Hello my FreeLovers! Diego here with another craaazy post! On Tuesday I bought a crap ton of taquitos and mozzarella sticks then headed over to the studio to work on a painting. Uuunfortunately… I forgot to take pictures, but I’ll describe it to you! It looked really cool.
Anyways, on to interviews! First up, studio member Heaven!
HEAVEN BOOTH
Diego: So… Heaven! How’d you find out about Studio FreeLove?
Heaven: One of my friends sent me the application so I filled it out. The really funny thing is that I don’t remember sending in the application because I was sleep deprived but I’m glad it was good enough to get in!
Diego: Whatchu been working on?
Heaven: I am working on this romper/placement piece for this drop I want to do at the end of March. You can find it at @UgliKnits on Insta!
Diego: Wow that’s so kewwl! What got you into knitting? (She was crotcheting but I don’t know the difference between crocheting and knitting)
Heaven: I learned crocheting in third grade at the library but didn’t get too far, I dropped it pretty fast. But over quarantine I got into it again. I realized I don’t need expensive fabric and sewing machines to make things, which is great!
Diego: Working on anything else?
Heaven: I wanna have photoshoots for the drop, make something you could put on a coffee table, something real cute. I wanna make a photobook for the drop. I wanna do a pop up shop too.
Diego: Anything else you wanna plug?
Heaven: Tune in!!!
Wow, that was so cool! Next up I had the pleasure of interviewing one of our resident photographers, Tommy!
TOMMY GILLIS
Diego: Do you have any nicknames?
Tommy: Tommy is the nickname. My legal name is Duncan, I don’t like it though. Please don’t call me that.
Diego: Whatcha working on?
Tommy: Looking through old negatives to rescan ones I like so it’s not laborious this time
Diego: How about look at the present positives instead of the old negatives?
Tommy: *Confused stare* I’ve been tryna be more positive lately
Diego: Your main medium is photography?
Tommy: That’s right, it’s my only medium at this point.
Diego: Coool, cool. How’d you find out about Studio FreeLove?
Tommy: Through Hasani, he brought me here one day and I guess I never left! It’s been really great, everyone has been so welcoming and supportive. You can tell that people are committed to creating a community, that’s really valuable to someone like me who was kind of a loner for a while. It makes me want to make really cool art to show everyone, it’s motivating. I hope to make everyone proud.
Diego: Why do you like photography?
Tommy: It’s calming to me, cathartic, especially street work. I like being outside and not being cramped up in my place/apartment. Some people get angry but you have a lot of interesting conversations. You learn to take it slow sometimes.
Diego: Anything you wanna plug?
Tommy: Man what am i doing this week?
Hopefully i can get some of these film scans on this Instagram. @Strato.stella
Diego: Anything you wanna trap?
Tommy: There’s this possum I really f------ hate
Diego: Anything you wanna deal?
Tommy: *Silence*
Diego: Nevermind. You pushin P… Or you pushin poo?
Tommy: I’m just gonna let you go.
Wow, Tommy I’m glad you’re finding your people! I agree, Studio FreeLove is a very special community. Next up in the spotlight, our founder Jae Valdez!
JAE VALDEZ
Diego: Art or Art Advark?
Jae: Arthur Aardvark,
Diego: So you would choose Arthur Aardvark over art?
Jae: *Jae looks confused, I start miming a fist*
Well, for character day at school once I dressed like Arthur Aardvark. At one point I totally posed for a zoomed in pic of my fist.
Diego: Wow, that's a surprisingly relevant response to a very random person! Enough about ol' Arthur. What have you been up to artwise?
Jae: Still working on this toile de jouy design, more drawings for that. I have two more to get done, but it’s been really fun exploring this theme of counterculture.
Diego: Explorer huh? Would you consider yourself a Dora or Diego?
Jae: Definitely a Dora, no more of a Boots- actually maybe Swiper.
Diego: Good, Swiper respects consent.
Diego: Anyways, you said you’re exploring art, what are you discovering?
Jae: How much I relate to the diy ethic of the punk scene, it’s really inspiring to my art
Diego: *I lose my phone, scramble to find it, then Tommy (denoted by parentheses) joins the chat.*
Tommy:(What's good y'all)
Diego: This studio is definitely very diy punk, very communal, i think you’re bringing it into the real world which is cool.
Jae: I do love the group of people here and we manage to do a lot together.
Tommy: (Everyone here is really cool)
Jae: We’re lucky to not just have talented artists, but talented artists that care about community which is very hard to come by.
Diego: People care about Community who do they care about?
Jae: If everyone here was a character on Community, I’d go with Troy.
Tommy: *Tommy shakes head in agreement*
Diego: Anything you wanna plug, anything we can look forward to?
I’m gonna release 5 new drawings this week- on my Instagram! @jaedenvaldez
*communal applause*
CAROLINA ROMO
Carolina was in the studio, working on screenprinting. She’s been experimenting with printing on shirts and sweaters! We talked about what it’s been like being at the Studio so far and she said:
“It's been eye opening, I was intimidated to join the studio. Especially with all the talented artists who occupy the space but it's a welcoming and an encouraging environment. It pushes me to make work I never thought of, and pushes me to work with materials I never thought of exploring! It's the space where I can thrive as an artist. It’s really a blessing.
Anywayys, I gotta go work on more, so toodeloo homies!
-Diego Lucero
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