"We Come in Peace" Carol Moses
Interview conducted by Doug Holder
Recently, I caught up with Somerville artist Carol Moses. Moses has been affiliated with the Vernon Street Studios, and Brickbottom for many years. From her website:
Recently, I caught up with Somerville artist Carol Moses. Moses has been affiliated with the Vernon Street Studios, and Brickbottom for many years. From her website:
"Carol Moses paints in watercolor and oil, on paper and canvas. The artist also produces series of photographic portraits with interviews of the subjects. With an affinity for math and logic, and a background in cultural anthropology and linguistics, communication and connection are at the forefront of both the non-representational painting work and the portrait/interview series."
What is your connection to Somerville and how do you view it as a city of artists?
Somerville has such a strong history of artist buildings, in particular Brickbottom and Vernon St. I have been affiliated with both for many years. The idea and the reality of artists working together in factory and industrial spaces is so powerful; they find lower-cost places and make them productive in a powerful way. There are so many other artists throughout the city, in homes and in shared spaces. and the Somerville Arts Council is a strong, effective, accessible presence.
Since I am interviewing you, I am especially interested in your image/interview project.
How would the content be different from a newspaper or magazine article?
Why do you ask the same questions of all of your subjects?
My Image and Interview project started with the portraits, not the text. I was exposed to Felix Nadar’s work – portraits of his contemporaries. I was impressed from a variety of perspectives: the nature of the portraits - the casual and sincere approach yet still extremely dignified images; the subjects included a lot of French intellectuals important to my early years, and Nadar numbered women among his contemporaries worthy of attention. I immediately thought “I’d like to make portraits of my contemporaries!” feeling that my own peers were worthy of close attention. As I began to think of doing that portrait photography, I decided to also interview the people. I am curious about people, and what they think about themselves and about the meaning of life. I began scribbling questions on little scraps of paper and stuffing them in my back pocket. By the time I embarked on the project, I had a huge pile of these. I reviewed them, and found many duplicates, and came up with a final list of about 30 questions. I did not want to make the focus be on people’s social status or identity – more reflections about what they thought about themselves and about life, and the world. As they are conceived, they are suitable for people of almost any age or situation, and ask universal queries. So how they’d differ from a journalistic focus for magazine or newspaper – They are not focused on a social identity, or a current achievement about the person. They aren’t triggered by a public view of who the person is; they allow that to unfold, from the person. When I do the project, I do not share the questions ahead of time, so that people won't prepare lofty or admirable topics, but rather respond in chatting in company with me, at the time. (For the same reason, I don't publish the interviews online, so the questions will be fresh for future subjects.) I assure people they may pass on any question they don't wish to answer, and occasionally they do. I also say there is no “gotcha” going on – I am not intending to show anyone up as foolish; I only invite people whom I feel positively about, and find interesting, to shine a light on them from the process. People who participate often express great pleasure in the process, and what they thought about.
The reason I ask the same questions is I think it makes the project cohesive – I have many strong feelings about how similar we human beings are in a good way, and have other painting work focused on this theme. Also I think artistically, having a constraint, a boundary, elucidates the differences more than shaping individualized, personal questions would. I like the flow of the exhibit so that as one walks around, and reads the interviews, the ideas and experiences echo and flow through the exhibit as a whole. You may be familiar with the so-called Proust Questionnaire – parlor game set of questions from the late 1800’s. Although many parts are dated, I think the fact of its enduring use reflects the virtue of using a repeated structure applied to varied individuals.
You have written that in your watercolor paintings you have rejected the artistic and symbolic work and have gravitated to science. Explain.
From her website:
"At a young age Moses gravitated towards logic, math and science, rejecting artistic and symbolic enterprises. Instead she studied the nuance and minutiae of her surroundings finding patterns in the natural world."
In this case, the bio material above may seem to indicate I rejected artistic and symbolic work in art. In fact, in my youth, I was not doing art, and I was uncomfortable with realms that weren’t literal and factual. I struggled with symbolism in literature, and felt confused and alienated by most art, feeling at home with numbers, equations, and science. I was mesmerized by the natural world, and could spend ages closely observing grass, soil, tiny insects, or looking at pond water under my microscope, and I imagined happily living among animals. As an adult, I expanded my interests and attractions, and became interested in mark-making, colors, and patterns, creating them and considering their interactions and connections.
You also create word paintings. Are the words that you paint more stream-of-consciousness than linear?
What does painting add to the words?
I'm a pretty verbal person. I often found myself, while painting, writing notes of multiple-line titles next to the work I was painting on. One day, I decided to write the things I was thinking on the painting paper, with my pens. I'm not sure how to say if they are stream of consciousness, yes, I guess so, or linear, yes, also. They were written at one sitting, not composed then transferred. There were just disquisitions on what I was working through in my mind. I’ve previously said that painting served as a funnel to unpack things in my head; my head would be full, stuff tumbling around, and I’d have to get ahold of paint, and get it out, unwrap it, untangle it, settle it into patterns. I used to work in software as my day job. I would include painting reproductions in my portfolio of technical writing, and coding samples, because I felt it was math-y, logical.
Anyway, back to the writing – I would untangle my ideas by writing words, then paint around, over, between the words to reinforce or support the ideas. I think mostly the painting has its own value, and works well with the text.
Why should we view your work?
I don't go around saying to anyone “you should view my work” but I’ll address what value I think it has. I think it’s an incredibly rich field of patterns, colors, structures that resonate. I think they can be ennobling, calming, stimulating, reassuring by turns. A very few pieces are about painful disturbances, and I think they look distressed, painful. I have been extremely pleased that children often feel drawn to my work, and not just animal-y pieces. I think it means that there is truth and reality there. I feel that I create scenes, environments, snapshots of the natural world, the built world, and of our inner world. Places to be, places that you can be, a human world. I have often said that a lot of my focus is about connection – alienation, distance, fear, and lack of connection; tentative connection; space for everyone where we need not connect, but exist in amity; tense and stressed connection; and consumingly intimate connections. I think the situations I'm communicating often resonate with viewers inner states.
What is your connection to Somerville and how do you view it as a city of artists?
Somerville has such a strong history of artist buildings, in particular Brickbottom and Vernon St. I have been affiliated with both for many years. The idea and the reality of artists working together in factory and industrial spaces is so powerful; they find lower-cost places and make them productive in a powerful way. There are so many other artists throughout the city, in homes and in shared spaces. and the Somerville Arts Council is a strong, effective, accessible presence.
Since I am interviewing you, I am especially interested in your image/interview project.
How would the content be different from a newspaper or magazine article?
Why do you ask the same questions of all of your subjects?
My Image and Interview project started with the portraits, not the text. I was exposed to Felix Nadar’s work – portraits of his contemporaries. I was impressed from a variety of perspectives: the nature of the portraits - the casual and sincere approach yet still extremely dignified images; the subjects included a lot of French intellectuals important to my early years, and Nadar numbered women among his contemporaries worthy of attention. I immediately thought “I’d like to make portraits of my contemporaries!” feeling that my own peers were worthy of close attention. As I began to think of doing that portrait photography, I decided to also interview the people. I am curious about people, and what they think about themselves and about the meaning of life. I began scribbling questions on little scraps of paper and stuffing them in my back pocket. By the time I embarked on the project, I had a huge pile of these. I reviewed them, and found many duplicates, and came up with a final list of about 30 questions. I did not want to make the focus be on people’s social status or identity – more reflections about what they thought about themselves and about life, and the world. As they are conceived, they are suitable for people of almost any age or situation, and ask universal queries. So how they’d differ from a journalistic focus for magazine or newspaper – They are not focused on a social identity, or a current achievement about the person. They aren’t triggered by a public view of who the person is; they allow that to unfold, from the person. When I do the project, I do not share the questions ahead of time, so that people won't prepare lofty or admirable topics, but rather respond in chatting in company with me, at the time. (For the same reason, I don't publish the interviews online, so the questions will be fresh for future subjects.) I assure people they may pass on any question they don't wish to answer, and occasionally they do. I also say there is no “gotcha” going on – I am not intending to show anyone up as foolish; I only invite people whom I feel positively about, and find interesting, to shine a light on them from the process. People who participate often express great pleasure in the process, and what they thought about.
The reason I ask the same questions is I think it makes the project cohesive – I have many strong feelings about how similar we human beings are in a good way, and have other painting work focused on this theme. Also I think artistically, having a constraint, a boundary, elucidates the differences more than shaping individualized, personal questions would. I like the flow of the exhibit so that as one walks around, and reads the interviews, the ideas and experiences echo and flow through the exhibit as a whole. You may be familiar with the so-called Proust Questionnaire – parlor game set of questions from the late 1800’s. Although many parts are dated, I think the fact of its enduring use reflects the virtue of using a repeated structure applied to varied individuals.
You have written that in your watercolor paintings you have rejected the artistic and symbolic work and have gravitated to science. Explain.
From her website:
"At a young age Moses gravitated towards logic, math and science, rejecting artistic and symbolic enterprises. Instead she studied the nuance and minutiae of her surroundings finding patterns in the natural world."
In this case, the bio material above may seem to indicate I rejected artistic and symbolic work in art. In fact, in my youth, I was not doing art, and I was uncomfortable with realms that weren’t literal and factual. I struggled with symbolism in literature, and felt confused and alienated by most art, feeling at home with numbers, equations, and science. I was mesmerized by the natural world, and could spend ages closely observing grass, soil, tiny insects, or looking at pond water under my microscope, and I imagined happily living among animals. As an adult, I expanded my interests and attractions, and became interested in mark-making, colors, and patterns, creating them and considering their interactions and connections.
You also create word paintings. Are the words that you paint more stream-of-consciousness than linear?
What does painting add to the words?
I'm a pretty verbal person. I often found myself, while painting, writing notes of multiple-line titles next to the work I was painting on. One day, I decided to write the things I was thinking on the painting paper, with my pens. I'm not sure how to say if they are stream of consciousness, yes, I guess so, or linear, yes, also. They were written at one sitting, not composed then transferred. There were just disquisitions on what I was working through in my mind. I’ve previously said that painting served as a funnel to unpack things in my head; my head would be full, stuff tumbling around, and I’d have to get ahold of paint, and get it out, unwrap it, untangle it, settle it into patterns. I used to work in software as my day job. I would include painting reproductions in my portfolio of technical writing, and coding samples, because I felt it was math-y, logical.
Anyway, back to the writing – I would untangle my ideas by writing words, then paint around, over, between the words to reinforce or support the ideas. I think mostly the painting has its own value, and works well with the text.
Why should we view your work?
I don't go around saying to anyone “you should view my work” but I’ll address what value I think it has. I think it’s an incredibly rich field of patterns, colors, structures that resonate. I think they can be ennobling, calming, stimulating, reassuring by turns. A very few pieces are about painful disturbances, and I think they look distressed, painful. I have been extremely pleased that children often feel drawn to my work, and not just animal-y pieces. I think it means that there is truth and reality there. I feel that I create scenes, environments, snapshots of the natural world, the built world, and of our inner world. Places to be, places that you can be, a human world. I have often said that a lot of my focus is about connection – alienation, distance, fear, and lack of connection; tentative connection; space for everyone where we need not connect, but exist in amity; tense and stressed connection; and consumingly intimate connections. I think the situations I'm communicating often resonate with viewers inner states.
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