articles and reviews

December 3, 2018

Today we'd like to introduce you to Vicki Walsh.

Vicki, we'd love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.

I had a difficult family life when I was young. Art was my only way of making sense of it all, of doing something good or being good. The painting was my way of connecting to a small world. I literally couldn't speak to people I didn't know and didn't communicate well with those I did know. It would be a complete understatement to say I wasn't very visible in the world. Getting a job was difficult as this "shyness" was crippling. Beginning a five-year college career, literally saved my life. I studied art and the liberal sciences. I decided then that art could be my voice until I could develop another kind, one of my own.

But even while attending San Diego State University, I knew I couldn't make a living off my artwork. So, I moved to Long Beach and attended CSULB's painting fine art program while also taking coursework in biomedical illustration. That decision gave me a 15-year career as a forensic medical illustration, and later, as the owner of a successful 3D computer animation company. At the time my career was as important as my art and a way out of a dark hole, I had lived in for most of my young life. As my confidence grew, my desire to go back to painting grew. At 45, I left my business and started to do the only thing I ever wanted to do, to paint. After a few years creating a portfolio, I was accepted into a graduate program at the San Francisco Art Institute and spent the next three years studying art and making paintings. In 2006 I graduated with an MFA in Studio Art. I began having exhibitions immediately with the help of Mark Elliot Lugo who, at the time, was the curator of the Pacific Beach Library gallery. I was at the start of building an identity as a painter. Finally, I was back to what I always knew was my path.

We'd love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?

My paintings are mostly large works created with multiple thin layers of transparent oil paint. This process imitates the quality of human skin and gives a luminous presence. I name each series to hint at the unnoticed; Skin deep, Beyond Appearances, Touching the Surface, Mostly Mortal, Amazing Face. People's faces are my subject, but I don't see them as portraits. Portraiture in painting takes on a connotation of external beauty and an enhanced likeness or status of the subject. I am not interested in these things. What I am interested in is conveying something genuine, something not so tangible on the surface, the psychology, the essence of being human, that quality that makes an individual sympathetic or vulnerable, even at the risk of being rebuffed. It seems we have little room for truth in our appearance. I'm confronting that. I'm hoping to find a connection with people who think similarly, those that find superficial things to be just that.a shell, a veneer.

How can artists connect with other artists?

Though I've been very fortunate to gain a good amount of exhibition opportunities, I've also been discouraged at the current art scene. My work is typically large, and the content can be demanding of the viewer. Galleries need to be concerned with sales, and that may mean marketing to their patron's predetermined taste to keep it all afloat. Operating a business is something I know a bit about, and it's not something to take on lightly or risk for the sake of art. In other words, there is not a lot of room to explore uncommon ideas in this setting. I respect that. Art is one thing, business another. That makes it difficult for young and mid-career artist thinking they can scrape out a living just on their artwork. But I don't think it's harder today; I think it's the same as it's always been.

And there's another discrepancy making things difficult for artists. Fine art is considered a luxury item for the buyer, but the creation and sale of work is an absolute requirement for most visual artists. It will always be tricky for artists trying to solely make a living on their art for that reason. It's been said that art enriches your life, expands your soul, but it's not a demonstrable or easily measurable thing. Cities or people either will or won't support your life's work. It's an impossible thing to ask for help when there are so many other actual needs in the world.

That said, artists can look for support from friends and family. Some of my close friends have become my collectors, and some of my collectors have become my close friends. My sister and brother-in-law have been there from graduate school and continue to offer patronage and much-needed encouragement - all that goes a long way when the "art world" seems indifferent. We also have wonderful city gallery's in this region, and I think this is a viable way to support art and artists. We should take advantage of that. Regional museums like the Oceanside Art Museum exhibit and support local artists, as do several smaller museums throughout California. These are very real opportunities available to us today.

I also think a good day job goes a long way in easing anxieties and can help create a safe space for an artist to create better work. Not having to solely rely on your art for income can be a good thing and help to expand the work without the stress of wondering where your next meal will come from.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?

Currently, I've been accepted in the 2019 Juried Biennial at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery, a city-run gallery in Carlsbad. There is an opening Dec. 1, 2019. This is a group exhibition, and I have one painting included in this show. I'd love to talk with people that come out to see the work. It should be an interesting array of works, judged by Robert Pincus and Maria Mingalone from Oceanside Museum of Art.

In the past, I have created pop-up exhibitions where I bear the financial responsibility and the content of the work. I included a select number of my friends and students to exhibit their portrait paintings and support their work as well. Those kinds of experimental venues bring in a lot of interest from folks looking for something new. I would like to do more of that when the right venue becomes available. I think we artist can support each other. I also try to keep up an updated website, so people can look at my work there. You can find a contact screen where interested people add their name to a mailing list for future exhibition notices. My favorite way of connecting to my work would be to send off an email and ask to visit my studio in Bonsall, located in North County San Diego. All interested visitors welcomed.

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