Interview with Scott Eagle

Q) Something about you…what you want…

A)To not want.

Q) What are your main goals when you create?

A)To find and understand.

Q) Do you rule by any tendency in your creative work, or you only follow what comes in your mind?

A)I am open to anything and everything. Everything is related and connected in some way. In the past I have done paintings with my children http://www.scotteagle.com/eyrie.html and within the past year I have been working with other artists. This process forces me to incorporate different ideas, techniques and media.

Q) How has the Internet and your website helped you spread your artwork to a wider audience?

A)The Internet is a cyberstructure housing my 24-hour gallery that allows me to explain and present my ideas and my work. I also use this structure to do research, business, visit other artists, etc. This interview is another example of the amazing reach of the web.

Q) How do you define your style and how would you describe your art to someone who could not see it?

A)Frequently people find out that I am an artist and ask me just that question. My lazy answer is that my work is surreal, but in reality, my artwork is visually diverse. My artwork is the exploration and expression of personal spirituality and psychology through symbolic imagery derived from dreams, mythology, artistic masterworks and universal archetypes. That response usually elicits a blank stare, so I carry business cards with an image of my work and my website address and tell people that they can go to my site and see a lot of my work and read about what was going through my head. http://www.scotteagle.com/fallingtalk.htm

Q)What materials do you use to realize your creations?

A)Most frequently my work is mixed media which often includes acrylic on paper, but I work in all media. My work is about the world and my response to my environment. This environment includes both old and new, traditional and contemporary, religious and secular, mythic and mundane. My mixing of mediums is synonymous with the plurality of my daily life.

Q) What is your favorite a) taste b) sound c) sight d) scent e) tactile sensation?

A) a) taste Dead Guy Ale http://www.mylifeisbeer.com/beer/bottles/bottledetail/322/
b) sound Beethoven’s 9th symphony http://athome.harvard.edu/dh/Kelly.html
c) sight My wife
d) scent Coffee in the morning
e) tactile sensation A hug from my children.

Q) What are you doing now…your current projects…

A) I am working on a couple of projects with writer Jeff VanderMeer http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/ , including a cover for the Best American Fantasy http://www.bestamericanfantasy.com/ coming out in June. I have just taken over as the head of the Painting and Drawing Program at East Carolina University, a job that quite often feels like herding squirrels. I am working on an installation and book with some of my Graduate students. I am also plodding along on my own little picture book and about 20 paintings and drawings at various stages of completion.

Q) Do you listen to music while you’re creating and what do you listen and what do you like to listen?

A)Most of the time I work in silence, but when I do listen to music, I listen to a variety of artists, but especially Beck, the Avett Brothers, Moby, Peter Gabriel, Beethoven (especially the 9th symphony), Bach, Mozart, bluegrass, world music, etc.

Q) Do you draw influences from a wide range of artists, musicians, books…?

A)See Below, musicians See Above, books Some of the books on my shelf right now are Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing, The Idea of The Holy, A Readers Guide to TS Eliot, The Lord Of the Rings Trilogy, Dreams by Jung, The Enlightened Mind

Q)Name 3 things you couldn’t create without?

A)My family, my arms and my legs.

Q) Where have you show your art…?

A) http://www.scotteagle.com/resume2.html

Q) What haven’t you done yet that you definitely want to try someday?

A)Travel. I had a mysterious woman read my palm several years ago. She asked me if I had traveled extensively. I told her no. She said “You will.” I hope that she was right. My imagination has taken me beyond the edge of the universe, but my body has not gotten very far.

Q) How important is self-promotion for an artist nowadays?

A)Self promotion is a necessary evil. I tell my students that if you don’t talk about your work and get your name out, no one else will. There are a lot of amazing artists in the world. I ask my upper level students if they would rather be Henry Darger http://www.acer-access.com/~darger@acer-access.com/intro.htm or Thomas Kincaid http://www.thomaskinkade.com/magi/servlet/com.asucon.ebiz.home.web.tk.HomeServlet. Hopefully they choose the middle way.

Q) Would you say that your work consciously reflects characters and situations found within your daily life?

A)My work is about my life but not in the narrative or temporal sense. For example, the picture on my homepage depicts a sweet little girl biting the neck of a giant lizard. The drawing is about my 16 year old daughter. Last year, she entered high school and her personality changed from Daddy’s sweet little girl http://www.scotteagle.com/kissing.html to she who knows all and fears no one http://www.scotteagle.com/.

Q) Favourite book?

A)Anything by Joseph Campbell. http://www.jcf.org/about_jc.php

Q) Designers/Artists you admire?

A)Pieter Brueghel the Elder, my children, Jenny Saville , Sidney Goodman, Francisco Goya, Juxtapoz Magazine, Francis Bacon, Kiki Smith, James Ensor…

Q) Your contacts….e-mail…links…

A) http://www.scotteagle.com/
eagles@ecu.edu