Sequoia Versillee: Yes, I'm right here from Cleveland born and raised. Mom is an artist in the family.
CF: How did you get into art?
SV: I don't think I have a choice. It's genetic. My mom is a musician, singer, artist, and teacher.
CF: You went to art school you didn't go, what?
SV: I'm a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art. I studied graphic design and illustration to gain computer experience and to better my chances of landing a "day job" once I graduated. I currently work for Cleveland Public Library teaching free computer classes in conjunction with continuing to grow my art career.
CF: is your goal to be able to support yourself wholly by your art?
SV: Eventually yes and I'm working on that goal every day. I go to work and come home and my art is my second job.
CF: how do you feel about Cleveland as a town for artists?
SV: I think the good thing about Cleveland as opposed to say a larger city like New York is that we don't have so much of an elitist sort of mentality toward art. I think generally there is more of a "Midwestern" appreciation of art for arts sake here. Personally in my own work, I like to believe that I paint imagery that can be appreciated by everyday people walking down the street. Some of my paintings can be esoteric, but not in a way that challenges your dignity or belittles a viewer's intelligence. On the other hand, I do think Cleveland's art scene needs to make some better efforts toward diversity and representation of its ethnically rich community.
CF: OK. Having said that. Is there something in the back of your mind that says I need to get to Chicago, New York, San Francisco to make it? SV: No not necessarily, I mean to make it in those markets is a good thing, it can be a sign that you've "made it" to get your work successfully out in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York. But it's not by any means impossible to make it elsewhere.
CF: So you feel like that can happen here in Cleveland?
SV: Oh yes, especially with the Internet. It's a matter of marketing when you get down to it. You have to market your work and get yourself out there. You can be right here in Cleveland, exhibit locally and exhibit in New York and Atlanta...Asia or Europe. I think that's the best way to do it. Establish yourself locally and then if you wish to get into some of those other markets you have a base...a foundation from which to operate.
CF: We were talking before the interview started about the push to get public funding for the arts and getting the arts community organized. Were you aware of any of this before we started talking?
SV: Yes in all the e-mails you send me. And in the newspaper I did notice the push and the convention center talk that was going on this summer and also with the activity like the guitars this summer and the [Sparks in the City] fire hydrants. I could see that there was more interest in the arts.
CF: Hmm. Where do you get your information about what's going on in the arts?
SV: You mean specific periodicals? The Free Times, the Plain Dealer, Internet searches...I also listen to NPR a lot and Dee Perry's show, Around Noon. I would say Dee's show is one of the best sources of local arts information.
CF: I'll get you started on Cool Cleveland. How do you feel about the quality and quantity of venues for artists to exhibit their art?
SV: I think it would be great to have more opportunities to exhibit, we need more. I also think it would be beneficial to establish at least one large show, festival or Expo that could draw national and international numbers like Atlanta's National Black Arts Festival or New York's Art Expo.
CF: Uh huh, which ones have you been in thus far?
SV: There's Sankofa.
CF: and is that a regional thing or what?
SV: Artists come from all over the country for [the] Sankofa Cleveland Fine Art Expo. Also the Berea arts fest and I'm considering the Cain Park Arts festival.
CF: I was disappointed in Cain Park this year. I heard that Jerome White didn't get accepted. I went and saw everything from craft schlock to nice fine arts craft and very good "painting by numbers". The expertise was there all the way but I didn't see much of a minority voice. I saw minority art like Southwest Indian stuff but Southwest Native Americans didn't make it and on the whole I thought it was pretty white bred. I think I saw one and half African Americans. And there were people who are more or less regulars that are there every year. This is disappointing in light of how many fine minority artists are in the area.
SV: well I think that is something I could agree with. I wish there were more diversity in local venues. We certainly have enough of it in town to draw from.
CF: What would you like to see happen to improve the Cleveland scene... whatever the "scene" is to you?
SV: I wish there were more programs geared toward educating the general public about the arts...about the importance of the arts. I wish there were a stronger push to get the arts back into the schools and recognition that art is integral to education. I wish there were more programs that taught artists how to be good business people. I also agree with you that it's important that we get the business and the arts community together. Big business could probably provide individual grant opportunities as well. Grants for individual artists are not that available. They [businesses] are only interested in donating funds to cultural improvement efforts if they can get a tax benefit out of it. They could be a little more altruistic and be willing to help local artists maybe without a tax benefit. If they are utilizing art in their offices, lobbies and waiting rooms some gesture of gratitude to the arts community would be appreciated. Why not focus more on buying local artists' work? Why not consider leasing programs where a larger variety of artists could be displayed on their walls? Why not donate $1000 or $2000 to an individual artist's grants effort? With many companies a thousand dollars is not going to hurt. We have a few multi billion-dollar companies that have their headquarters right in and vicinity. I think the [Cleveland ] museum [of Art] could play a greater role than what it does right now. ...To extend itself to individual artists right here in Cleveland. The May Show...where is it? People who live right here in Cleveland should have a venue to exhibit their work in a museum. That's an example of that elitist attitude I mentioned before, to exclude local people from exhibiting because they are not a Monet or a De Kooning or somebody who is hot on the New York scene at the moment.
CF: Now you know I work for the museum, right?
SV: (Laughing) Yes I do, so if you're gonna get in trouble, don't print it. It's up to you.
CF: Earlier you said more outreach. Outreach to whom? I mean the museum does a lot of outreach to-
SV: To Cleveland artists. It's a great resource but I strongly feel that it should have a more symbiotic relationship with its local artist.
CF: At a C3 [Creative Cleveland Coalition] meeting the idea of a business incubator came up. C3 is a group of individual artists. People with marketing/business acumen, not necessarily in the arts would show artists how to do it and then the artists would apply it under the tutelage of the business person or artist that has that expertise. Would you get involved in something like that?
SV: Yes, I would like to. If time weren't an issue, I would definitely make an effort to make the time.
CF: As a working artist how is your time? Your were saying that you couldn't get to the Cuyahoga County Cultural Roundtable or Peter Lawson Jones' task force meeting because they take place during the day and you have to work and then after work you and other artists go to the second job. painting or dancing or performing and then get up and go back to work again. SV: Yes, time is an issue. Obviously I'd like to be at home just painting and working on my art. But you've gotta have your day job until your art has been marketed well enough to support you. It can be quite a challenging balancing act.
CF: How do you describe your work?
SV: Cathartic...earth toned...sensitive to nature and humanity. Sometimes emotional... I make an effort to import all my work with some kind of meaning or worth. If I don't feel any deep attachment to something I've created, I consider it a failed effort. Technically, I paint mostly in oils as well as other mediums including digital. I also do jewelry design, which I've just started getting back into. I also accept design projects as my schedule allows.
CF: Go 'head Black woman! Multi-talented... got dat from moms! We will have one of your images on the Nia Arts Advocates Intranet site with a link to your site. You're not a member, but just enter as a guest and you'll see it. (http://www.niaartsltd.intranets.com) Do you feel part of an art community? Is there a community of artists you communicate with and talk art and issues?
SV: Actually, I would like to interact more with the community. I have not had that much of an opportunity because of the time issues I mentioned. I would love to go the Roundtable meetings and things like that. I would like to do some volunteer work, time permitting. I do e-mail other artists from time to time to touch bases.
CF: How many hours a night do you sleep?
SV: (Laughing) four. Five. You know. I maybe average five which is not too bad when other artists I know are getting three to four hours on average.
CF: Here is your chance to talk to the community. What do you want to say to the community at large?
SV: To the non-art community: Artists are important. They are necessary. This would be a very bland world without the arts. So please recognize their value. Individual artists need support from the public to survive. Many talented individuals simply give up on their craft because they have no feasible way to practice it because of economic constraints. If you find an artist whose work you truly appreciate, make the effort to purchase at least one piece. Don't feel their work is not worth the price they are asking for it, that's their heart and soul they have on display, you have to recognize that.
CF: That's their heart and soul, wow.
SV: Yeah that's a piece of them that they've given to you. Show the arts the respect they deserve.
CF: Do you have any pieces that exemplify that heart and soul on your canvases... You were happy with the rendering, but it was so personal, had so much meaning for you, that you had trouble putting it out there?
SV: I've been working on a series. It's biographies of different women who are warriors, leaders... just strong women. Inzingha is one I can't see myself selling.
CF: Which one is Inzingha?
SV: She's the African queen and warrior who fought off the Portuguese slavers. Usually when I am that close to a piece it's even difficult for me to sell reproductions of it.
CF: Really!? You have trouble selling reproductions?
SV: They're like my children. I have actually cried when I've sold pieces. It's a deep part of me. It's almost like a child. I really care where the pieces are going. I get the contact information of the people buying them. If they ever need them cleaned or if for some reason they feel like they don't want the piece. I'll buy it back at the price for which I sold it to them.
CF: and to artists reading this?
SV: Don't lose hope you just really have to believe in your path. You're on a special mission, to share your view of the world with others...to have dialogue with many other people through what you create. Whether you reach your ultimate goal or not, you have to find worth in the journey itself, that in itself is a worthy goal.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Cavana Faithwalker faithwalker@niaartsltd.intranets.com To contact S.C. Versillee: scversillee@go.com http://www.scversillee.com
(:divend:)