Kori Thompson

Name: Kori Thompson
Website: www.korithompson.net

What do you do?
Paint on things mostly on wood and canvas.

Where can we find your work?
You can find my work at Psycho Donuts and always at Kaleid Gallery, where I am currently in a group show called "Exquisite Corpse" and just wrapped up my solo show there last month. I also have group shows at The Usuals in San Jose on July 27th, The Uptown in Oakland on August 3rd and Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco on August 11th. For more details and to see more of my work you can check out  www.korithompson.net

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
I try to do something everyday. If I'm not painting, I'm doing some kind of research, sketch, or outline. I'm always thinking about the next thing or project. I feel like I can punch, or work my way out of any situation with my art. Hopefully that work ethic resonates and comes through in my paintings. 

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?  
I feel they go hand in hand. The process is all mine. It's why I do what I do. I feel like I'm almost addicted to it. The finished product is exactly that, what everyone see. 

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?
I'm inspired by my kids Francesca and Logan. My Grandfather, Grandmother, myMom, my Great Grandparents, and my wife Andrea who is always pushing me to get out in the garage and finish painting while she is wrangling the kids up. 

I'm influenced or really enjoy the work of Hunter S. Thompson, Carmine Infantino, Stan Lee, Steve Ditko, Jim and Jimbo Phillips, Akira Kurosawa, George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Vincent vanGogh, Lucian Freud, Erik Larsen and James Robinson.

If you could be any fictional character who would you be?
I love this question! Such a hard decision. I could go with Indiana Jones, Snake Plissken, Green Lantern, Han Solo or Spider-Man. Maybe a mix of them all! Ha! I think I'd lean more towards Spidey because of my love comicbooks and the character.

When do you get your best ideas?
When I least suspect it. So I always sketch or write them down. 

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
Ticonderoga #2's, canvas or wood, acrylic paint and brushes. 

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?
I took some classes from Henry Asencio and Sagi Erez which really helped me out and showed me a lot and set me in the right direction.

What would your creative work taste like?
Sushi washed down with the best beer you've ever had.

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
Spend time with my family, read comicbooks, watch movies and listen to music. Maybe a round of golf if I can fit it in!? 

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience?
Always doing something drawing, painting. Staying productive and positive.

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures? 
Don't stop! Don't make excuses that you're too tired or don't have the time. If you want to truly do something, you will no matter what. 

Ketra Oberlander

Name: Ketra Oberlander
Website: aopstudios.com

What do you do?
As a fine artist I paint in acrylics; as founder of Art of Possibility® Studios, I run the only art licensing business exclusively representing artists with physical disabilities in the world.

Where can we find your work?
The most interesting place to see my work is in the film “Broken City” (coming in 2013, Russell Crowe, Mark Wahlberg, Catherine Zeta Jones). I’ll have 3 paintings in two different sets.  To see originals, by appointment.

What inspires you to create and how do you keep motivated when things get tough?
Asking what inspires me is like asking a fish to describe water. As for maintaining my spirits through adversity, my work is part of a larger message to help others, and that commitment to service carries me through the challenging times. If I saw my work only as The Me Show, so what? It’s got to be bigger than me; it’s got to elevate humanity.
     

What do you think is more important content/finished product or technique/process?
I don’t see these as opposite ends of a continuum at all. I think if a piece matches my intention, then that’s successful. I’d note, though, that my most popular work isn’t necessarily my most successful (by my definition). There’s a point at which I have to trust the audience response to my work and move on.
  

Who are some people who influence and/or inspire you?
Gov. Ann Richards; she was a great lady. My husband. And although he’s not “people,” the cat has a tremendous influence on my daily life. He’s a laid back dude, the Jeff Bridges of cats, and he reminds me to enjoy the journey.
 

 If you could be any fictional character who would you be?
Friends would probably vote “Beaker,” the startled lab assistant to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, but I’d like to be any fictional character with a red cape. Superpowers optional. I just want the cape.

When do you get your best ideas?
At precisely the most inconvenient moment.

What materials/tools do you use most to create your work?
The usual suspects: canvas, brushes, slow-dry acrylics.

Are you self taught or formally educated? How do you think that has influenced or affected your work?
I began painting at 40 in a local adult ed. art class and thought it was totally fun. Although I had guidance, the class was more like shared studio time. I still paint with friends and think that I would have been far less realistic about the business of fine art had I gone to art school right out of high school. Lucky for my I studied literature because that has such tremendous earning potential. Would you like fries with that?

What would your creative work taste like?
I have utterly no idea. This is the first “gotcha” question I’ve had in a long time!

When you are not creating what do you like to do?
Rabble rouse, iPad games, garden, loaf, pontificate.

How did you learn to access your creative talents and gain the confidence to put it out there for everyone to experience? 

How can one NOT create and share? 

What advice would you give others just beginning their creative adventures?  
Decide what YOU want from your work, then pursue that goal. Revisit that goal every two years because we grow and change. What matters to you now may not matter later and if you’re just in a habit and not paying attention, you’ll digress and waste time that could be more full in your life.