Inside the Studio: Maya Skarzenski
In our latest Inside the Studio series, we have the pleasure of featuring Maya Skarzenski, an artist whose work spans soft sculptures, paintings, macro photography, and user experience (UX) design. Maya's unique approach explores themes of uncertainty, ambivalence, and the intimate relationship between the body and the self. Her journey is one of constant discovery, a balance between curation, collaboration, and a fascination with materiality.
Read on to learn more in an exclusive interview with Maya Skarzenski :
1. Your work explores the body’s connection with the self. How does this theme manifest in the diverse mediums you work with, from soft sculptures to macro photography?
Most of my work focuses on materiality, even in my photography. The way I work with material creates a lot of parallels between it and the body. I think of the body as a sort of landscape where my paintings and sculptures map it out. Then with photography, I can document these tiny moments and enlarge them. I did a series where I photographed fabric, and in so many ways, it looked like the worlds I was creating with my photos of the body. The organic shapes that textiles produce are just so sensual a lot of the time.
2. As an artist who also works as a UX designer, how do your artistic sensibilities influence your design work, and vice versa?
Creating experiential art is always in the back of my mind. Much of my work is very tactile, and I spend a lot of time thinking of how the viewer creates new life within art. When I decided to go back to school for UX (User Experience Design), I had some of those themes stuck in my head. UX seemed like a way to frame some of those ideas in a very functional way. I don’t think my artwork really influences my design practice, but it did inspire me to go the UX route. A lot of processes from UX, I use in art-making. My art practice is a very iterative process where I feel I’m chipping away deeper into what I really want to say with each new piece. Iterating work is a big thing in UX.
3. You’ve curated projects like 'Together Apart,' which blends art and community. How does curating influence your personal art practice?
I find curating to be a little self-indulgent. I like to work with artists who make art I wish I had made or artists who inspire me. Often, I find myself curating artists who make work somewhat similar to mine. Curation can be a bit of a "connect the dots" game. I like exhibitions that bring work together in surprising ways. When I write about my own art practice, it also feels kind of like a "connect the dots" game. A lot of my thoughts around a piece don’t happen simultaneously. I tend to make something first and then try to figure out what it means and why I made it. So there’s a little bit of me putting on my curator hat when I try to make sense of my portfolio, especially when I go back and forth between different projects.
4. Your art is often emotionally guided, focusing on uncertainty and ambivalence. How do you channel these emotions into tangible forms?
It comes pretty naturally to me because I often feel a lot of uncertainty when creating my work. It takes a long time for me to finish a piece, usually because the embroidery is so tedious. I’ve found that working on a project over the course of months really lends itself to shifting plans and getting pulled in new directions, which amplifies my own ambivalence while producing a piece. The longer I work on a piece, the more I feel a deeper split in concepts and ideas floating in my head. To me, it’s very visually obvious which works were produced over a longer period. It’s not just the time spent working on the piece that deepens these emotions but also the time spent away from the piece. If anything, it’s the breaks I take while working on a piece that make it so much more emotive to me.
5. What impact does your background in both design and fine arts have on how you approach each new project?
I find myself doing a lot of planning and research before starting a project and then rolling with the punches when I get into the heat of the project. I get my best inspiration just from working with materials and being immersed in the project. Having design skills definitely helps me produce more intricate projects. I'm not sure my art inspires my design work that much. I try to work with analog materials in design when I can, especially with graphics. I'm drawn to texture in both disciplines.
6. Can you discuss the process behind creating your satin paintings and how they tie into your thematic focus on the body?
I move back and forth between painting and sculpture. I think a lot of my ideas happen on my paintings first and then start to translate into sculptures. The materiality of my work really brings out the visceral. When I handle my fabrics and threads, it becomes a visceral image for me that I try to embed in the finished work. It’s sensual and grotesque, pushing and pulling my materials. With the paintings, it’s like constantly pulling on skin and puncturing it, from stretching the fabric onto the strainers all the way to actually embroidering into the fabric.
7. Collaboration seems to be a key element in your career, from curating events to creating interactive projects. How do you approach these collaborations?
I get a lot of energy from working with other artists. It’s really important for me to look for new sides I haven’t seen yet. I like to work with people who might challenge how I approach a subject or what can be taken away from a subject. I don’t really feel like my work is truly my own, so learning how other people connect to something, especially if it’s in a completely different way from me, makes a project so much more exciting. I think my favourite collaborations are when I bring together ideas that are not totally congruent in a cohesive way.
8. What does success look like for you as an artist balancing multiple creative fields, and how do you measure it?
I’m not really sure. I have a bad habit of not really savouring my wins. I feel really successful when I’m doing everything at the same time, but I don’t think that’s a good way to be. Having other people engaged in my projects feels like a success to me. If I can collaborate or develop new connections, then I think I’m doing well.
Maya Skarzenski’s exploration of materiality, emotion, and the body through various artistic practices creates an immersive experience for both herself and her audience. Her openness to collaboration and her dynamic approach to creating tangible expressions of emotion and uncertainty offer a fascinating glimpse into her creative journey. We are excited to continue following Maya’s journey as she navigates multiple fields and continues to push the boundaries of her art.Maya Skarzenski’s exploration of materiality, emotion, and the body through various artistic practices creates an immersive experience for both herself and her audience. Her openness to collaboration and her dynamic approach to creating tangible expressions of emotion and uncertainty offer a fascinating glimpse into her creative journey. We are excited to continue following Maya’s journey as she navigates multiple fields and continues to push the boundaries of her art.
You can learn more about Maya Skarzenski and her work via these links:
Website: https://www.mayaskarzenski.com/
Instagram: @mayaskarzenski
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mayaskarzenski
LinkedIn: Maya Skarzenski
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