Interview with the Artist

ATELIER ANGE  d’OR (GOLDEN ANGEL STUDIO) TAKES WINGS

 

An interview with painter,  graphic artist in watercolor and acrylics,  jewelry and textile designer, and creative writer Sidney-Angelique Green

by Dana Grae Kane

 

Q:  It is my privilege to witness the initial endeavors of Atelier Ange d’Or to augment early childhood education by revitalizing creative arts programs in financially challenged elementary schools. How do you plan to begin?

A:  It is my hope to excite the interest of administrators and educators within languishing arts programs to accept donations of funds and supplies, and to enlist the talent of teachers and volunteer mentors to help in the classroom.

 

Q:  What led you to do this?

A:  My deep concern over the marked inequality between the early childhood enrichment available to children of privilege in well-endowed schools and privately funded programs, and the barren experience of children of less fortunate families.

 

Q:  I am sure you will agree such cultural deprivation in a child’s earliest formative years has a deleterious lifetime effect.

A:  Absolutely!  Early participation in the graphic arts, music, drama, language, dance, and creative writing, to name just a few basic forms of expression, leads to an adult life of greater scope than is otherwise likely to be lived.  Latent talent lies undeveloped and the joy of creation and accomplishment is greatly diminished or never experienced at all in subsequent life.  That is a tragedy.

 

Q:  Was your own childhood one in which artistic development was encouraged and fostered, such that your own talent in painting, design and creative writing was stimulated?

A: Yes, most fortunately, my wonderful grandmother introduced me to creative thinking when I was age 4. She passed away that year, having taught me to read and write and obviously look at things differently.  She was not only my beloved grandmother but my first teacher.  Her method was to give me a sheet of black paper and a white marker, the reverse of the usual white paper with black or colored pencil or ink.  She explained to me that this would “help me see the other side.”  As I grew older, I realized that by this she meant not only the obvious reversal of the norm, which always stimulates different thought patterns in us and increases our range of perception, but the deeper philosophical and experiential aspect of perceiving and understanding another’s point of view, not just in art but in all human endeavor.  This opened my mind to perceptions I would never otherwise have been conscious of until much later in adult life, if at all.

 

Q:  I believe this same principle of “seeing the other side” was at work in your screenplay, involving active forces for good against violent behaviors in society, was it not?

A: Yes, absolutely. The screenplay is called Phoenix Rising. It was the result of my personal observation of the violence in film and cable tv shows with what I perceived to be no redeeming message. It is an attempt to show that the choices you make greatly impact your results and that no matter what one has done in life they can choose to change.  I wrote it with the emerging gang life in mind, the peer pressure, the ever-growing worship of money & success at any price. It is an action film with a female lead – violent, bloody and noisy – about choices and self-healing.

I believe that people are like shoes, we come in all sizes, colors and shapes but we all human beings and need to treat each other as we would be treated.

I was, and still am, appalled by the level of discord, intolerance, prejudice and selfishness in our culture and in many more, manifesting in distrust and dislike of people perceived as The Other, leading to increasingly violent behavior toward them, first on a personal, local level, then expanding uncontrollably into world-scale oppression and ultimately warfare.  I wanted to show with my screenplay’s scenario and characters that good people are able to mitigate these destructive ideas and feelings by consciously projecting the positive actions of “the other side.”  Each of us has the power, and the responsibility, to help change the world for the better.

 

Q:  Further to the idea of invoking the positive forces of “the other side” to mitigate the horrors of international warfare, I think your most important political and philosophical comment to date is made in a painting  which has held a place of honor in the Romanian Consulate in Los Angeles, California for many years. Readers of history will know that Romania and its extended territories suffered under Soviet domination until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

A:  Thank you.  I was greatly honored to donate the painting to the Consulate in the hope of reminding the Romanian people and the larger diplomatic world of the valiance of the Romanian troops in face of the massive Soviet Invasion of 1940, and show the wisdom of the Romanian leadership, coming from the positive “other side” to surrender territory rather than increase the bloodshed  certain to result from the overpowering invasion by Soviet forces.  This was an act of supreme wisdom on the part of the Romanian leadership, not an act of cowardice.

The painting was done in the late 80s-early 90s and was an image of the terror and confusion felt by the young men of the Romanian army waiting for an attack. All of my paintings are emotionally informed(?) and attempt to show our human connections.

 

Q:  Turning to other positive ways of thinking as expressed in your art, your painting entitled,”Creation”, donated to the University of Irvine Women’s Reproductive Health Center, in Irvine, California, has been praised by the medical staff as having an uplifting and calming effect on many of the women in the program.  It seems to me the image you employed of the angel holding the light is highly reflective of your philosophy and of the mission of Atelier Ange d’Or.

A: Yes, it is one of my greatest joys to know that my painting has motivated and inspired several women to look beyond their personal horrors and go forward into the light of their future. This was an image of an angelic energy in the shape of a human holding a ball of golden healing light that radiated outward. It was donated to the University of Irvine Women’s Reproductive Health Center in the late 80s, early 90s.  I attempted to cause the observer to subconsciously intake the light for self-healing.  The paintings of this period were all intended to cause a shift in the perspective of the viewer and to help one explore alternative thought leading to, perhaps, an exploration of alternative medicine and/or soul growth.  It is, to me, one of the highest purposes of art to inspire human beings to overcome life issues, recover physical and mental health, and make more of their lives than they ever thought possible. 

 

Q:  You have been a well-established painter for many years, exhibiting at the renowned Freed Gallery in Depoe Bay on the Oregon Coast and represented in several private collections in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  How do you plan to showcase the work of the youthful creators you assist via Atelier Ange d’Or?

A:  I hope to enlist the cooperation of the schools to present “Artists Showcase” events, where students can proudly show their work in all fields of the arts to their fellow students, their parents, their teachers and interested people from the community, who believe in the value of supporting early childhood art programs.  I believe this will lead to qualification for future grants from educational institutions and governmental entities for on-going support.

 

Q:  Turning specifically to your own painting and writing, does your youthful success as a photographer’s model in New York, Europe and Asia, where you were photographed by Milton Greene and David Bailey, among others, resonate in your philosophy of art?

A:  Yes, but perhaps in a negative way.  A great deal of modeling is, of course, of course, contrived to suit particular scenarios and products and to feature them, rather than yourself.  The model is usually allowed no input or self-expression, being merely a support platform for the art of others, whether clothing, cosmetics, jewelry or travel destinations, for example.  This artificiality – no pun intended, tends to suppresses any artistic expression that genuinely emanates from your own creativity.  Painting, writing and design allow me to use all my personal creativity, unlimited by any strictures.  And that is true freedom!

 

Q:  Your work is immensely varied in type, ranging from Japanese portraiture to florals to abstracts.  Some delicate facial features, for example, appear in delicate black and white line drawing, some garden florals are of ethereally delicate petal colors, while many landscapes burst out in wild, bold brilliant swaths of deep purple and glowing orange. How to you decide on form, medium and color?

A:  I have never felt the need to “decide.”  The style of each piece rises from my creative center, appropriate to the subject.  If it feels right, I go for it!  Also, as I paint, both on the cool, gray Oregon coast and in the blazingly bright milieu of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, I have the extremes of the natural palette before me.  Oregon coastal light in the winter closely resembles the gray northern light of Paris, embedded in the DNA of so much magnificent French art, while the glorious sunlight of Puerto Vallarta infuses much of my canvas with what seems to me like liquid fire!

 

Q:  Based on your experience and your success, what advice do you have for young artists, both children and adults?

A:  Always paint what you feel in your soul, not what someone else determines may “sell well.”  You will not sell well; you will sell out.

 

Q:  Thank you very much for letting me get to know you and your work, Sidney.  I look forward to following the work of Atelier Ange d’Or on “the other side” via your website www.atelierangedor.com.

A: My pleasure; thank you so much.

 

 

Dana Grae Kane was formerly consultant to the Barclay Simpson Gallery in Oakland, CA and the Christopher Clark Galleries of French art in San Francisco, CA.