male announcer: On "Studio Space," Mir de Silva is a muralist and illustrator, whose watercolors of animals having all kinds of adventures draws you into her whimsical world.

Then we visit the studio of Painter Leslie Price.

His abstract style is serene, strong, and deeply personal.

"Studio Space" explores the thriving art colony in Northern California.

female announcer: This activity is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency; and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

David Ferney: Hi, I'm David Ferney.

Kati Texas: And I'm Kati Texas.

Today on "Studio Space," we talk with two artists who have their own introspective thoughts about their art.

David: I'll be visiting the studio of Painter Leslie Price to discover how nature influences his work.

But first, Kati sits down with Illustrator Mir de Silva in her enchanted garden to find out what inspires her.

♪♪♪ Mir de Silva: Creativity is in everything that we do.

I just happen to do it with watercolor.

Kati: Hi.

Welcome to "Studio Space."

I'm Kati Texas, and we're here today with Mir de Silva, an illustrator in Humboldt County.

Hi, Mir.

Mir: Hi.

Kati: So glad to be here.

Thank you for inviting us to your beautiful garden.

Mir: Thank you for coming.

Kati: So I would love to talk to you more about your illustrations.

I've noticed them for years and really admired your work.

How would you describe what you do?

Mir: I kind of have started calling them children's illustrations, but I never think about the audience being children.

But it kind of still works 'cause I feel like it kind of makes people think back to when they were children.

They're--'cause they're imaginative.

They're usually anthropomorphic little bunnies and mice kind of doing the daily dailies.

And so I feel like a lot of adults really like it, too.

But they're definitely illustrations, and they're definitely whimsical.

Kati: So whimsical is your favorite, like, theme or feeling?

Mir: Yeah.

I kind of like things to be imaginative.

I like creativity, and I like something surprising you or-- I also like thinking about the mundane and mediocre and the things of our lives that we just kind of do, and I like doing it through the lens of an animal 'cause it makes us reflect on those silly mundane tasks that are--they're simple and they're the little things, but they kind of make up the big thing.

So-- Kati: Do you have a favorite subject matter?

Mir: I tend to like mice.

Yeah, I do like to draw mice and rabbits.

Yeah.

Kati: What is it about mice and rabbits?

Mir: I have no idea.

I just like them.

I am really inspired by Beatrix Potter and I grew up reading those little books, and Winnie-the-Pooh; and just, you know, a lot of children's books where the animals kind of are the ones experiencing the adventures, and I just have always admired that and liked it.

Kati: Well, let's talk a little bit about you.

Where did you grow up?

Are you from Humboldt originally?

Mir: I am not from Humboldt.

I was actually raised in the military.

My father was in the Air Force.

So I've lived in a lot of different places, but I went to school and spent a lot of time in Southern California and Santa Barbara County.

Kati: What brought you to Humboldt?

Mir: Well, I moved out to Arkansas for about a year and I really enjoyed it, but I missed being in California.

But I--what I really liked about Arkansas was the seasons.

You know, they actually had winter, spring, summer, and fall; and you really felt things changing.

And so my compromise was, "I'll live in California, but I'll live somewhere where at least we get a hint of winter."

It's a--you know, we're a far a cry from a winter here, but it is a little bit closer.

Things dying back, seed pods.

You know, in Southern California it all just blends together for me.

So-- Kati: Is that what made you stay here in Humboldt in particular?

Mir: Yes.

I fell in love with being able to garden up here.

Digging in the dirt and not hitting, like, rock hard clay was pretty amazing.

The community here really is what has kept me hanging around.

I just like it here.

It's great.

Kati: What about the community?

Mir: I feel like everybody is just--it's small.

Everybody knows each other, and at the same time it's not too small where I feel like it becomes kind of weird.

I have a lot of friends.

They get involved volunteering and we, you know, share meals to a certain extent with COVID, but I just have felt a real strong sense of belonging here since I got here.

So-- Kati: Let's talk about young Mir.

Were you always an artist?

Was--were you always doodling when you were growing up?

Mir: My mom tells me this story; that I used to have Disney-covered bed sheets and pillows, and I used to trace along--I remember tracing along with my fingers on the outlines of old Disney characters.

What's coming to mind really strongly is a little mermaid bed sheet, and I used to trace flounder and everybody.

Well, my mom came in one day and I had drawn a bunch of these characters on paper.

And when she compared the paper to the bed sheet, she realized I couldn't have traced it 'cause it was bigger.

And so I guess I was learning how to draw from Disney through my bed sheets at a very young age, but I did-- I've always enjoyed drawing.

Kati: Was there always something that you knew you wanted to be a big part of your life-- like your professional life?

Mir: Professional life--I mean, it was always a dream.

I never really saw--I always-- I worked in the veterinary field for a long time.

So I always saw it as being kind of a hobby or something I did on the side.

But I tried really hard to, like, not do-- focus so much on art, and I was pretty unhappy.

So I decided to just--I went back to CR and switched my major over from forestry to art, and here I am.

So I graduated HSU this spring, and now I'm starting up my art business.

So feeling great about it.

Kati: So you started college at the redwoods and moved to Humboldt State University.

What was the best thing you learned in art school?

What did you take away from it?

Mir: I learned how to water-color.

I had never really tried it too much growing up, and that was really like-- that's when I started to create these illustrations, was in that water-coloring class.

I also was a double major at HSU in art education, and that class just changed my entire outlook on what creating art really is.

My professor, Dr. Woglom; Jim is how he--I call him.

But he had taught me so much about being an artist, making art accessible to the community, doing public art, and really how important it is to be a creative and to kind of make sure that everybody has access to art.

Those became really important things for me in my work.

Kati: So when you say having access to art, you mean access to like viewing and consuming art or access to creating art themselves?

Mir: Everything.

A license for every single person to be creative or-- and to see their own creativity.

We need creative problem solvers in our world right now, and unless you have a license to be creative, you might not realize that potential in yourself.

Kati: One of my favorite quotes is by Meister Eckhart, and he says, "An artist is not a special kind of person.

Every person is a special kind of artist."

Mir: Yes, that really sums up what I'm trying to say.

I agree with that one.

Kati: I find your work has a lot of personality.

That's what draws me to your illustrations.

I feel like I want to chat with them, you know?

Do they have a personality for you?

Do they talk to you?

Do they come to life for you?

How does that work?

Mir: Yeah, I--it's really the eyes for me.

I like the lidded eyes, and for me I just-- I've always liked that really relaxed feeling.

I've always wanted the characters to just feel at home in the painting, and calm.

I don't know how to explain it, but I like the way that they convey this energy of, like, everything.

It's all good in a sense.

That's kind of what I'm going for in their personalities.

Kati: What do you get out of your process personally when you draw and paint?

What do you get out of it?

Mir: Joy.

I love painting, and I also like the creation of a world.

And it's something that I'll never really feel complete in doing, but each character to me is just helping to build up this world of characters and it's just feeding the imagination, which-- something that--you know, the older you get, you got to keep chasing it.

And so that's kind of what I'm doing, I guess.

Kati: What do you hope other people get out of your work?

Mir: I hope they feel inspired.

I hope they catch the creativity bug.

I try not to fuss too much and try to make things to look too realistic.

You know, I leave the overspill of paint here, and I'll shoot a line over and accidentally cross over an old line and-- all of those, like, you know, mistakes, you could call them, I guess; to me they're just kind of revealing the process, and my hope is that people will look at the process and realize that, you know, I'm a human being and you're a human being and you can probably do this too if you really wanted to.

That's what I hope people get from the art.

Kati: What makes a good illustration?

Mir: A good illustration?

To me a good illustration conveys sort of--some sort of an emotion, a good feeling.

Kati: Do you have a favorite piece or a favorite series that you've done?

Mir: I think my favorite series that I've done has been a lot of my adventuring mice.

It's not something--it's not been a hard fast series that I've done, you know, in certain stretch of time, but they've been cropping up more and more in the last couple years and I--those are my favorite illustrations to draw.

Kati: What sort of adventures do your mice get up to?

Mir: Well, I've got one that's carrying a basket full of peas down from its house.

I've got another who I just painted yesterday for ink-- excuse me.

Two days ago for Inktober.

And that one is holding a sword, but the sword is pretty heavy.

It can't quite lift the sword yet.

I have no idea what that one's up to.

I did another one with the mouse leaning over a bridge to collect a key from a fish, and--yeah, who knows what they're up to.

Kati: But they all definitely tell a story.

It sounds like even in one image there's a narrative going on; something precarious, something to reach for.

Mir: Yeah, we don't-- I don't even know what they're really doing.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Kati: Do you have a dream project kicking around in your head?

Mir: One day I want to do a children's book of my own.

At least I want to do the illustrations of a children's book.

And I also would like to create a very large map of the world that I've created with all of these tiny characters, and I'd love to paint that map somewhere where children can see it, like a public mural.

Kati: That sounds awesome.

I can't wait.

Mir: Yeah.

I think it would be really fun.

Kati: Well, Mir de Silva, it's been really great talking to you.

Thank you so much.

Mir: Thanks for having me.

Kati: And thank you for joining us on "Studio Space."

Leslie Price: Nature is a constant reminder that we are impermanent like everything else, and so to me that idea is real.

It's substantial.

Politics will come and go.

Everything else that we think is important comes and goes; but this notion of the impermanence, that's what we deal with all the time.

So that's what I focus on.

David: Hi.

I'm David Ferney, and welcome to "Studio Space."

Today we're with Leslie Price who is a painter, artist, and teacher.

Thank you for joining us, Leslie.

Leslie: You're welcome.

It's a pleasure to be here.

David: Yeah.

It's really great to be at your house and your space and get to learn more about your work and who you are.

Leslie: Great.

David: You're--it seems like your journey as an artist kind of began in New York City as-- in art high school and then brought you out to the West Coast and eventually up here.

Can you tell us a little bit about that interesting journey?

Leslie: When I was in the art high school, which was-- in New York they have all these schools that are specialized, and I ended up at-- because of my sister at this school called High School of Art and Design, and I went there to not go to my neighborhood school, basically.

And once I was there, I met all these kids from all over the city, which we would normally not interact with, and I started being engaged with art.

I mean, I always drew, but people were much more serious than I was used to.

But after high school, for a couple of years I just worked in this ad agency at the lowest rank doing paystubs, and a good friend of mine kept pestering me saying, "Leslie, you're very talented."

And from there I met this amazing teacher, James Geoghegan, and he's the one who really got me involved with painting.

And from studying with him and my friends, we painted together, we talked about art up into the wee hours of the night.

We would go to galleries together, look at the new art stars.

David: This was in the late '60s, early '70s, right?

Leslie: Late '60s, yeah.

So me and my girlfriend at the time, we motorcycled across the country.

When I got to San Francisco, I thought I was hot stuff by motorcycling across the country.

And I was at this party, and these two guys came in who had just bicycled across the country.

So my hot stuff didn't amount to too much.

But I had some great adventures coming across.

And as I mentioned before, coming across the country I did watercolors as my art practice to get across country and I ended up teaching that at Humboldt.

And that watercolor--the layering of color with water, and now I use a medium, it's still with me.

David: So can we go have a look at your studio and what you're working on?

Leslie: Yeah, of course, of course.

Yeah.

♪♪♪ David: It's interesting how the more you look at your work, the more things you start to see and interpret.

Leslie: Right.

That's great.

I'm glad you said that 'cause that's-- David: It's very meditative and it's like, "Oh, look, now I see this, but maybe he's not--oh, look, I see this too."

It starts--it's the relationship with the work and the audience, if you will.

Leslie: Right.

And since I do meditate, it's good.

It shows up.

I usually work in groups; a group of paintings, a series, and then--which are usually something I picked up, some idea or some notion I'm thinking about.

Either I've read, I've heard, or I've just been thinking about.

And so there's groups.

Like the lighter paintings, I was thinking about being grateful.

It had nothing to do with the colors.

David: Is that your gratitude?

Leslie: Yeah, just gratitude.

You know, being grateful.

All the things I had to be grateful for, and the list was pretty big, you know.

Even though the world is going in its own crazy way, in my little small world I had a lot to be grateful for.

And there are other series which is behind you.

I was thinking about-- it started thinking about honoring ancestors-- my ancestors.

So this series was a continuation of what I call gratitude.

And in the other paintings I decided to work with a really light palette, and this one I thought I'd work with a much more colorful palette.

I start with--in this group of paintings, I started from the roses outside.

That was the base of the painting.

Pick up little fragments, and I would just keep layering them and layering them and layering them.

And then I would pick up the landscape and I'd start layering them and layering them, and then--I'm at the point now where I just respond to the painting.

I'm in a sense of true abstract.

I abstract from something, and it's usually nature or a photograph.

And this one is specifically nature.

I've chose the palette beforehand, something I thought, "Well, I haven't worked with this.

Let's try it."

I hadn't worked with blues in a long time and I thought, "Well, let's do a painting that included a lot of blue."

And so--I mean, I'm at this point where I've layered so many times where it's totally made the imagery disappear or not recognizable.

And so now I respond intuitively to what's there and try to make water out of the chaos, and that's typically the way I work with all the paintings.

Yeah.

David: Now, a lot of your work is influenced by nature.

Leslie: All of it is.

All of it is.

And I think just living up here in Humboldt County had a big influence, but also philosophically.

I think that everything is transitory, and you really see that with nature.

So this is pigment, and I use a medium to make it really transparent.

So it's really thin in watery state similar to water colors, except it's closer to kefir in its consistency than anything else.

So I always have to mix it 'cause the pigment is heavier than the medium so it sinks to the bottom.

So what I would do is like I painted this white area, and I think I want that.

So I just brushed it on.

Right now it looks pretty thick, but it will dry translucent if it doesn't bubble up.

And the colors are usually based on either something that I haven't used before or some color combination that I've seen someplace.

So in this case, I haven't used blue in any of my paintings for a long time.

I was like, "Why am I avoiding blue?

Okay, let's use blue."

And then I pick some other colors.

Leslie: But I always loved painting.

I was an introvert.

I'm still an introvert.

And I'd love quiet time, and I'm still the same way.

David: Do you have any attachment to colors and color combinations?

Do they create certain emotions or bring up memories?

Leslie: It's solving problems.

I set up this artificial problem.

I want to work with these colors because I haven't worked with these colors before, and can I make a painting out of it.

And that's basically it.

It's no big mystery to me, but the colors have to end up giving me the effect that I want where I can fall into the painting and have a meditative quality to it.

I remember selling a work many years ago that I didn't feel really good about, but the person really loved it.

So I sold the work.

I thought I would never see that piece again, and I got to see it and I was so embarrassed that I would let that out my studio.

And so now if the paintings are sold or shown, I want them to be paintings that I feel I've done my very best in.

And you can say, "Well, how do you tell when an abstract painting is the very best?"

I think that artists like musicians, or painters, or photographers--I think as artists, other artists are our first audience and then the larger public.

And we always want to feel like you have the respect of the other artists, and they can see through if you're faking it.

So to be in their world no matter what their professional accomplishment is--I want my paintings to hold up in any world that they exist in.

I would say I am most amazed that I put stuff down-- I have this notion.

I put things down on this surface-- this flat surface and I could be surprised by the result, and the result is interesting to me.

David: Yeah.

Well, thank you so much, Leslie, for inviting us into your house and sharing your life and your work with us.

Leslie: You're welcome.

It's a pleasure.

David: Today we've been with Leslie Price, painter and teacher on "Studio Space."

Thank you so much for joining us.

Kati: We hope you enjoyed today's episode.

David: It's been a pleasure to share the creativity and inspiration of our incredible arts community on the North Coast.

Kati: To find out about more Humboldt County artists, go to studiospace.tv.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Leslie: Yeah, this is the part that I'm interested in.

It's an artifice like painting is.

It's artificial like you have this confined area.

That's this world you're trying to create.

But what else am I going to do as a painter except make that?

♪♪♪ announcer: This activity is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency; and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

♪♪♪ ...