Artist Collective

ARTIST COLLECTIVE

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Zinnia  -by Izzy Commers-

Expanding the sparse scene of female rappers is an obvious plus, and Emma Bastolich is bringing a whole new dimension to the local rap selection of St. Paul, Minnesota. 

In her words, “I love female rappers and I love music that makes me feel far away. However, I’ve never found a combination of the two, locally or anywhere, so I thought there would be some room for me to be it.”

This music endeavor came as a surprise to a lot of people, what brought you to become Zinnia?

“So, I always thought I was an artist. I think that’s something we can all identify within ourselves if it’s there. The trouble is, sometimes, we don’t know how to express it, we don’t necessarily know what our art is.. Then we’re stuck with this artist’s soul, but no idea what to do with it. Zinnia is a result of being determined to find an answer. I’d tried everything and fully connected with nothing. I always liked to write, but I could never convey it how I wanted to by simply typing it out. Then one day a friend wanted me to rap for him just to see what it’d sound like, so I wrote a little something on the spot and id it over a beat he’d made. My words suddenly made more sense over music and although it seemed unfamiliar on the surface, on the inside it felt anything but. I took it as a sign and have been working on it ever since.

Do you have anything –specific topics, ideas, feelings– that you want to express with this project?

“Zinnia isn’t me, she observes me. She observes everyone and everything and sees into the heart of it all. Zinnia will not only help you get to know me, but help you get to know yourself. It’s really just a feelings fusion, I want people to feel emotion, feel their bodies, feel connected and feel each other.”

What are your hopes and goals for the future of Zinnia?

“Expand, meet other artists, ones who know their art and ones who may not be there yet. Meet anyone and everyone, artist or not, just whoever is willing to feel something. Experience it with them. Provide them with something that they may not be getting elsewhere. Give. Receive. I’d also like to travel at some point. Seeing more of the world through Zinnia’s eyes sounds pretty nice.”

I think this struggle to find ourselves as artists is so relatable, within myself and in general. It takes constant reminder to not give up in the midst of the struggle, and inspiration from artists like Zinnia that give me the motivation to keep trying.

You can listen to her music on Soundcloud and find her on various social media:

Soundcloud

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr 

Instagram - @zinnia.zz

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Sinjun Strom -by Izzy Commers-

Aside from making a platform to show the fantastic artists in my life, part of the reason I started the Artist Collective was to understand how other artists derived their inspiration. What I’ve have been struggling with as of late, is finding my style, or my place in the vast world of art...

If anyone has got style... it’s Sinjun Strom. Even before looking at her photography, you can see her unique style through her sensational outfits. She clearly has a great eye for color, and mixing patterns and textures - translating this into her photographs has yielded truly spectacular results.

I think the struggle to find your style/place/voice in art is a struggle that almost everyone must face in order to be productive and proactive with their artwork. I see this struggle like a massive puzzle. From following several artists from their beginnings, I’ve noticed a point in each case in which they started to find some pieces to their puzzle, and as I continue to watch them grow, I see their puzzles becoming more and more complete.

I mentioned to Sinjun how I was feeling stuck in trying to find myself in art -

“Honestly that has been the hardest thing for me. One thing that I did to help me focus in on what I wanted to do was that I tried to expose myself to less imagery. I stopped looking at what other people were doing and I started thinking about what I wanted. I felt like I kept letting other people’s ideas get into my own because I was looking at so much photography online. It’s just natural to subconsciously take things from other people sometimes.“

I always feel so reassured, knowing that other people have experienced and are experiencing this same struggle that I am. I think Sinjun brought up a great point in trying to expose herself to less imagery. Just as you might look through a magazine and see a pretty sweater, you can go on tumblr and see a pretty picture. However, just because the sweater is pretty doesn’t mean you need it, and just because you see a pretty picture doesn’t mean you need to take it. There’s a huge importance is DISCOVERING- Discovering the right sweater for you. Discovering WHY you want to take the photos that you want to take. Who knows how many pretty pictures are out there in the world, but WHY is the photo you’re talking pretty to YOU, or what does it mean to you? I think being exposed to less imagery is a very smart way to finetune what you want to do. Essentially, you’re giving yourself your undivided attention- you’re thinking about what you truly want, instead of being distracted by what you think you want.

“I let myself do me for awhile.”

Another part of this puzzle that I brought up to Sinjun is the pressure to make my photos MEAN something. With my experience so far, I’ve felt much more inclined to capture a certain style or more specifically, the things that fit my style at that moment. I took this Black and White film course earlier this school year, and each of our assignments was related to a certain theme. I struggled so much- not because I didn’t have feelings or topics that I wanted to express, but because I didn’t know how to translate those feelings through photography, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to. I’m in this place now, where I don’t know if I should work to be better in that sense, and create art that is meaningful beyond my aesthetic choices, or if I should keep doing what I know I enjoy..

You have both this colorful more fashion/aesthetically inclined side, but also a more serious side with your medium/large format work, so how do you feel about this concept of being meaningful?

“Yeah, its hard. For a long time I really wanted to make images that meant something, but then I realized that that is not me. I literally just like to make images that are aesthetically pleasing -mainly because I'm interested in fashion. Once I started doing work that I enjoyed I was so much happier, and I started growing a lot faster. But I do have a serious side that I go back to sometimes from when I first started, like my original direction... because I do still have things to say, but I only do those once in awhile because I want to think them out more. I guess I do make a statement in my fashion images, except more subtly. I like to make strong images of women because so many in the industry are so gross and objectifying. I’m pretty careful about poses and such. I feel like when people try to photograph feminist ideas, it’s so heavy handed because it’s SO feminist. You know?”

EXACTLY! I think Sinjun hit the nail right on the head. She’s made photos empowering rather than objectifying without having to sacrifice her fun, upbeat style. I like the idea of making meaningful artwork when you feel that you NEED to, instead of feeling pressured to do that consistently. I’ve also noticed somewhat of a stigma towards “meaningless” artwork from some of my peers, as if that is somehow easy in comparison. This seems ridiculous to me. Effort needs to be applied to make a meaningful, impactful piece of art, but making an interesting, aesthetically pleasing piece of art is by no means effortless. You can take one look at Sinjun’s elaborate photos and see the thought that went into them.

My last question to Sinjun was the question I ask all of the artists I interview for the Artist Collective: What inspires you?

“I'm really inspired by old movies. That might not show directly in my work but I pull very specific things from them. Lately I've been incredibly inspired by Florida actually! Specifically the architecture and the pastel buildings combined with neon signs. I reaaally want to recreate those feelings/moods from those buildings.”

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SinjunStromPhotography

Website: http://www.sinjun-strom.com/

Tumblr: http://badgirlzclubdiary.tumblr.com/

Instagram: @sstromphoto

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Galilee Peaches - Izzy Commers -

Upon coming up with the idea to create the Artist Collective, immediately I knew I had to talk to Galilee Wojahn, better known as Peaches. As someone who is still struggling to find their self in art, hearing about others’ inspirations has in turn inspired me, and allowed me to think about art in ways I hadn’t before. After following Peaches on Instagram (@pea.ch.es) for a couple of years, where she often posts her latest work, I just had to talk to her about this obvious passion of hers.

Knowing Peaches to be a fellow member of the feminist community, I wondered if this translated into her artwork-

“Feminism is about ending sexist oppression, considering the fact that other people experience different levels of oppression than you- I try to talk about being a woman in our society. It’s how I deal with my own depression. I wouldn’t say I’m depressed, but everybody feels that once in a while. I’ve gotta move through my problems and touch all of the things that hurt inside me. What I try to do is take all of my shadows and my darkness, things that scare me -insecurities, anxiety- and  invert them on the outward exteriors of my drawings. Having it in a drawing, is like sharing a burden. The problem with emotions occurs when we start to repress things, we don’t look at it, we don’t touch it, that’s where our problems arise.”

“Drawing makes me feel good. I make art because I want to love myself.”

While talking, Peaches brought up an interesting subject- the idea of being alone. So often there’s a stigma attached to being alone, and to many it seems unimaginable that one would CHOOSE to be alone. I think everybody needs to experience being alone by choice. As Peaches put -

“Spend time with YOURSELF. Be honest with who you want to be.”

Many have asked about the sad appearance of the people within Peaches’s drawings, knowing her to be such a happy person. Initially I would have wondered the same thing, but upon thinking further, and understanding her approach to art, it makes a great deal of sense. It’s an outlet.

“I try to focus on images that I see flashing behind my eyes, when I’m sleeping, when I’m scared, and delving into those feelings and being like “what is this, what is here?” It’s like a mirror. I’m trying to reflect all of the things that I’m feeling, and I like to hear what other people have to say about it.”

The idea of art being a means of processing your feelings, your sadness, and allowing you to live more happily, is truly comforting in my mind to think about.

Check out more of her work here - http://galileepeaches.tumblr.com/ 

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Household.  -by Izzy Commers-

If there’s one thing to be said about Household, it’s the sense of community they bring to the local music scene. No matter what genre, bands are welcomed with open arms to play at their house (The Household), and as they put it,

“We never set out to be any type of band, we didn’t try to be a hardcore band, we didn’t try to be a punk band, we like all different kinds of music”. 

As it can be for any type of artist, not having a clear path is sometimes difficult, however with the growing support of fellow local bands such as Pierre, Molly’s Worst Enemy, Greyscale, and many more, it’s very clear that their confidence and music has grown also. 

“That community that we’ve been able to be a part of has really helped us and influenced us. We love what we’re a part of.”

Excitingly enough, they were recently signed to Blood and Ink Records, and along with the long-awaited EP they’ve just finished, they will also be releasing a full length album later this year!

“It’s way different and it’s gonna be crazy!”

Christianity is an important message and meaning behind their music, but the way in which this message is conveyed is done truly for themselves and their beliefs. They aren’t the band that preaches that everyone needs to have the same beliefs as them. If you find yourself at one of their shows, you’ll most likely hear them mention that connection between music and spirituality, and what it means to them, which I find very respectable. 

“Music, travel, and relationships”. // “Be honest. Be kind. Be true.”

These are words you often hear coming from their mouths, and they double as an accurate description of them as individual people, and as a band. In an industry that is heavily dominated by competition and image, Household give their own true meaning to their music, and are accepting of everyone else’s. Never have I been at one of their shows and felt anything but their passion, kindness, and absolute sincerity.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Householdmusic

Twitter: @HouseholdCrew

Instagram: @householdmnpls

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S96QA_8Gi2o