Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with Radoslav Rochallyi from our tenth issue.

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

Radoslav Rochallyi: I am not an author who writes continuously. I always need a muse. I’ve been looking for a reliable formula to summon creativity all my life, but I haven’t found it yet. Creativity comes on its own without invitation. But once I have it, I can’t stop. For example, I wrote the entire Mythra Invictus prose book in 38 hours over two days.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists/ heroines/ idols/ friends that you look up to?

Radoslav Rochallyi: I have a degree in philosophy and some courses in art, math, statistics, painting, etc. But I always go back to my basics, which are in philosophy. I look up to the philosopher Nietzsche for his mad intellectual courage. I look up to the mathematician Hardy for his discovery of light in his resignation. I look up to the physicist Tegmark for his brazen cosmology, specifically describing physical reality as a mathematical structure. So, to sum it up, I look up to the courage of those who stand up and say: All of you standing here are wrong!

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

Radoslav Rochallyi: Nature? Plants? The animals? The earth? The sun? The universe? Of course, as a person, everything I encounter inspires me. On the other hand, I am interested in natural abstractions, symbols, and relationships. For example, I am currently fascinated by vector and topological objects. And in recent years, I have been particularly fascinated by the discovery of relationships between temporal and spatial vectors and the possibilities of connections with syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Tiny Spoon: We love insight into the creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

Radoslav Rochallyi: In a way, my creative process is a ritual of creation and destruction. Which enters a coincidence that I do not believe. At a young age, I realized that my head creates more things than it can hold. And I understood that I must destroy what I don’t use. Not to postpone but to destroy. That’s the only way it won’t steal a place in my mind and attention. I have a notebook that I carry with me everywhere. I write every thought, question, and statement that comes to mind and seems interesting to me. In it, I have poetry, philosophy, equations, and patterns, but also analyses, and observations from the world around me. Every year from May, I make a new notebook and burn the old one. Ideas that I don’t use I incinerate. If an idea repeats itself repeatedly, I think about how to deal with it. If I come up with it, a concept, a poem, a short story, a painting, or even a whole book will be created. If I don’t figure it out, it will burn again. It is the same with manuscripts and paintings. Last year I burned 30 of my paintings in one day when I realized I didn’t want to carry them in my head. Only those at the exhibition in Rome and the museum in Budapest survived. It may seem sick to some, but I can’t create it any other way. For me, the new replaces the old just as passionately, and carefree as the old is destroyed.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

Radoslav Rochallyi: Recently, my interest has shifted from equation poetry to vector poetry. It’s almost May, so this article might be the only one where I’ll say something about it. For me, 2022 and 2023 are the years of answering whether vector poetry can provide an extended visual interpretation of the language unavailable through traditional notation and interpretation. The combination of time, space, movement, and direction can expand all aspects of a text and its meaning. My endeavor aims to investigate the semantics/semiotics of vectors in poetry as a response to the problem of creating meaningful patterns. I believe that Vectors can be used to create a sense of movement in a poem. For example, words can flow smoothly from one to another, creating a sense of rhythm and movement. It can add another layer of meaning to the poem and make it more interesting to explore.

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?

Radoslav Rochallyi: Everything by Nietzsche except what his sister published. Being and Time by Heidegger as a beautiful demonstration of the power of abstraction. Either/Or by Kierkegaard because he was a real Man. A Mathematician’s Apology essay by the mathematician G. H. Hardy is a ticket to the world of aesthetics in mathematics.

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?

Radoslav Rochallyi: All the free decisions you have made and will make are determined by the mathematical nature of reality. Art and unconditional love are the only ways to turn your back on determinism, at least for a while.

Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do?

Radoslav Rochallyi: I have closed all my presentations and accounts. The only thing I kept is Twitter: @RRochallyi.

Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with David Martin, the Founding Editor of Middle Creek Publishing & Audio from our ninth issue, Cut/Copy/Paste: The Remix!

Tiny Spoon: What was your process for engaging with the Cut/Copy/Paste Remix? How did you choose what to keep or what to omit?

David: Noting a few poems with lines that resonated with me and seeing within the collection of lines another alternate narrative. I tried to mostly cut up the entire original poem by lines and use them all, trying not to omit anything, but at times clipping words or fragments and moving them around in the space of the poem.

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

David: Observation and being open to seeing variation. Transformation and experimentation.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

David: The flora and fauna of the wild in my region often inspire me to consider processes and experience differently than I might without encountering and observing them. Observing them reveals aspects of their nature or behavior that I often find is mirrored in the behaviors or processes or transformative aspects of myself.

Tiny Spoon: We’d love insight into your creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

David: Often I write out lines as they come to me observed in the world or heard in my mind, at times I repeat phrases and play with word substitution to find attractive alliteration or rhythms that feel right syllabically or in the efficient flowing of the movement of tongue and breath, I can feel a good poem with my mouth, hear a good poem in my mind.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

David: As the Founding Editor of Middle Creek Publishing, I am swamped with work on other people’s manuscripts, but I do write my own poetry daily and have a few manuscripts for poetic collections in the process as well as a couple of novels that are taking their ever-so-sweet time in their final stages of refinement.

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?

David: I would be remiss to not recommend a few choice books that Middle Creek Publishing has put out, namely, Hush by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, In Beauty We Are Made Visible by Christine Morro, Hawk Land by Sandra Noel, Our Mother, The Mountain by Alexander Shalom Joseph, Exhalations by Aaron M. Moe and a couple soon to be released: the highly anticipated Breath on a Coal by Anne Haven McDonnell and Seeking the Button Rock Hermit by Tony Burfield.

All of these works are a blend of eco-poetry and heart-based, inspirational, almost devotional works. I also enjoy poets being published by Longbarrow Press, Corbel Stone Press, and most things from Copper Canyon (as usual).

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?

David: I have been a lifelong outdoorsman who has coupled a meditative, mindfulness and observational investigative approach to my relationship with myself and the natural world I inhabit. This pairing has led me to deepen the map of my journey in a most personally satisfying way. It is in my interaction with nature and the other-than-human beings I encounter that have enriched both my life, my cognitive map, my philosophy, my sense of meaning of life and work and action in the world, as well as my writing and poetic practice.

Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do? (Website, social media, etc., if you wish to share it)

David: My work with and aside from Middle Creek Publishing can be found on Facebook, Instagram and with some of the aspects of the Nature & Wildlife Discovery Center where I am a caretaker and environmental educator.

Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with Dre Levant from Issue 9, Cut/Copy/Paste: The Remix!

Tiny Spoon: What was your process for engaging with the Cut/Copy/Paste Remix? How did you choose what to keep or what to omit?

Dre: Whenever I sit down to craft a cut-up poem, I usually start by cutting out the phrases/words that stand out the most to me, then once I have a sizeable pile I just start arranging and rearranging the words until I find what feels right or fits best! The process is very intuitive. Sometimes words just don’t end up fitting or flowing and I omit them. I always try to take the essence of what the original piece is saying, but refracted another way to reveal another meaning – and of course I imbue my pieces with my own perspective too!

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

Dre: The list is pretty endless! Almost anything can give me a spark of creativity – it could be a crack in the sidewalk, two strangers walking ahead of me, or a rusted vase in a stream.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists, heroines, idols & friends that you look up to?

Dre: I admire e.e. cummings and William Burroughs as writers – their experimental style has definitely influenced my own work! I admire Sean William McLoughlin (Jacksepticeye) for his incredible passion and the way he spreads so much joy.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

Dre: I often find myself writing about rain or dusk – I love the refreshing nature of rain and the way that dusk is the in-between time of day, where everything slows down for a moment.

Tiny Spoon: We’d love insight into your creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

Dre: Sometimes my creative process is writing nonstop for several hours when inspiration takes hold, other times it’s writing down sporadic notes over the course of several weeks before a piece finally takes shape.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

Dre: Yes! I’m working on two poetry chapbooks (I actually just submitted one yesterday to a publisher, so here’s hoping!) and a YA novel that (hopefully) will be done in the next year!

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?

Dre: I’d recommend reading the poetry book “Today Means Amen” by Sierra DeMulder and listening to “480” by blackwinterwells!

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?

Dre: Mmm I also do pen and ink art! I draw mostly animal skulls and flowers – I say it’s my current muse but it’s been my muse for about 3 years so maybe it’s just what I do. My Writing Instagram & Twitter are both @drethepiper Art instgram is @jupiter.bloom_art if you want to find more of my work!

Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with Shloka Shankar from Issue 9, Cut/Copy/Paste: The Remix! Find their poem, “what to say” in our ninth issue!

Tiny Spoon: What was your process for engaging with the Cut/Copy/Paste Remix? How did you choose what to keep or what to omit?

Shloka: I read through the entire issue and opened a notepad to the side. As I was reading, I copied phrases, words, and lines into the notepad. Then, I remixed my selection into a poem by adding and deleting, sometimes altering the tense, et cetera. It’s an intuitive process, really, and I stop when the poem speaks to me and begins to “sound” like something I would have written. Found poetry works only if the individual sources are elevated/altered to create something new, exciting, and different.

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

Shloka: I love making abstract collages and creating visual poems from there. A single word or phrase I read in another poem can also spark something in my own head. It’s about paying attention and noting down the most innocuous things that might trigger the muse later on. Being playful and experimental alleviates the pressure to “get something done.”

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

Shloka: We’d love insight into your creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

Shloka: I am the Founding Editor of Yavanika Press, an indie publisher of eBooks, and we have a whole bunch of new titles coming out in September.

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?

Shloka: My debut full-length haiku collection, The Field of Why, came out earlier this year, and you can purchase a copy here if you’re interested: https://yavanikapress.wixsite.com/home/the-field-of-why

Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do?

Shloka: Website: http://www.shlokashankar.com / Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/shloks23 /

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shloks89 / Society6 shop: http://www.society6.com/shloks23

Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with nat raum from Issue 9, Cut/Copy/Paste: The Remix! Find their poem “cytotopography” in our ninth issue!

Tiny Spoon: What was your process for engaging with the Cut/Copy/Paste Remix? How did you choose what to keep or what to omit?

nat: Having worked in the past with erasure fragments, I found a lot to draw from in the issue. I started by reading the issue and marking pieces I found interesting. Traditional erasure isn’t all about having interesting words; it’s also about having enough connective tissue to make them work. But since I was reconstructing fragments from multiple pieces into one piece, interest definitely played a large part in my selections, as did euphony.

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

nat: I consider myself an artist before I consider myself a writer in that most of my writing practices don’t differ much from my art practice. I took a class in early undergrad about using “any medium necessary” to accomplish something creatively, and treat my poetry as a medium within that practice. So my creativity comes out in many ways, and is mostly kindled by my lived experience. Most of my work starts with something I observed, often woven into a memory.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists, heroines, idols & friends that you look up to?

nat: My photographic idol is absolutely Nan Goldin. I’ve always really related to her practice of documenting the people and places around her every day and find myself emulating her in some way or other basically always. I definitely look up to many of my fellow editors and artists as well, considering many people who started as collaborators to be close friends now. To name just a few wonderful creatives and friends, check out the artwork of Sarah Eckstine, Hyacinth Schukis, and Nick Norman, and the writing of Rachael Crosbie, Charlie D’Aniello Trigueros, Clementine Williams, and Andrew Daugherty. I also want to give a special shoutout to Kelsey Sucena, who’s both an artist and a writer, and someone whose work I recently published that I admire.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

nat: I would say not in any specific way, beyond experiencing nature through visiting my parents’ house in the forests of Baltimore County and my extended family in Appalachia. The other thing I would say is that often, my imagery begins with (or touches) the way light is behaving, and I think that comes naturally to me as someone who studied photography for my undergraduate degree.

Tiny Spoon: We’d love insight into your creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

nat: I’m somewhat of an obsessive maker. I typically have an idea for something and go right for it, stopping very little along the way. It’s definitely how I’ve been able to maintain such a consistent practice over time, but it does lead to a lot of things being tabled for later and never returned to. That being said, a lot of my recent work has involved explorations of the past that allowed me to return to those abandoned WIPs—childhood religious trauma in my chapbook ‘preparatory school for the end of the world’ (2021), substance use and femininity in my early 20s in my hybrid memoir ‘you stupid slut’ (2022), and objects as agents for memory in my chapbook ‘specter dust’ (2022). A professor of mine told me the past is unbelievably rich for inspiration through memory, and I definitely agree.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

nat: I tend to have a lot going at once, but the project I’m working on most actively right now is a full deep dive into the idea of the digital archive. I’m searching my old social media posts and backup-drive documents and pictures from as far back as 2009, as well as working on erasures of novels I read as a teen. The final result of each work is a hybrid piece that combines a piece of writing with a digital collage. My work tends to be personal, but this is a very different kind of personal for me and it’s really exciting.

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?

nat: Though I read a lot of great work and consume a lot of incredible art as an editor, I consequently rarely get to talk about how much I love music. I love ambient music—and really beyond just lo-fi, though I love lo-fi too. I’m constantly discovering new ambient artists, but my favorites consistently come from Jonny Nash, Suzanne Kraft, Virginia Aveline, and Suso Saiz. I’m also a huge fan of Glass Animals and Fall Out boy for their lyrics.

Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do?

nat: My website is viewable at natraum.com, and I’m on Twitter and Instagram (@gr8earlofhell).

Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with Ray Frost from Issue 9, Cut/Copy/Paste: The Remix! Find their collage comic, “The Intimacies We Have Shared” in our ninth issue!

Tiny Spoon: What was your process for engaging with the Cut/Copy/Paste Remix? How did you choose what to keep or what to omit?

Ray: I read through the whole issue once just to experience it. Then I reread it a few days later and cut out all of the words, phrases, and images that jumped out at me. The next day I looked at everything I cut out and played with arranging them until I found a poem that I felt told a story.

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

Ray: Nature, music, and things I see out riding my bike.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists, heroines, idols & friends that you look up to?

Ray: I look up to a lot of the other artists who also work out of the Reno Generator. It’s an amazing community with so much talent. I also look up to Ashley Anderson (@hiddenstash.art), Pine Bones, and Hyena Hell.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

Ray: The moon is a huge symbol in both my life and my work. My work is also heavily influenced by the landscape of the Nevada high desert.

Tiny Spoon: We’d love insight into your creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

Ray: Most of my work starts with a note in my phone and a bunch of reference photos on my laptop. I make sketches until I find an image that speaks to me and go from there.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

Ray: I’m currently working on finishing up issue 10 of my zine series How Did This Happen??? which follows the adventures of a reanimated roadkill coyote

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?

Ray: Coyote Doggirl by Lisa Hanawalt.

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?

Ray: My art is a huge part of how I cope with my depression and I hope my work is a bright spot for other people as well.

Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do?

Ray: @indoorcoyote on Instagram.

Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with Crystal Bowden from Issue 8, Cut/Copy/Paste: The Original! Read her poem, “Dream State” in our eighth issue!

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

Crystal: Giving myself the space and time to sit with ideas is essential for my creative practice. Also, reading is a constant source for me. Books live inside me, changing how I think and what I know. That inevitably bleeds its way into my work.

Poetry and collage are how I express myself and draw on my relationship with others in the most collective sense. In this way, each poem or collage I create tells a different story through interiority. I hope people find their own stories buried within the layers.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists/ heroines/ idols/ friends that you look up to?

Crystal: Too many to list for sure! Honestly, I find women ridiculously inspirational. Every time I see another woman doing something amazing, whether it’s a creative endeavor or not, I feel uplifted. I feel stronger. We all have so much potential within us that at any given time is being suppressed, both externally and internally; all I can think is BRAVO. Get it. We’ve got this.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

Crystal: As humans, everything we are is rooted in the natural world, so I find that connectedness essential to my work. I love to make a study of nature. I’m an avid bird watcher – my yard is full of feeders! Peterson Field Guides and the App Seek are great for identifying things I cannot put a name to.

Tiny Spoon: We love insight into the creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

Crystal: I’m a pen and paper person when it comes to writing. And I rarely write poems at the start, even though poems are all I write. Instead, I like to get my ideas and thoughts down loosely on the page before I ever try to turn them into something more structured and coherent. These usually look like lists more than anything else. Then I’ll take those ideas and start arranging and structuring them into a poem. Only after that will I move the poem from my writer’s notebook into a digital document for revisions. It’s best if I take some time between the original writing and revisions, so I lose some of my sentimental attachment to the original and view it more objectively.

When I create visual arts, I hardly ever go into a piece knowing my overarching goals or what will happen in the artwork. Instead, the process is intuitive and generally driven by mood and whatever is currently sitting heavily in my brain. Those inform my decisions, whether the color palette, imagery, or composition. I try not to overthink these things and let myself flow.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

Crystal: Currently, I’m working on a manuscript for my first poetry chapbook titled, Before the Exhale. The title comes from a line in my poem, Middle Spaces, about all the ways we live in between one thing and the next. These show up in my work in numbered and varied ways, and you’ll see this throughout Before the Exhale.

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?

Crystal: For other poets, I highly recommend the book, Glitter in the Blood: A Poet’s Manifesto for Better, Braver Writing, by Mindi Nettifee. For those who love reading poetry, read Lord of the Butterflies, by Andrea Gibson.

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?

Crystal: I regularly publish in magazines! You can keep up with new  individual publications by following me on social media. You’ll find my work included in upcoming issues from The Spring City Journal and Pile Press.

Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do?

Crystal: My website | Instagram | Twitter

Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad from Issue 8, Cut/Copy/Paste: The Original! Read her poem, “Death Dream in Purple” in our eighth issue!

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

Oormila: Everyday things! I believe there is magic in the commonplace. I see my art and poetry as documentations of my daily experiences — conversations I have with my children, the people I meet, sights and scenes I encounter on my walks, photos I take.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists/ heroines/ idols/ friends that you look up to?

Oormila: I can think of so many! Off the top of my head, I look up to Carolynn Kingyens for her luminous poetry that brims with tenderness and humanity, Zaina Ghani for her wonderfully imagistic works, Nina Bennett, Beate Sigriddaughter, Alexis Rhone Fancher, Sneha Subramanium Kanta, and Mandira Pattnaik’s for her lyrical flash fiction. Idols I admire — my friend Sandhya Devanathan. She is my role model.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

Oormila: I live in a green and leafy suburb of Sydney. I get visits from all kinds of lovely wild spirits:  bunnies, possums, magpies, bush turkeys, cockatoos, and lorikeets to name a few. I have published several series of mixed-media artworks and poems inspired by these beautiful creatures. My studio overlooks a lovely garden and during the lockdown, the wildlife was pretty much my social life. They figure prominently in a lot of my work.

Tiny Spoon: We love insight into the creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

Oormila: I have several projects going on at any given point in time, and I keep switching among them. I like to work in an organized space which is easy when I am writing poetry. It’s the painting that gets messy and I find myself getting distracted and cleaning up in the middle of work very often! I always carry a sketch book and a notepad. In the pre-Covid days, a lot of my poetry drafts were written either on train commutes or while waiting to pick my kids up from school.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

Oormila: I am working on two micro-chapbooks. Both my parents have milestone birthdays coming up this year. My mum turns 70 and dad turns 75 and I want to surprise them with two collections of poems dedicated to both! I also have plans to put together a full-length poetry manuscript at some point.

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others?

Oormila: Carolynn Kingyens’ books Before the Big Bang Makes a Sound, and Coupling. I am a huge fan of Gaia Rajan’s writing, and I loved her chapbook Moth Funerals. I would also recommend Phillip Hall’s brilliant collection of poems, Cactus, which is a heart-breaking exploration of depression and what it is like to live with it. I also recommend all Shankari Chandran’s books: Song of the Sun God, The Barrier, and her latest novel, Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens.

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond?

Oormila: Besides writing poetry and painting, I play improv piano — some Metallica, Pink Floyd, Guns and Roses. I have a huge collection of odds and ends in my studio, and I use some crazy materials in my mixed media works sometimes. Recently, I made “cat wool” from the hair from my cat’s brush. It made for the most delicate silver wool, and I added it as accents to a few winter-themed mixed media landscapes. It looked great!

Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do?

Oormila: I’m on Instagram and on Twitter.

Tiny Talks is an interview series with Tiny Spoon’s talented contributors. This week we spoke with Shannon Gardner from Issue 8, Cut/Copy/Paste: The Original! Find her artwork, “Mother Monster,” “Nighttime Hue,” “A Joke to You,” and “Don’t Stop or We’ll Die” in our eighth issue!

Tiny Spoon: What kindles your creativity?

Shannon: Watching horror movies and studying paranormal kindles my creativity. The spontaneous process of nature inspires me to explore Earth’s unfound beauty and imitate its natural imperfections. I enjoy creating art depicting paranormal elements and iconography. 

Tiny Spoon: Are there any artists/ heroines/ idols/ friends that you look up to?

Shannon: I am inspired by German Expressionism artists like: Edvard Munch, and Tim Burton. Surrealist artists like; Picasso and Claude Cahun. Expressionists like Egon Schiele and Contemporaries like Polka-Dot artist Yayoi Kusama. My process is similar to artists who encourage exploring the taboo and Surrealist/Psychic Automatism or the act of creating art disconnected from consciousness. My work focuses on exploring the unconscious mind as a way of creating art, resulting in innate, dream-like imagery.

Tiny Spoon: Are there any natural entities that move your work?

Shannon: Supernatural entities continue to inspire my work, paranormal phenomenon. The surrealist unbridled reign to the consciousness is how I approach art making. I have an ambition to spend my life studying the occult and paranormal. I enjoy projects that involve a proactive and sustainable message. 

Tiny Spoon: We love insight into the creative process. Could you share what it is like for you, either with your work that appears in Tiny Spoon or in general?

Shannon: I enjoy line and dot work, stippling and cross-hatching, clusters of value implying crisp texture and depth, giving the illusion of change through time. My serendipitous approach to watercolor and ink creates a profound contrasting aura with my surrealist illustrations. Through my process, I attempt to disassociate my hand from my consciousness, work directly from instinct. As a result, I have found my best work is created when I’m not thinking.

I often draw on paper with an ink pen an interesting idea, inspire in the spur of the moment. I enjoy creating multiple line pieces over a relatively short period of time. The pieces sit unfinished until I find enough time where I can devote myself to paint all the pieces with watercolor. This makes a cohesive palette of color throughout multiple pieces. 

Shannon: I usually paint when I work in my studio. I enjoy painting from a used palate, working off pigment from previous sessions to avoid wasting materials. I find working on paintings in the mornings while working on drawings at night yields the best results. I am currently working more in collage, assemblage, and sculpture. I have always worked in 2D with an emphasis on the outline, so when branching out to 3D I am enjoying playing with the minimalist relationship between figurative and abstract work.

I have much confidence in my work; as a result, I have been featured in dozens of publications worldwide. I understand that if you apply yourself the worst outcome is a formal rejection with appreciation of your submission. I have the ability to create a plethora of work in order to meet deadlines and ensure quality work.

Tiny Spoon: Do you have any current or future projects that you are working on that you would like to share?

Shannon: I’m currently working with Collage-Lab where I’ll be teaching a workshop on how to incorporate hand-drawn illustrations and collage. There I will explain Surrealist Automatism and how to think of collage making as a spontaneous process. 

I am also involved with an online Zine called Continue The Voice. Released quarterly as a platform to share art and voices of all kinds. My original illustrations are featured throughout and exclusively on the Coorie Moments pages.

Tiny Spoon: What book, artwork, music, etc., would you recommend to others? 

Shannon: A book that I’m currently into is called, Begone Satan: A Soul Stirring Account of Diabolical Possession in Iowa, a 19th century exorcism of a woman local to where I am from. For inspiration I would suggest researching and finding books from your childhood that encouraged you to read as a child or that inspired you in any way. Revisiting those stories may help or unlock things that can benefit you in the future.

Tiny Spoon: Is there anything else you would like others to know about you, your creations, or beyond? 

Shannon: What I value most in my work is honesty and confidence. As an artist I strive not to be a perfectionist, I seek to make mistakes. Appreciating the process of nature, death, and decay I practice the Asian technique of Wabi Sabi; the aesthetic within imperfections. I strive to explore the unearthed beauty and imitate the natural imperfections. I live for crooked lines and brushstrokes. The human journey is not a straight line but a labyrinth of twists and turns, an imperfect spiral with one way in and out. Through my work I hope to embody those imperfections. My goal is to show the audience the importance of appreciating people, emotions, achievements and pain. I strive to evoke a haunted aura of remembrance that death and decay reflects the evident future of life. All parts of Earth’s cycle should be celebrated, not overlooked or forgotten.

Tiny Spoon: Where can people learn more about what you do?

Shannon: You may purchase my work here. 

View my original artwork quarterly here. 

Sign up for my newsletter at UneasyViewing@gmail.com

Process Note: Establishing Roots first created in 2016 inspired the later series of altered atlases What Is and What Was. Establishing Roots uses a world atlas and as each page turns one house shape is hand-cut from the page. 

What Is and What Was from 2018 includes four wooden stools circling a table inviting viewers to sit down and view four altered North American and Canadian atlases. As the pages turn houses are removed from the page showing the changing landscape both through the altering of cut-outs and the found object of the atlas continuing to outdate itself. Looking In is one of the featured atlases in this piece. 

Bio: Jackie Partridge is a mixed media artist working with handmade paper, recycled maps and objects living in Wellesley, ON, Canada.