INTERVIEW
Ed Fella
Illustrator
Posted September 27, 2010
Illustrator
Posted September 27, 2010
In the right hands, what can art do?
That's one of those grand questions that can only be answered by saying (in some sense) both "everything" and/or "nothing"... like for some people it's a way to make a fabulous living and for most it's completely impossible to sell anything they do....and it can make some people happy and others not (indifferent or angry)... and so on, as you can see, any answer seems obvious or banal...
On the other hand, in my "right hands" my "art" gives me great satisfaction... I concur with Barnett Newman, who said, "I paint so I have something to look at"
Do you remember the first moments when you wanted to be and artist?
No, but my mother always said that when I was a child all she had to do was give me pencil and paper and I was no longer any bother....I was happy if I could draw.
Favorite diversion:
At my age, sitting in a comfortable chair listening to a "talking" book and drawing in one of my sketch books...
What do you wish someone had told you when you were just starting out?
Can't think of anything... seems everything I was told worked out for me in the end... or in other cases, thank goodness, it didn't ! But the best thing someone did tell me was in 1976, "Get a sketch book like an artist and draw in it like a designer".... I did, and the rest is history, as they say...
Most treasured item:
My Bik 4-color ball point pen and little stub of a yellow Prismacolor pencil for my obsessive drawing habit in my current book.
Thing people would be stunned to learn about you?
That I have a very normal and ordinary life and don't work day and night, although it sometimes seems so...
Are your dreams in color or black and white?
Any dreams that recur?
In color and always new and amazing !
Best method to get unstuck creatively?
I have say, that has never been a problem. I can't wait to get on to the next thing from all the things I still want to do...
Single most pivotal point in your career?
You mean other than going to Cass Technical High School in 1955 ?
Deciding to be an "exit-level" designer, which meant leaving the professional world of commercial art after 30 years and at age 48, going to graduate school... after which I got a teaching job in California at CalArts in the graduate graphic design program... where, 23 years later, I still am !
What are you in search of in your work? Have you found it?
Making an "undeniable" body of work over time and realizing it as an "experimental" process and continuing it to a conclusion.....and yes, as to the second question, but I think it found me !
Most intoxicating smell?
That's easy...printing ink at a press check !
To date, what is your favorite project?
I know this is a cliche answer, but the one I'm currently working on...other than that, I'd say my 170 some "flyers" as a whole...
If you weren't an artist, what would you be doing?
Can't imagine...
Time of day of highest creative powers?
Impossible to say...
Hardest thing for you:
To stop working on whatever piece of art or graphic design I'm doing and go home...
Unnatural fear of:
...not being able to do it anymore...
Favorite artist:
...of course, that would have to be myself, after all, I'm a firm believer in the Barnett Newman quote (see answer to first question)... other than that, currently it's Neo Rauch, the German painter...
Favorite architect:
Daniel Libeskind
Favorite musician:
"Bang On A Can Ensemble" (musicians) and Luigi Boccherini (composer)
What the world needs more of:
liberality
One crucial piece of advice you’d give an aspiring artist:
Once again, Barnett Newman said it best.....make art so YOU have something to look at...(want to look at)!
Strongest inspiration comes from:
At 72 and after 50 some years of working, it has to be my own past and all the things I never did (or got around to doing) and still want to do....that really keeps me going..
Fears you had to overcome to get to where you are today?
If so, biggest one?
I never had any ambition to get anywhere other than make a living doing the easiest and only thing I knew how to do, so I had no fear to overcome....ending up where I did came as a complete surprise, although I always knew I was unique (but aren't all artists, at least that's what our culture tells us)...
What are you working on now?
2 exhibitions, one at CalPoly in San Lois Obispo and one at Pasadena City Collage, both in California in the Fall....and as always, on and in my current "sketch book". This is a "drawing-a-day" (81/2x11) done with 3 different children's multicolor pencils and 2 varied multicolor sticks (and use of a white crayon to soften some of the color)...
That's one of those grand questions that can only be answered by saying (in some sense) both "everything" and/or "nothing"... like for some people it's a way to make a fabulous living and for most it's completely impossible to sell anything they do....and it can make some people happy and others not (indifferent or angry)... and so on, as you can see, any answer seems obvious or banal...
On the other hand, in my "right hands" my "art" gives me great satisfaction... I concur with Barnett Newman, who said, "I paint so I have something to look at"
Do you remember the first moments when you wanted to be and artist?
No, but my mother always said that when I was a child all she had to do was give me pencil and paper and I was no longer any bother....I was happy if I could draw.
Favorite diversion:
At my age, sitting in a comfortable chair listening to a "talking" book and drawing in one of my sketch books...
What do you wish someone had told you when you were just starting out?
Can't think of anything... seems everything I was told worked out for me in the end... or in other cases, thank goodness, it didn't ! But the best thing someone did tell me was in 1976, "Get a sketch book like an artist and draw in it like a designer".... I did, and the rest is history, as they say...
Most treasured item:
My Bik 4-color ball point pen and little stub of a yellow Prismacolor pencil for my obsessive drawing habit in my current book.
Thing people would be stunned to learn about you?
That I have a very normal and ordinary life and don't work day and night, although it sometimes seems so...
Are your dreams in color or black and white?
Any dreams that recur?
In color and always new and amazing !
Best method to get unstuck creatively?
I have say, that has never been a problem. I can't wait to get on to the next thing from all the things I still want to do...
Single most pivotal point in your career?
You mean other than going to Cass Technical High School in 1955 ?
Deciding to be an "exit-level" designer, which meant leaving the professional world of commercial art after 30 years and at age 48, going to graduate school... after which I got a teaching job in California at CalArts in the graduate graphic design program... where, 23 years later, I still am !
What are you in search of in your work? Have you found it?
Making an "undeniable" body of work over time and realizing it as an "experimental" process and continuing it to a conclusion.....and yes, as to the second question, but I think it found me !
Most intoxicating smell?
That's easy...printing ink at a press check !
To date, what is your favorite project?
I know this is a cliche answer, but the one I'm currently working on...other than that, I'd say my 170 some "flyers" as a whole...
If you weren't an artist, what would you be doing?
Can't imagine...
Time of day of highest creative powers?
Impossible to say...
Hardest thing for you:
To stop working on whatever piece of art or graphic design I'm doing and go home...
Unnatural fear of:
...not being able to do it anymore...
Favorite artist:
...of course, that would have to be myself, after all, I'm a firm believer in the Barnett Newman quote (see answer to first question)... other than that, currently it's Neo Rauch, the German painter...
Favorite architect:
Daniel Libeskind
Favorite musician:
"Bang On A Can Ensemble" (musicians) and Luigi Boccherini (composer)
What the world needs more of:
liberality
One crucial piece of advice you’d give an aspiring artist:
Once again, Barnett Newman said it best.....make art so YOU have something to look at...(want to look at)!
Strongest inspiration comes from:
At 72 and after 50 some years of working, it has to be my own past and all the things I never did (or got around to doing) and still want to do....that really keeps me going..
Fears you had to overcome to get to where you are today?
If so, biggest one?
I never had any ambition to get anywhere other than make a living doing the easiest and only thing I knew how to do, so I had no fear to overcome....ending up where I did came as a complete surprise, although I always knew I was unique (but aren't all artists, at least that's what our culture tells us)...
What are you working on now?
2 exhibitions, one at CalPoly in San Lois Obispo and one at Pasadena City Collage, both in California in the Fall....and as always, on and in my current "sketch book". This is a "drawing-a-day" (81/2x11) done with 3 different children's multicolor pencils and 2 varied multicolor sticks (and use of a white crayon to soften some of the color)...
Ed Fella logo
Detroit commercial art from the 1960's
page from current sketch book
Ed Fella at Cranbrook poster