Interview with Alma Schrage

Interview with Alma Schrage

"plague, chimaera, aphasia. Each word is associated with a past, recent, or future project I have/am/will work."

 



Alma Schrage

         Alma Schrage is from the South Side of Chicago;  the community she lived in as socially very diverse when it came to nationality, orientation and religion, but very stratified economically and in terms of disability. Her parents were both first generation college students, so they really believed in the value of education, and she grew up in a very academic and literary household – they were strict, but as the youngest child I was an oddball but very adored, so she said" I had a happy childhood because of my family." I read a lot – that has shaped my outlook on things a great deal.

      Alma is working on a social/biological project illustrating gynandromorph butterflies as a commentary on gender and sexual identity, although it’s also an attempt to bring her disparate majors together; Alma's second major is in integrative biology. she is also working on narrative illustration – she is in love with storytelling in all forms, so trying to branch out into sequential art more.

      When I asked "Do you think you are an artist?" She answered that she sees herself as an artist, although her definition of artist is pretty encompassing – anyone who has and acts on their creative impulses is an artist in her eyes. For her, “craftsman” is a little more strict in definition, since it takes passion and patience to attain a level of craft in any field. when I asked "How did you decide to become an artist?" She saind," Haha, I don’t think I ever I didn’t want to be an artist. When I was 9 I decided I would be an artist and a biologist. I didn’t change my mind much."

        She also metioned, "Looking back, a lot of my external world didn’t make any sense because of language barriers and educational delays, even after I was fitted with hearing aids, and I don’t think anyone realized how little I understood at school. Consequently I developed a very elaborate paracosm to survive as a person and I was always drawing animals, stories and maps from that. "

       “Don’t stop creating.” said by Richard Shaw. She disappeared for a couple semesters because of  biology coursework and family problems, and that was what he told Alma when he caught her in the ceramics studio again. Being in the studio again made her realize," I’m not happy unless I’m making something."

      I saw Alma's work on honor program in last semester in UC Berkeley. It is a sculpture, it is really cool and different. So I ask her Does each of your work have meaning behind them? She said, "Thank you – that’s a good question that I am not sure how to answer. Usually my work has a specific meaning or experience behind them, but I also like to simply observe and sketch."  She dislike saying anything about herself directly, but she think, artists are often expected to be self-narrating zoo exhibits, which is something she don’t like – there are boundaries, and when you cross them, it’s hard to go back.

         When she talked aobut differentce between her works and other people's works, Alma said, "Practice!" She sees a lot of people growing in talent around her, which sometimes she find intimidating. As a double major graduating in 4 years, Alma tend to pack her semesters – 18 - 23 units of class plus research, or jobs. So she is always behind in terms of her time commitment to the art, and sometimes it really frustrates her – she feels inadequate and question the decisions she has made - so Alma is really looking forward to working in art more after her graduate.

        When I ask "Have you tried to sell your work before?" Alma's answer is "…I have, but not very well." the way she sold some of her work is probably good material for How Not To Sell Your Work, although she don’t have any regrets – they all went to people who really loved them.
         As for the future, Alma is interested in the gallery, but only so far as that some of the work she want to make would probably fit best in a gallery. But from an emotional point of view, she thinks she would gain more satisfaction from selling her art in a way that’s accessible on a small income, even if that means it might get classified as design, illustration, or kitsch. Alma grew to appreciate art not through museums, but through public murals and the light through the stained glass of churches, so she feels like good art should be egalitarian.

          Now,  Alma is trying to branch out more – she think she will always make narrative art for herself, but she is also interested in the academic/popular discourse on intersectionality and language. Intersectionality has made strangers out of all of us, but also sets up the framework for a collective social justice, so she thinks at the moment it’s a socially useful academic concept to work with inside the art world/academic framework. Language she is fascinated by – the layers of meaning that come with knowing more than one language, the written versus spoken versus signed word, as well as the presence of intention – how sometimes people talk to communicate and sometimes just to talk.