THOUGHTS & WHAT NOTS
The Art of Why
Sometimes I like to ask myself “Why are you a sculptor?” “Why do you make art?” or “Why are designing spaces so important to your initiatives?” These are important questions for me to stay on course for my mission. I have to constantly remind myself and explore my WHY. I am 5’5” and weigh about 105 pounds. Physically I look like the furthest thing from a “sculptor”, which even today is a genre of art dominated by men. People typically assume I make DIY projects (because I have tattoos and am a millennial), or have multiple strong gentlemen at by beck and call (because there is no way my small frame is bending metal and hauling lumber). Neither of these things are true. I’m not saying I do everything on my own all the time. I have people I trust that support the technical goals of each experience I create.
2017
From an academic stand point, my practice is based in basic carpentry, painting and printmaking, in the sense of how I manipulate my materials. This is where things can get interesting, my experiences are based on interior design, architecture and how space is utilized. When these practice and experiences collide the result is sculptural installations.
Installation art has become more accessible within the art world. Utilizing found object or mass produced materials arranged in unused spaces and galleries, and interacting with the viewer are the telltale signs you are in an installation or a happening. I handle raw materials the same way a painter handles paint on whatever surface they choose. My surface is the design of 3 dimensional space. How I adorn walls, suspend my objects, and influence the space for the viewer’s reaction creates my impact to the culture of art. The reaction is not one I can control, and that is a beautiful feeling.
So why am I a sculptor?
3 dimensional objects whether they are about form, function, or purely for aesthetics are the things we interact with daily. Life is 3 dimensional. Life is utilitarian. Sculpture can be presented on different planes of existence. This is the first part of my WHY.
Why do I make art?
Art takes innovation to create something that is more than ordinary. Expressions of the extraordinary. It’s about taking ideas, shapes, colors, textures, materials, and pushing them from what and how they are typically used for and manipulating them to be extraordinary. Art is the language I speak pushing myself to move through expressive gestures presented in physical space.
Why is space important?
I’m obsessed with physical space. I always have been. I’m intrigued by how people interact with space, the things they do and don’t notice. How each person has a different experience. When you walk into someone’s house or into a retail store and you can literally see the personality radiating through each simple moment, object, color, and texture. It’s the physical design story that gives a sense of connection.
Before Agua de Coco at Aventura Mall, February 2020
After Kalma build out at Aventura Mall, March 2020
The answer to my why questions are true to my personal beliefs and lifestyle. I need to move through the expressive gesture of fabricating something that has appeared in my mind due to a vision. That vision can best be described as inspiration. Inspiration comes in different forms. Conversation, physical experience, and the past, just a name a few. Creating physical installations pushes people to move through personal expressive gestures guiding their intuition and as a result having a feeling in which I have directed them.
The Last 2 Years
What happened to the time? This is very difficult to write, but necessary. Two years ago I was celebrating the first year of living here in Miami. I was working on the blog post series “My 4 P’s”, which I will complete for the sake of finishing it, and expanding my client portfolio. This post will bring us up to the beginning of 2020. I’m saving 2020 for its own soul searching, quarantined, home office experience, post. At the end of 2017 I wrote about my year in review. I was happy, growing, and deeply focused on my personal art practice. Once 2018 hit things got very interesting, in some good and bad ways. The day after I completed the sculptures for my solo exhibition “Identifying Characters” at Englewood Art Center in February 2018 I received 2 phone calls. The first one was that the cute little coffee shop I had been working at part time was closing. The second phone call was to let me know my dear friend John had died in a motorcycle accident. This was a huge shift that would influence the my direction until now, 2 years after my last blog post.
My solo exhibition went beautifully. I got to see my best friends, and meet sweet baby, Winter, my former roommate’s daughter. I was able to spend 3 days in Sarasota, eating my favorite mac ’n’ cheese from Artisan Cheese Company, drinking coffee, and Jared came up for the opening day with Mondi to bring me home. As soon as I returned home, to Miami, the shift began. That cute little coffee shop decided to pivot and pop-up at an event space in Wynwood. I joined the coffee shop Founder and an investor of the event space for lunch. We politely discussed how this was going to work, and they invited to run the coffee bar part of the space. Not fully understanding the responsibilities, I agreed. I don’t know if this was a huge mistake or if this was the way it was supposed to happen, but I will say that this decision changed the direction of where I was going. The best way to describe it is a “detour”.
The next 44 days….Yes, I counted. These 44 days took bright shining, happy, art making Ariana into the depths of anger, mistrust, and manipulation. It took me further way from what I really wanted to be doing and forced me to grow in a different direction. I am not going to get into all the details. But I will say a handful of those days were incredibly exciting, and fulfilling. Jared and I were given the opportunity to throw a music week event “Alive and Well” which was Jared and Sam’s brainchild that needed some financial assistance to be brought to fruition. That night, March 21st of 2018, was a huge accomplishment considering all the adversity to pull it off on a tight budget from sound, lights, flights, only 2 weeks of promotion during Miami Music Week filled to the brim with other events, and 4 broken bathrooms by midnight. In early April that pop-up and event space was done. It had been bled dry before I arrived, and the moving on took a huge weight off my shoulders and introduced new unknowns.
April was a bit more relaxing. One of the results of working in that event space, was that I made some new friends and was introduced to more people in Miami. Some of the people saw me as the one thing I don’t put on my resume, “store manager” or “barista”. We all know how much a I love coffee and the only reason I was working at the coffee shop was to meet people having just moved here. I was doing my best to shift perspectives by showing these new people my mission. I brunched at the Soho Beach House with one of my design idols. I was commissioned to prep a 13’ dining table from a slab of Sapele with a little help. I was asked to put together a business plan for a building and decided that wasn’t want I wanted. I learned how to say No. I was commissioned to work on a visual branding, photo styling, packaging design, website design, a market booth set-up filled with handmade fixtures and a merchandising plan from May to July for Sayblee. Finally, I was back on course. I was commissioned to build fixtures for a new gym in July. I was selected to show at the Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series for the second year in a row. I was invited to show more sculptures at the gallery that hosted the Bombay event. I was commissioned to create a paper flower photo booth wall for a wedding in January 2019. And I joined my friend Joe for the new store opening of Walt Grace Vintage in October. Jared and I had gone to weddings, traveled to multiple cities around the US 2018, got our noses pierced on Valentine’s Day, and by mid-October I was exhausted….when another opportunity came knocking at my door.
That investor I had lunch with in February is the same person who hired me to build fixtures for the new gym opening in July-August. One day in passing after installing the boxing glove display, he presented another project he was working on. My first thought was, yes I want to design and build a retail space. That is the mission. To create spaces and experiences for people to enjoy. In my mind it’s pretty simple. This turned into something else very quickly. The more we talked the more I dug my claws into the big picture. I think this happened because the original idea was a very broad stroke, and I can’t help but try to understand the big picture because this defines the details. This retail store, Kalma, would become my primary focus for the next 16 months with the title Creative Curator.
From November 1st 2018 until January 14th 2019 I was consumed by Kalma and completing the paper flower photo booth. I still feel like I barely made it through both projects but I did have MANY amazing helping hands in the process. Kalma was originally conceptualized as a modern apothecary type general store. With the CBD trend accelerating in the health and wellness industry that was its main product focus. I was challenged to learn as much as I could have CBD products in a very short amount of time. While working to create an in-store experience that would be elevated and playful. October gave me the time to plan, and then it was paint, wallpaper, and building furniture and fixtures until we got all the permits to open the doors for customers. The store opened on January 14, 2019 in the retail sanctuary Upper Buena Vista. By February one of the people involved in the planning and opening decided to no longer participate in the project leaving just 2 of us, the Founder and me. I took on all the responsibilities that other person was supposed to do, being the store manager, focusing on brand development and product curation. Once again, I was detoured. I took over Instagram marketing, developing the website, training employees, managing store operations, and maintaining the in store experience. It became my full time job. I become invested, because that’s who I am. I spent my 32nd birthday working a shift in the store. I talked about Kalma when I went out, and promoted the store. I did everything I could to create a successful brand with limited resources.
All the while, in 2019, self care of my brand and my why quickly diminished. I only took on 3 freelance projects related to art and my personal mission. Each being realized between September and December. After 2018s huge personal art successes and progress. I was feeling disappointed in myself for the detour. It wasn’t until October when my mom and I went to France and Italy to experience the Venice Biennale and give me a much needed break from my day to day in Miami that I become whole again. When we returned home from that trip I knew things needed to change, I knew it was going to difficult, and I knew that I needed to try harder to get off the detour. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt, I was gentle with myself, and I allowed the rest of 2019 to play out exactly as it needed to. I trusted that if I put the intentions out into the world something would happen and they did. I was linked up to Always Friday Co and commissioned a project that was 100% on mission. I was introduced to Harmont & Blaine as an expert visual merchandiser, and sculptural display artist, because that’s exactly who I am. This was how I ended my year. Back on course, and with 2020 intentions: REFINE.
Discovery
The art world today consists of a variety of concepts that endure the evolving culture of each individual and region. Fashion, and interior design do the same thing. Real estate has a power over the final image; what people are experiencing on a daily basis. It’s all connected. These are a just few discoveries I’ve made since my art education and practice began in 2004. What is socially acceptable? Who is your audience? What is going to excite the audience? How are objects arrange in space? What are the leading trends? Fashion retailers, interior designers, and artist explore these topics while procuring goods, finding inspiration, and curating spaces.
My personal art practice has taken these questions and answered them with a range of unimaginable experiences for a wide demographic in gallery spaces, science museums, window displays for top retailers, and corporate real estate with co-working brand initiatives. Each time I am able to take concept to reality, I happily get my hands dirty. I’m uniquely qualified to foreseen spacial compositions, and interactions between art and product/brand because of my experience working in retail for the last 6+ years. Customer experience, researching market trends combined with influences of a playful cultural lifestyle are the foundation of Alchemist Productions. Abstract expressionism, minimalism, pop art, and mid century modern architecture, and interior design influences as well as current market trends and pop culture shape concept. How I handle materials, process, and image expressing an abstract narrative with the brand lifestyle creates the final image. These are reoccurring themes in my highly-curated sculptural art installations and display presentations.
Initial discovery or first impression of an environment can draw the audience in and guide the journey evoking a feeling and response. This conceptual idea has proven to expand customer base, employee performance, and create cultural awareness. “Almost all (86%) of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience, and 89% of marketers expect customer experience to be a primary differentiator…. improved experience can grow revenue by five to 10% over the span of three years.” (according to Shopify) I create the elements that utilize the foundation of your brand/client culture and lifestyle responding with handmade sculptural installations to craft an immersive experience.
My personal aesthetic is eclectic to say the least my range of material manipulation and considerations in palette set me apart of many fine artists. This is something I have learned during my art adventure. Decision making is tried and true in the art making process. Alchemist Productions is a lifestyle brand that conforms to your brand while maintaining my touch-of-hand, like the Midas touch in a way. I use a form of alchemy when I am material testing, discovering the perfect combination of materials, textures, and colors that will push the boundary of experience uncovering what will excite the audience right now. I truly believe that how I handle materials, the decisions I make in response to concept, architecture and audience is special because it’s my own. People respond to fun. Storytelling is central, and fostering relationships is key. Creating continuity with your specific audience and brand. There are a multitude of ways to respond to any situation, mine is unique to my experiences. And my experiences are influenced by the history of art, current fashion trends, and cultural lifestyle awareness.
