Interview with Wednesday Kirwan

q) Introduce yourself first please?

a)I am a fine artist and illustrator. I paint in sort of a flat, retro style. My paintings are mostly of monster wormen, my illustrations are mostly of children.

q) Where do you live and work?

a)I live just North of San Francisco, CA. One room in my apartment is my studio space.


q) How did you started? How have you realized you wanted to become an artist?

a)I was surrounded by art as a child. My father was an art director, my mother a graphic designer, and my older brother grew up to work in animation. I went to an art high school and later an art college.


q) What materials do you use and why?

a)I use gouache paint. Formerly, I painted in oil, but when I moved to San Francisco, my studio space got smaller and I needed to find a medium that was less toxic. Gouache colors are bright and flat and reproduce well for illustration.

q) Who is your biggest influence, both art and non-art related

a)My father is my biggest influence both as an artist and for the choices he has made in his life.

q) How do you dream up with your wacky ideas? What is your creation process?

a)I like painting images of women and I have sort of a dark sense of humor. The resulting images are a combination of these two things.

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

a)Taxidermy

q) Are there any contemporary artists that you love?

a)Audrey Kawasaki has some fabulously sensual Art Noveau inspired pieces and Seonna Hong has some very touching and cruel glimses into childhood. I wouldn’t mind a piece from either one of these amazing artists on my wall.

q) How long does it take for you to finish a piece?

a)I’m a fast and impatient painter. I don’t like to take much longer than a day.

q) What music, if any, do you like to have on while you're working?

a)For the most part, I listen to “This American Life” podcasts.

q) Do you do many art shows?

a)I’ve shown at Roq la Rue in Seattle, 111 Minna in San Francisco, and the Jan Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City over the past year.

q) Tell us about a recent dream you had.

a)I’m frequently being pursued by coyotes.

q) What are you doing when you are not creating?

a)I enjoy working with children.

q) Do you get emotionally attached to your work and do you miss your work when it is sold?

a)I get sad to lose a ‘breakthrough’ piece. The first in a series is always my favorite and it pains me to see it go, until I make something that I am more excited about.

q) What new projects or exhibits are in your future?

a)I will have prints and original work for sale at the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco in March and look for my children’s book, “Nobody Notices Minerva” on sale in September.

q) What is your favourite art related web site?

a)I spend a lot of time on Drawn! (drawn.ca) and Juxtapoz.

q) What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?

a)The skeleton of a Narwhale in Brighton, England.

q) What is the strangest thing you have ever done?

a)I kept cockroaches as pets for many years.

q) any advice you can pass onto aspiring artists/designers?

a)Decide what you want and go for it.

q)your contacts….e-mail…links

a) wednesdaykirwan.com

wkirwan@wednesdaykirwan.com