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Alisa Arata: Celebrating Femininity


Tell me a little about your work.

The majority of my work depicts women and it really just celebrates the different beauty of women. I try to get a diverse reference of women, whether that’s an actual reference where I get an image from or if it comes from my mind. Also putting them in a setting that’s really flattering, whether it’s a background, or the medium, I just always want to do my reference justice. A lot of the time I know the reference, like whenever I get my photos done I’m always judging myself, so I would always want to bring out the beauty in people. Sometimes putting things into art makes it more beautiful to celebrate the beauty of women. I do draw men, and I do draw non-binary or gender-ambiguous people, but I would say the majority [of my work] just celebrates women.

How and when did your art practices start?

The earliest instance was in second grade. I would always draw this character with black hair wearing a red dress, and it kind of reminds me of Jessica Rabbit, and [the second graders] would always say “that looks so good”. That’s the first instance, but when I made works that people would actually want to put in their homes was in high school. That’s when a lot of the people around me said “you should do this more”. So it’s kind of when I became an artist, rather than just someone who was good at drawing.

So that’s when you first called yourself an Artist?

Yeah, actually creating pieces of art, comprehensive and complete, and not just drawing what I’m seeing, was in high school.

What’s your inspiration?

Well I’ve always looked up to Wendy Ortiz, she’s a beautiful artist, we have a very similar reference frame. I follow a lot of artists on Instagram, and I’m finding new artists every day who either inspire me, or inspire me to do better, not necessarily inspire my work. Audrey Kawasaki, she’s a very famous artist and she kind of inspired me at a really young age, similar references and subject matter. Other artists I follow are Audrey Auclair and Alyssa Mees Trautz.

Do you have a specific process or environment you like to be in when you make art?

Well, I always do this, with whatever I do, but I like to have music or TV playing in the background, ‘cause when I’m sketching I get too caught up in my own brain, but when I’m drawing that’s when I am most natural. I usually start with a rough sketch, or idea, and I compile references. I have a Pinterest board for looks, poses, flowers, because I use references for the background to enhance the work. I’ve always been good at people, so I’m trying to enhance my work to create more of a visually appealing piece. So I’m always looking for more things to incorporate into my pieces. Sometimes it comes down to the subject matter, like “what flower do I want to send a message”, where it’s only going to matter to me and the viewer will just be like “cool flower”. So I do a lot of research, and then I just go for it. Sometimes sketches will stay as sketches; I’ll like them just the way they are and I just keep them like that. Other time I do go farther, and I create a more finished piece.

Do you consider yourself a contemporary artist or traditional?

I would say I feel very contemporary, I’m all self-taught with very little training. I didn’t take any art classes prior to my senior year of high school, I did AP Art just for the credits, then I took Intro to Drawing [at Southern Oregon University], but I always felt like drawing classes were too restrictive. I have my subject matter, I have my zone and I kind of want to stay in it. I think I came to my process very abstractly: I would look at other artists and think “well, I like to do this another way” or “this it better”. I would say my process is very contemporary, and my mind-frame around it. I guess you could say my more realistic work looks more traditional, but I can go very contemporary.

Leading into my next question, do your pieces reflect contextual meanings or is it all representational?

It depends. Some of my doodles, I draw it either as a look that I want, or to start incorporating more to practice a certain look. When I was younger [my style] was very narrow, I always drew the same types of people, and then I started experimenting with different nationalities, and different hair textures, different looks that weren’t necessarily what everyone would consider beautiful. That’s what I found I like to do. So that kind of brought me to get used to bringing in more of the hidden meaning in it. But most of the time I’m the only one who knows about it.

Recently you’ve been going into digital work, how has that been going for you?

It’s been going well, I’ve been trying to find out how much I can do. I’ve really liked the sketching aspect of it, they turn out more professional, and they’re so easy to just pull out my iPad and just start going. I find that I can do a lot more with a lot less, it’s been somethin’. I’ve been trying out my finished pieces, I’m not too sure how I feel about the really finished pieces, I’m not super comfortable with the medium yet. So it’s very easy, one color, one pencil, and just do what I do, the trial and error isn’t as great ‘cause it’s just digital sketching. But when I try to play with the different types of brushes, I’m still trying to figure out those. I do like how easy it is to just change things, like go back and change the color or do adjustments. You have a lot of freedom.

On today being International Working Women’s Day and with the strikes, are any of your pieces activist work?

A lot of the times, kind of whoever I’m feeling kind of is reflected in my art a lot of the times I take the more celebrated side of activism where you celebrate who you are and your identities. This past Christmas I gave my partner’s mom, who is a Woman of Color, a piece that reflected her identity, and I think that is activism, it’s celebration. The [Student Union Gallery] is about activism, and creating something that everyone is going to be seeing is activism.

What do you plan on doing in the future?

I think I’m going to keep going with the digital work, and see how I’m feeling about making prints, and trying to be more entrepreneurial about it. I’m going to try and build an actual business around it. I usually work more small-scale, so it’s more volume over size of a project, so whenever I’m going to try and do more large-scale work.

Anything you want to add to the end of our interview?

I think keeping women happy is very important, although it’s not what people really value these days. Not necessarily keeping women happy, but also giving them a space to do what they want, whether that’s art, being a mom, or being a career-woman. Just creating an environment for them, especially young women to say this is what they want to do and supporting them any way we can, regardless of where they’re from, or what they do, or look like.

Check out more of Alisa’s work on Instagram @art.by.alisa

Artists mentioned in this article in order of mention @wendyortizart, @audkawa, @audraauclair, and @alyssamees

via Grace Prechtel, a 22 year old artist based in Talent, OR.

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