Victoria May

Victoria May

Website: http://www.vicmay.com

   Santa Cruz, CA

As a mixed media artist, Victoria’s work results in objects and installations that integrate contrasting materials and methods, creating a “different perspective between one’s surroundings and ordinary materials”. Victoria was an artist in residence in 2012 at Jentel Artist Residency Program (Banner, WY) and has also been honored with a Rydell Fellowship in 2010.

Victoria serves as a guest lecturer and panelist, and presents gallery talks at local arts nonprofit organizations, and share her inspiration through teaching photography and book arts at several local universities and arts organizations.

She received her B.A. in Design from University of California, Los Angeles, and M.F.A. from San Jose State University.

STATEMENT: An interest in tension and dichotomy fuels my artwork. Continually I attempt to merge the delicate with the strong, to seduce and repel, to obscure and reveal, and to combine the hand and the machine. A conceptual tension arises between beauty and darkness in my work, alluding to the fundamental struggles inherent in the human condition. Using the framework of cultural constructs, such as abstraction, codification, circumscription, my work highlights the absurdity they often impose. By pitting the organic or visceral against the institutional, I seek to reveal a dark humor or tender fragility in the seeming contortions that often underpin our lives.

I often rely on raw materials and found objects to function as would text or imagery, allowing the history, function, metaphorical value and/or sensibility of each element to contribute to the work’s intent, along with my own investment of labor. Meticulous handwork transforms humble materials into the precious, mirroring how our own ephemeral lives become precious through our own personal toils.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST

What did the Fellowship or Laureate mean to you at the time you received it?

It was a wonderful affirmation when I was doubting the validity of pursuing art.

What do you do now? Has your art evolved or changed?

Evolution, change ... I started my MFA work in photography, and my first real job was making wedding dresses for a bridal shop as well as working for Shakespeare Santa Cruz in the costume shop. Now I use my hand-sewing techniques to work with unexpected found and reclaimed materials. Experimenting, altering, transforming, and even fabricating are all part of what I do. I rely on raw materials and found objects to function as would text or imagery, allowing the history, function, metaphorical value and/or sensibility of each element to contribute to the work’s intent, along with my own investment of labor.

What is one piece of advice you would give to an emerging artist?

Stay true to yourself and continually challenge yourself.

Briefly, how would you describe the state of the arts locally, as well as national and beyond?

Educational, adaptive, pervasive and ephemeral.