Today we’d like to introduce you to Sofia Gonzalez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Sofia. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a visual artist living and working in sunny San Diego. I have always created art. From a young age, I painted landscape paintings outside my childhood home with an easel and a palette – a mini Picasso! I grew up in the craft room with my mom, a quilter, and sewing and knitting with my Abuela. As an only child, art has always been there for me, to be my friend and keep my company. I studied studio art and graphic design in college at the University of San Francisco, where I quickly discovered that I couldn’t live without making. Art became my career path and I committed to making myself a life where I could continue to make art.
Right after I completed my undergraduate degree, I was accepted to graduate school to pursue my Master of Fine Arts at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. There, my creative trajectory grew and expanded. As the youngest in my class, the biggest challenge was finding my voice amongst artists who had been professional artists must longer than I. I developed a deep love for natural dyes, both the colors available in our environments and the process. I returned to my roots of fabric, sewing, embroidery, and all things textiles and tactile. Today, I use natural dyes and pigments to create two-dimensional textile and layered sculpture works, as well as botanical ink paintings. I use natural dyes to understand and record my sense of place and the landscapes I call home.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Falling in love with making art was the easy part. It has always been a part of who I am and I quickly realized that I do not feel fully myself unless I prioritize time for making. The hard part of committing to being an artist is the balance of working and maintaining a studio practice. I have worked many jobs – from endless retail positions, working in non-profit arts education, sitting at the front desk of museums, teaching preschool art to college art, designing freelance graphic design, and working as a botanical designer.
I’ve worked up to four part-time jobs at any one time, while also teaching natural dye workshops and running a home studio from my house. Some weeks are smooth and energizing, while most others are exhausting and endless. I’ve learned it’s not sustainable to work full-time at a day job while also trying to maintain a full studio practice. Each week is a new balance, and I try to be patient and kind to myself as I ride the waves. The most important thing is that I find some way each week to make something – that could be as small as sitting in my studio listening to a podcast, or as large as full dye days on my days off.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
As a maker, I feel a frantic urge to record the places I have known, from Northern California to Central Arkansas to my current home of San Diego, to attempt to embody the way these locations shape me and the way I feel within them. Recording and archiving both physical and emotional landscapes, I use natural dyes to create a moving methodology to respond to places that have already affected me and those I will meet in the future.
Collecting flowers, hulls, barks, fruits and vegetables, I boil the materials to release the inherent colors of the land. Sewing, looping, and layering naturally stained textiles focuses a restless mind as I archive through making to respond to the fear of what may happen when a place changes. Homesickness for places I still know saturates each stain and reveals a constant concern of what might happen when a specific site and I are no longer connected. The fleeting feeling of place leaves me frantically trying to grasp onto something I cannot hold. To keep still, my hands must move and I ground myself in the physical plants and fibers. I knot, loop, cut, and drape dyed textiles to focus and to remember the intimate moments in each place I know.
My studio practice focuses on soft sculptures created by layer dyed silk and cotton. I also create 2D pieces that focus on the geographical locations in which I collect the plants I use for dye. I always have dyes on hand to paint with as a way of color planning and for shorter studio days. I also teach natural dye workshops in my local community to share the art of natural dyeing with others. I am most proud at the end of a workshop day when participants are excited to take home their naturally dyed pieces and the new knowledge they have about the plants around them. My goal is to open people’s eyes to the world of color possible in their neighborhood, and in turn, hopefully, instill a greater sense of commitment to taking care of our landscapes.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I have a very faint memory of sitting outside in the backyard with my Abuelo, looking out into the open space and listening to the nature around us. Most of my childhood memories revolve around spending time in the backyard, bird watching, playing, and climbing in the plants.
Pricing:
- Digital Natural Dye Recipe Book – Spring 2020 – $25.00
- Private Natural Dye Workshop – $90.00/person
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sofiavgonzalez.com
- Email: sofiagonzalez@mac.com
- Instagram: sofiavgonzalez_
- Other: https://sofia-v-gonzalez-104001.square.site
Image Credit:
Kate Bauer
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