tiny crisis gnaws
DESCRIPTION
This is the result of a two day interview with Stephen Sidelinger the artist, teacher, and self proclaimed anti-smoking activist. We chatted about his life, growing up without love, book making an dliving with obsessive habits.TRANSCRIPT
Not elaborate, Not complete sample of Stephen Sidelinger
Photographs by CHELSEA HUNTER
by Chelsea Hunter | Title | Background | Story | Credits
FOREWORD This is
the result of a two day interview with
Stephen Sidelinger the artist, teacher, and
self proclaimed anti-smoking activist.
We chatted about his life, growing up
without love, book making and living
with obsessive habits.
380 Tiny Crisis Gnaws
An interview with Stephen Sidelinger
HI...NOT HI, MY NAME IS STEPHEN SIDELINGER
ARTIST Stephen Sidelinger
works primarily in multiple gouache
techniques on paper, to encaustic and
embroidery with subject matter ranging
from abstract to narrative. His work
resides in private and public collections
around the world and numerous libraries
throughout the United States.
Sidelinger is an artist, designer,
educator, architectural colorist, textile
artist, embroiderer and book artist.
Stephen draws on these vast and
varied disciplines to create his one-
of-a-kind, fine, hand bound books of
contemporary illuminated manuscripts,
which are in public and private
collections throughout the world.
All of his works have Sidelinger’s
distinctive personal vocabulary or
visual language. After twenty years of
embroidery his workmanship becomes
finer and more elaborate with each
piece. He has currently published a
book to aid others in discovering their
own Visual Language, based on his
highly subscribed course of the same
title, published by Artself. Sidelinger
is already the author of the book Color
Manual published by Prentice-Hall Inc.
Stephen Sidelinger has used his
distinctive Visual Language for the
last 25 years to investigate topics that
range from common icons, to the
complexities of the human condition.
An internationally recognized book
artist, Sidelinger’s pieces stand as
individual decorative panels, as well
as, increase in their beauty when
placed in series and/or groupings. His
media ranges from multiple gouache
techniques on paper, to encaustic and
embroidery. As a devout follower of
William Morris, Stephen Sidelinger
makes his images to grace people’s
environments, to bring an intrigue of
design and the enigmatic questions of
fine art to their daily lives.
381 Tiny Crisis Gnaws
382 Tiny Crisis Gnaws
AS A CHILD Yes, as a child I was huge and dyslexic
which, means I couldn’t read and write very well. As a matter
of fact I threatened my first grade reading teacher and tried
to push her out the door cause, I was almost as big as she was.
I got embarrassed cause I couldn’t read and since I couldn’t
communicate that way I started to use artwork because that
was always successful.The reading and spelling were always
iffy so thats why I became an artist actually because of that
disability which, I still have. I can still reverse numbers if
you’d like me to.
SIBLINGS I have one brother he was 10 years older
then I am and he’s an athlete. He’s on the other half of the
world he does different things but, strangely enough in the
end after he played football and eventually became sort a
semi professional swimming and water polo person he ended
up becoming a teacher too.
TOUGH LOVE Ughhh along with my parents...I
was raised by people from New England and there was no
sense of loving family. It was dutiful family. They did their
duty, they did their job. I don’t think I was hugged ever as a
child or kissed ever as a child but, if I needed money to go to
college I knew it was there. So, it was a strange relationship
cause you thought you were supposed to get you know huggy
kissy love but, they didn’t do that because they probably
didn’t get it themselves as children. So, they just passed
on what they already knew how to do.
EARLIEST MEMORY The earliest memory I
had ugh when I was 3 or 4. I was born in South Carolina and
then at two years old we moved to Chicago and it was really
cold and horrible. Then one year later we moved to New
Jersey and I remember the day we moved. I was sitting while
everybody was moving furniture but, I was tiny so to keep
me out of the way they sat me in the front yard in a little red
truck mechanical car that they just bought for me and I rang
the bell all day long so that’s my earliest childhood memory.
VENICE BEACH This is called little crisis gnaws.
I keep little ideas on slips of papers in this box. It’s the most
valuable thing I own and it’s little things I’ve seen or ideas
I’ve had at times. I finally get to use them in this and it’s
called little crisis gnaws. So, here you have the image and
you see all these sort of little things picking at each other.
The original phrase was found and its explained here on
a bathroom wall a public bathroom wall in Venice, CA. It
just reeked of urine. It was a horrible place and someone
had written on the wall little crisis gnaws and I said they do
and here it’s so obvious. So, there are many pages. It just
keeps going on. It’s not necessarily in order they get put in
order by look.
Half of the book was done ten years ago and the other half
was done recently. Then this one what is this ugh feather
in your cap this is one of the older ones in the first part. So,
you get feathers. It actually has that written right there so
its obvious so we have be in your bonnet feather in your
cap theres all little puns like that. Then this one has some
collage thats added into it too. So, whatever it takes to get
to the end.
MR. C MASON That ones not that
interesting and I’ll make sure all you want to see it. Im
not reading that one because its so dirty and hmm this
one is written. So, it is written and so it shall be done
the fact that its been written down by some famous
person and that must make it valid but, I always wonder
who that person really was. So, this entire list of famous
people is composed by Mr. C Manson
383 Tiny Crisis Gnaws
I don’t know if students get to see this
but, I didn’t start this way...It is not this
elaborate or complete or anything else
but, it’s sort of a sample.
2384
How did I get into book making ahh I got into booking
making because when I was in college everyone was making
big giant artworks. Monumental this and that and all of my
pieces were quite small and there were always a group of
them. Also, I went to a show in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art for the Persian Book of Kings which, is this large
illuminated manuscript and it said done in gouache and all
my images were in gouache so I figured I should go home
and make a book and that’s how my first one got made.
I have many friends if you ask them what are you thinking
about? they go oh nothing and I say really nothing and their
like yeah nothing and I’m like I never think about nothing.
“If I go to the beach and sit and listen to the water for about
five or six minutes then my mind will go blank and I will
just listen to the water , but the rest of the time everything
is obsessive. If I go to the beach and sit and listen to the
water ”.
His work draws on varied disciplines to create one-of-a-
kind, fine, hand bound books of contemporary illuminated
manuscripts, which are in public and private collections
throughout the world. His work often includes fine and
elaborate embroidery.
....Is This Too NOISY?
384 Tiny Crisis Gnaws
CREDITS A senior studio project directed by Chelsea
Hunter with guidance from instructor Polly Johnson.
Starring : Stephen Sidelinger in Tiny Crisis Gnaws, a
documentary. Filmed on loaction at Ringling College of
Art and Design.
Credits Tiny Crisis Gnaws