This Friday evening at the Venus Art Studio in Palm Desert a trio of female artists will open the doors at 6:00pm to their art show, OUTSIDE IN HERE. Natalie Aguayo, Kristin Winters, and Rose Winters; in their collaboration, have physically manifested the internal perception of the Coachella Valley.
OUTSIDE IN HERE is the attempt to showcase how a single surrounding penetrates and influences the human psyche. Each of the individual artists grew up and came of age within the desert setting; the external stimuli of living in an inhospitable environment shaped them as people and as artists. Rather than expressing detest for this barren world, these artists celebrate their desert origins; they celebrate the beauty of the surreal wonder and struggle caused by living in empty exhaustive heat.
Natalie, Kristin, and Rose all share this similar experience, and all perceive it differently. Whether it is by photo, painting, or drawing, OUTSIDE IN HERE captures the energy extracted from our surroundings, our love ones, and personal journeys. It is the energy you will bring into the room, when you open yourself to engage with their work.
This week we had some time to speak with each of the women and got an opportunity to find out what was inside that brought it to Outside in Here.
So, without further ado…
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INTERVIEW: Rose Winters
on writing, her zine and returning to the desert
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The CVAS: What city did you grow up in?
Rose Winters:La Quinta, CAWhen did you first start to step outside the box and write creatively? What kind of writing did you do?
RW:I started writing when I was 12 years old. I had one major novel I was working on, while composing short stories on the side. They were very pulpy; the kinds of stories adolcents are fascinated with. Give them a horror or a mystery with one guaranteed sex scene and they’re good to go.How has your style and message evolved?
RW: I’ve never left the form of the short story; it’s my favorite by far. However, as I matured obviously my writing grew. I’ve become fascinated with the exercise of creating complex and compelling individuals, rather than sticking one-dimensional characters into a crazy plot (as I used to). It’s fun to play with the endless possibilities of point-of-view. The world can be either chaotic or blissful; it changes as soon as you change the perspective.
Rose Winters:La Quinta, CAWhen did you first start to step outside the box and write creatively? What kind of writing did you do?
RW:I started writing when I was 12 years old. I had one major novel I was working on, while composing short stories on the side. They were very pulpy; the kinds of stories adolcents are fascinated with. Give them a horror or a mystery with one guaranteed sex scene and they’re good to go.How has your style and message evolved?
RW: I’ve never left the form of the short story; it’s my favorite by far. However, as I matured obviously my writing grew. I’ve become fascinated with the exercise of creating complex and compelling individuals, rather than sticking one-dimensional characters into a crazy plot (as I used to). It’s fun to play with the endless possibilities of point-of-view. The world can be either chaotic or blissful; it changes as soon as you change the perspective.
As far as my poetry goes, that is a fairly new endeavor. I started about three years ago, around the time I first came to Berkeley. I guess there is just something about staying in the same café as Ginsberg did that just puts you in the mood.Why do you do what you do? What is it that you want to share with the world?
RW: I love the art of telling stories, but I suppose it goes deeper than that. The written word is so powerful and capable of so much. It’s not just an impulse to entertain; it’s an impulse to force an emotion out of the reader, to physically change their thought pattern with something completely fabricated. I really never know what that emotion or thought pattern is, not until the specific work is completed. I don’t know what it is I want to share with the world, because it’s constantly changing and shaping.What’s the setting and the mood like when you write?
RW: I write at night, when the rest of the world is in its slumber and there is room for me to create my own.In college you studied Literature at UC Berkeley. When you left the Coachella Valley for that time period, how did you see the desert? What were your feelings for the desert from far away?
RW: When my world expanded, I realized just how unusual the desert really it; for better or for worse, there really is no other place like it.Now that you are older, educated, cultured and wiser… what’s your current perspective on life in the Coachella Valley?
RW: There is a whole side I never saw before. I always thought the desert was void of any art or culture. It’s not; there is a whole community that feels the way I do. You grow up hating the place you live in, thinking that it has nothing to offer. That’s not true, you just have to be willing to look and you’ll always find your place.Tell us a little bit about the theme of your zine…
RW: I don’t really like to assign a theme to anything. Having said that, I suppose I’m trying to convey a dark form of whimsy; that moment where a laugh turns into a cringe. They are meant to be childlike, and although children are full of mirth, they can be very sinister and very cruel.
RW: I love the art of telling stories, but I suppose it goes deeper than that. The written word is so powerful and capable of so much. It’s not just an impulse to entertain; it’s an impulse to force an emotion out of the reader, to physically change their thought pattern with something completely fabricated. I really never know what that emotion or thought pattern is, not until the specific work is completed. I don’t know what it is I want to share with the world, because it’s constantly changing and shaping.What’s the setting and the mood like when you write?
RW: I write at night, when the rest of the world is in its slumber and there is room for me to create my own.In college you studied Literature at UC Berkeley. When you left the Coachella Valley for that time period, how did you see the desert? What were your feelings for the desert from far away?
RW: When my world expanded, I realized just how unusual the desert really it; for better or for worse, there really is no other place like it.Now that you are older, educated, cultured and wiser… what’s your current perspective on life in the Coachella Valley?
RW: There is a whole side I never saw before. I always thought the desert was void of any art or culture. It’s not; there is a whole community that feels the way I do. You grow up hating the place you live in, thinking that it has nothing to offer. That’s not true, you just have to be willing to look and you’ll always find your place.Tell us a little bit about the theme of your zine…
RW: I don’t really like to assign a theme to anything. Having said that, I suppose I’m trying to convey a dark form of whimsy; that moment where a laugh turns into a cringe. They are meant to be childlike, and although children are full of mirth, they can be very sinister and very cruel.
Information about the Outside in Here art show:
http://www.facebook.com/
Links to Rose:
http://rmwinters13.tumblr.com/
http://www.facebook.com/ross.
