INTERVIEW WITH  STEPHANIE CASSIDY

AT WHAT AGE DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN ARTIST?

Age 22. I went to study at the League on the GI Bill.

HOW DID YOUR PARENTS REACT WHEN YOU TOLD THEM YOU WANTED TO BE AN ARTIST?

They had nothing to say.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS?

Picasso, Titian, Cézanne, Velázquez, de Kooning.

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE ARTIST WHOSE WORK IS UNLIKE YOUR OWN?

Titian.

ART BOOK YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT?

Any art book on Cézanne.

WHAT IS THE QUALITY YOU MOST ADMIRE IN AN ARTIST?

An openness.

DO YOU KEEP A SKETCHBOOK?

I keep a drawing book.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MUSEUM IN ALL THE WORLD?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

WHAT’S THE BEST EXHIBITION YOU HAVE EVER ATTENDED?

Picasso at the MoMA.

IF YOU WERE NOT AN ARTIST, WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

An astronomer.

DID YOU HAVE AN ARTISTIC COHORT THAT INFLUENCED YOUR EARLY CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT?

Li Hidley.

WHAT IS ONE THING YOU DIDN’T LEARN IN ART SCHOOL THAT YOU WISH YOU HAD?

Art.

WHAT WORK OF ART HAVE YOU LOOKED AT MOST AND WHY?

All of Titian because it is about art.

WHAT IS YOUR SECRET VISUAL PLEASURE OUTSIDE OF ART?

Women.

DO YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC IN YOUR STUDIO?

Yes, Mozart and Bach.

WHAT IS THE LAST GALLERY YOU VISITED?

Hollis Taggart.

WHO IS AN UNDERRATED ARTIST PEOPLE SHOULD BE LOOKING AT?

Titian.

WHAT ART MATERIALS CAN YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?

Acrylics.

DO YOU PAINT/SCULPT/CREATE ART EVERY DAY?

Yes.

WHAT IS THE LONGEST TIME YOU WENT WITHOUT CREATING ART?

Never.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE FEELING UNINSPIRED?

I look at art.

WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS THAT DRIVE YOUR WORK?

The core of art.

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUALITY IN AN ARTIST?

His relationship to art.

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU HAVEN’T YET ACHIEVED IN ART?

About a thousand paintings.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT ART IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL MEDIA?

Art.

KNOX MARTIN, Instructor Emeritus at the Art Students League, is represented by Hollis Taggart.