so it’s really hard some days.
Because it’s different, it’s not on a canvas so then what is it? A broken bottle on the floor can be art. But people are very narrow-minded. In fact my neighbor Scott said to me today “...it’s up to the good artist to educate the people.” And I think, well...uhm...yeah okay. Some days people say stupid things and I let it roll off my back but other days I go home with my tail between my legs and I think why am I doing this? Nobody gets it, uhg….but I have to.
But there was that one guy you had that great experience with. Can you tell about that again...
Yes, a guy came by and said 'you had a piece that had a doll with a skull head on it...' and I said how weird is it, we just sold it yesterday. I don’t sell a lot of boxes and I don’t sell one every time I come out, so it’s a big celebration when we do. So it was odd that we sold that box the day before he came. I gave him my card and told him I’d be doing more in that genre with the skull heads. Months went by and a lot of people say I’m going to buy something off the internet and they never do, which is fine, but one day out of the blue I got an email saying you got a sale on esty and I went on thinking it’d be another print but he’d actually bought one of the boxes, I recognized his name.
I contacted him and he told me I’m buying it for my sister because she has a lot of inner demons that she tries to hide and this box reminded me of her. The box on the outside is really pretty with flowers and a little pretty doll with a skull head inside and it’s called I Feel Dead Inside. He said I want her to know I’m there for her whether she’s fighting, not fighting, whatever, he’s there for her no matter what. I thought that was beautiful. That sale made me so happy. I thought 'this is why I make the boxes, somebody understood it, somebody wanted to buy it. It was the best feeling. That really keeps me going. Even if they don’t buy, when someone gets it, their words keep me going.
Contact Miriam at mkwest3@verizon.net or visit:www.loopyludesigns.com
"keep pushing yourself – don’t get comfortable...stay out of your comfort zone. I think it makes one’s work more interesting and exciting."
