Bonny Lane and her hubby Tom were two of the awesome people who I met while at the Vermont Studio Center. They are a hard working Australian artist duo that has been traveling the states making art like crazy and winning over new friends everywhere they go.
I was lucky enough to have Bonnie take some time out of her FULL schedule to answer some interview questions. Here goes!
painting by Erin Fitzpatrick
Fitz: Where are you from?
Bonnie Lane:I was born in Melbourne Australia. I have been in the US for about 9 months now and recently moved to Los Angeles.
F: You are in the process of doing a residency circuit. How do you like traveling from place to place, and making art in this environment?
B: It took a little bit of adjusting to get used to this lifestyle, always being on the move, setting up and packing up in short timeframes, adjusting to new environments all the time. But now I have gotten so used to it that I love it and don’t stress about things like how I am going to get to the next place or where I am staying etc. I love setting up a new studio every month or so, it is a really good way to sort out what you are doing in your work. Also having deadlines is great for actually finishing things, which can be very tedious. Overall it has been the best introduction to America and has allowed me to see so much of the country while meeting plenty of artists along the way.
F: What are you looking forward to right now?
B: I am really looking forward to starting a residency at RAID Projects in Los Angeles next week. I can’t wait to get stuck into this city and have a studio again. I am excited about doing a residency right in a big city, as most of the others have been quite rural. I often need a lot of ‘things’ for my work so it will be so much easier to get these in LA.
F: What/who inspired you to make video as your art form?
B:I think it was probably Bruce Nauman who first inspired me to start playing around with video art. I was experimenting with cameras for about a year before I actually made a video piece. Since then I have fallen in love with the medium.
F: Do you want to be famous?
B:I definitely want to be successful as an artist, meaning that I am able to live as a full time artist and able to make work all the time. I love making art and being successful professionally means that I will be able to make more and more of it. I think if I wanted to be ‘famous’ I would have chosen a different career...
F: What do you daydream about?
B: Being a ‘normal’ person with a normal life! Sometimes I just fantasise about how lovely it would be to get paid at the end of every week, take the weekends off and not have to be worried about what position I will be in the next week, month, year. But in reality I wouldn’t want to swap this life for anything.
Bonnie and Pam at VSC
F: Where is your favorite place in the world?
B: At the moment I am a bit obsessed with Los Angeles but I don’t know if I have found my favorite place yet. I love lots of different places for completely different reasons and am looking forward to seeing many more.
F: If I gave you a million dollars right now, how would you spend it?
B: I would probably invest most of it in making some HUGE artworks. That would be really great. Other than that I would love to buy a house somewhere, and keep on traveling.
F: What are 3 things you always travel with?
B: Sketch book, laptop and my camera.
Photo by Bonnie of her glitter covered objects
F:. You seem to always be covered in glitter. Tell me about that.
I have been getting stuck into glitter since my time at the Vermont Studio Center. Everything I made there with glitter was basically a failure but since then I have been covering trash in glitter and loving it! I think glitter is going to continue to pop up in my works a lot now.
F: Who is your celebrity crush?
B: hhhmmm.... James Franco.
F: Thanks, Bonnie!
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