INTERVIEW:

Lucas: [Our project] is just about why does no one talk about the art industry in Melbourne? Why is there no value [on art] here? People discriminate against artists- I’m an artist myself also- and why do you feel this is and why do people feel that way about artists and your perspectives on that?

 

Bekii: We’re just chillin’ and talking about art in Melbourne in your experience. Could we get you to introduce yourself and your art style?

 

Miranda: Hi I’m Miranda Darrer I mostly do sculpture, video and installation art , but I’d say I’m multi-disciplinary. I do lots of drawings as well.

 

Bekii: How do you think people in the art world and in society react to art in different forms?Miranda: I think at the moment , some of my art is made up of typically everyday stuff, like yesterday I made an installation that was quite literally two coffees and they both fell over and that was the piece.

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Bekii: That’s so sad!

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Miranda: And that was called, I would call it now, cosmic latte because latte is the most common colour in the entire universe , but at the same time, it’s like [the] most common everyday drink as well as the most common colour in space. I think it’s accessible to an everyday human being because coffee is such a common object. I also use a lot of dough-bread dough. People are very familiar with that form. They consume it quite a bit. It’s the most common consumed food in the world.

 

Bekii: Yeah so compared to paintings do people view that differently? Or not so much?

 

Miranda: What kind of painting?

 

Bekii: like… we were talking in class the other day about an artist who was using cardboard, I think…

 

Lucas: Yeah

 

Bekii:.. And he was getting a lot of like judgment and a lot of people were saying [about his work] that’s not art, I don’t want to pay for that, stuff like that and being really judgemental because of the form.

 

Miranda: [For myself] I guess it’s really hard to [discuss that] as like an art student because my art isn’t really out there, like I haven’t had a show or anything so I haven’t experienced the everyday criticism that you would get from everyday people that haven’t experienced the art world and aren’t knowing what’s going on in the artspace. I’m actually pretty conscious about like, not sharing [my art] with say, like extended family and stuff like that as of yet because I know that , that criticism would be shown. Being like “You’re in a third year university course and you’re playing with bread dough and some coffee."

 

Bekii: When did you start making art?

 

Miranda: Obviously since I was like…*laughs* …Every child does art all the time and I prided myself in being like the fourth best art student in prep. They ranked us. The teachers didn’t the student body ranked you. Then I kept [doing art] for a bit but it got less fun and it got more competitive. Students got really talented and you were criticized for doing weird stuff. I remember I drew this like, scorpion, bulldog, umm, goose thing once and everyone was like “what’s that?”

 

I think school really takes away from art a lot of the time. I remember art class in like year 7 and stuff all they talked about was backward time stuff, Impressionism and all of these very old fashioned [styles], not present stuff. And I feel like I would have been really more excited and involved within highschool if I was told about what was going on now. It wasn’t until I got out of a private school and went to that other school that things started to go more in the art direction again.

 

Bekii: And so then , did you know that you wanted to apply for arts school after Year 12?

 

Miranda: I think for me parenting obviously has a lot to do with it. I didn’t see it as an option when there was more of a hold on my future in terms of parenting , but , when I finally kind of got away from that and went to that public school and realised that I had more control over my future, I also realised that art was a possibility; something I could do later as well.

 

Bekii: Have your family sort of come around since they’ve seen you?

 

Miranda: That’s an interesting one. I don’t know. I was in the car the other day my dad asked what I wanted to do and when I was kind of silent and then talked about art , it seemed to grow a bit of silence in him as well. I don’t generally talk about [art] with them. I think they’re happy , they’re not as hostile towards it as they would’ve been at the beginning.

 

Also , my preference for what I want to do in the future, is to integrate like, I want to have an art practice, but also my main career would be to work with special needs artists. I’m a disability support worker at the moment and I want to work with art projects which is one of the biggest disability organisation that does all of that kind of stuff. I think [my parents] are more accepting now because [my future] has a pathway and also they understand that pathway, obviously because of Mairead (Miranda’s beautiful younger sister who was born with Williams Syndrome).

 

Bekii: That’s really interesting we were talking about how often artists need a job or a different career to sort of supplement their art practice and that’s a really interesting and positive way to bring it together.Miranda: Yeah I’m really excited about how I finally got into like, Yooralla, the disability place, I’ve already told them that I’m interested in going to the arts circles that they do and the art manager has met me and said that when something opens up I’m the first person she’s going to call so that’s really exciting.

 

Bekii: Obviously art is really important to you.

 

Miranda: Yep.

 

Bekii: You said you didn’t really think about how important it is to society or how important it is to people outside the art circles, we’ve been talking about it and it seems like outside these circles it’s not very important, but inside, like in here for example (the RMIT Visual Artist Studios) everyone is very passionate about it, it’s very important. What do you think about that?

 

Miranda: I think it totally depends on like what art people are talking about and what art people are seeing and stuff like that. Something really conceptual like an apple on a floor , I understand why there’s some people in society that wouldn’t appreciate that. But I think there’s a lot of art in the world that really absolutely anyone could really connect with.

 

An example is Marina Abramovic who does performance art and engages with people in the space that she creates. I’m just reading an article at the moment about Tomas Saraceno, I don’t know how to pronounce it properly, but, he does these like amazing spaces, in massive buildings and has like big , plastic, sort of flexible, thick sheets that are hanging from the ceiling and people walk on them. I hate to say that the kind of work that people can relate to in and engage with is really effective and that’s the kind of thing I’d like to do but I think there’s so much art in the world and so many different reactions that people can have to it. Some art is successful with everyday people relating to it and some isn’t.

 

Bekii: How long do you think you spend doing art every week?

 

Miranda: Good question. So bloody long! Every second that I’m like not working as a disability supporter , I’m doing this, or eating or sleeping . If I’m not making art, I’m reading about art, or watching a documentary or interview or video on another artist or something like that. Or getting a beer with peer artists talking about art….*laughs* … Yeah.

 

Bekii: Another thing we are talking about is for younger artists, and local artists how you put yourself out there and how you bring an audience to your work like with social media. Are you saying you are sort of hesistant to put yourself out there on social media and why?

 

Miranda: I have a social media site , but that is stuff I haven’t touched for a few years because that’s stuff that is really quite obviously technically skilled like realistic drawings, that anyone can obviously relate to and be like oh yeah there is skill involved in that so that validates it, so that’s art. Whereas the other stuff that I do now, that’s not necessarily the case. But I think that I’m really working towards something, with every piece I make I’m building on it and I don’t think that I would want like a whole support crew yet. Well…maybe I would now but in the last two years it’s just been growing into something and now it’s starting to get there but I think I’m quite particular.

 

Also actually, a lot of students that come to this course (RMIT Bachelor in Fine Arts) because they built an audience on social media, but with an audience comes expectation to create a certain type of art. If you already have a style, then you pretty much need to keep that style if you have a following or you will get so much hate for moving away from that.

 

Lucas: What advice would you give to people who are aspiring to be artists?

 

Miranda: I would obviously say, to stick to that passion. Coming here [to uni] I discovered the library facilities and I never even thought about the fact that there’s just books everywhere that have the most amazing influencial artists in them and stuff like that. I would say go and self-educate yourself on art. When you get out of highschool or whenever , just read about all of the things that you are interested in , get involved in those things, and don’t listen to anyone else when it comes to your own aspirations.

 

Lucas : Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?

 

Miranda: I would hope that I would be working at Arts Projects as a contemporary practicing artist that also helps and works professionally with special needs artists, but also semi-successfully has my own practice , has a studio and has had like a few shows as well.

 

Lucas: Do you plan to work on shows or for clients over-seas in the future?

 

Miranda: Good question, I haven’t really thought that far ahead, but I guess that would be fantastic, because there’s such an amazing arts scene in Berlin, London, Instanbul, yeah everywhere. That would be really cool.

 

Bekii: Any other thoughts or comments about being a student artist?

 

Miranda: The reason I am underslept today is because I went to an art opening last night and then hung out with all of the artists there and saw all of the support they had all the practicing artists and also art-interested people that were there, and that happens every fortnight. I guess I have access to knowing when all openings and shows are.

 

Bekii : So maybe your advice to young artists would be to get out there and do that too?

 

Miranda: Yeah get involved in the art community so you’re inspired and your hopes are trodded on because there is a huge, not necessarily evident group of people that are doing stuff in the art world that you can get involved with. Yeah. Cool.

 

Lucas: That’s good!

 

Bekii: Thank you!

 

Miranda: No worries!

 

Interviewed and writtten by

Lucas Eng Meng Loong and Bekii Bialocki (2016)