Featured Artist Interview

How would you define one of your projects as an artist?

Although I work with different mediums, styles, and types of art (writing, visual art, music), there are threads that connect the projects I work on. Nothing comes out of a vacuum. I’m interested in context, how the various elements of a piece work together. I also like to question assumptions about fine art and play with the invisible lines between art and craft.

What inspires you to create?

The desire to create is a natural human impulse. Everyone is creative whether the individual focuses on it or not. Creativity can manifest in an infinite number of ways. Whether I’m painting, planting a spring garden, or making a meal, for me, the process is the same. I consider the ingredients, what I’m working on, and a general goal. The goal is subject to change if the process takes me down a different road, and that is part of the fun. Play is an aspect of the experience. Often when I create, I use materials to solve a puzzle. The process of creating is also a type of exploration.

When it comes to fiber art, does the choice of material and form of the stitches inform the final artistic piece, or are they a means to an end?

Yes! The materials and mediums inform the piece. That is where the puzzling aspects of creation come in: How can I make this work? What belongs together? The key is to keep working, but don’t overthink, until the piece is finished. Sometimes that means setting it aside for a day or week or year and then coming back to it with a fresh perspective.

Do you see any parallels between your creative writing and your visual art?

Much of the time, I create both the written and the visual works using a very similar process. Although on occasion I will work on a single art or writing piece from start to finish, I more often work on multiple pieces at the same time. Also, I often work on sections or parts of a work. The sections are developed and then later combined within a specific structure. The juxtaposition of sections, in the poems and in the art, suggests linkages, comparisons, and contrasts. The multiple parts compose the whole. When working on multiple pieces this way, themes and patterns tend to emerge, and I am often surprised by the results.

Cassandra Labairon is a mixed media artist and poet based in rural southern Minnesota interested in the impact of context and the dynamic of resources, assumption, and expectation. Her mixed media pieces utilize both fine art elements and handcrafts. Her chapbook, And the Road Will Take You There, published by Spoon River Poetry Press, was written in conjunction with her mixed media series. She teaches at South Central College in North Mankato, Minnesota.