Courtesy of Katie Lochhead
Our every-other-week conversation with local visual artists continues this week with a check-in with Katie Lochhead. If you’re a reader of SLM or the arts blog, you’ve seen her stuff—her pen-and-ink drawing was featured on the cover of John Donavan’s “Bernadette” EP, which we covered a few months ago. That image was from Lochhead’s black-and-white “Two-Faced Man,” series (see more on that here). She also works in colored pencil and watercolor, and you can also see those brilliantly colored pieces at Lockhead’s brand-new website, lahead.com.
Art school? Self-taught? Some variety of both? Or none of the above?
I began Webster University's BFA program and transferred to Saint Louis University my junior year. I hold a BA in studio art from SLU. I feel like I got the best of both worlds—a lot of rigor and technical training at Webster, and awesome mentoring at SLU. But I believe that a large portion of every artist's work is self-taught—hours and hours in the studio give you what technical training and mentoring can't.
Regarding your creative habits, are you a night owl or an early bird?
As I work full-time, I'm mostly making art late at night.
In basic terms, can you describe the set up and vibe of your studio?
Traveling. I don't work in one specific place right now. I would be way too tempted to clean it, add more light fixtures, etc. instead of actually working. So right now I shift in between my kitchen, my couch, coffee shops, and the occasional music venue. As I haven't worked larger than 18x24" in the past couple of years, this hasn't been a problem. In fact, I really like the interaction with non-artists. I'm always surprised at how many people don't seem to have been exposed to the process of drawing! I feel a (probably mostly exaggerated and self-glorifying) sense of bringing art to the un-exposed and under-exposed masses.
What are your thoughts on crowdfunding for the arts? And is that option any part of your own approach to creating and selling work?
I'm not a huge fan of crowdfunding. I'm speaking as someone that works a full-time desk job, and at this point my art doesn't have much to do with my ability to feed myself. When I jump out of the frying pan and into the fire of trying to live on my work, maybe I'll be singing a different tune, but I would personally rather depend on the strength of the work I make or lean back on commissioned work. There are also grants out there.
Do you have a dream project that lacks only funding (or time)?
Nothing specific, but I've been tempted by installation and performance art for a little while now.
To what degree do you enjoy having public contact, whether that means selling your work at a fair, a gallery opening, etc.?
For me, there's no downside. I love group shows where the visitors don't realize that I'm one of the artists, and they'll accidentally tell me to my face how incredible, odd, or awful my work is—I love that bare reaction. As I said before, I like drawing in public and interacting with people who don't usually get to see work in progress. I'm always tempted to have shows just for these people. I want the title to be, "At Least Come In and Try the Free Wine and Cheese," or "This Art is Not Offensive!"
What other St. Louis artists inspire or motivate you?
Amy Bautz's work will always make me swoon. Ted Wood's work holds an incredible weight and beauty. Joanna Hoge also works largely in ink—her work is constantly challenging me to think about different ways to use a medium that I feel comfortable in—which I'm really grateful for.
