Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Schorr.
Hi Natalie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Creativity has always been a necessary, even vital part of my life. It would be hard to imagine a day without some creative pursuit. It allows me to process my life and the world around me when words fail, which is becoming increasingly the case in a world I understand less and less each day.
Drawing and collage are the foundations of my work, although I often stray into other areas such as printmaking. Ultimately, I end up back at those two. I also spend a lot of time looking at the work of other artists both in person and online as a form of inspiration. Recent strong inspirations have been in realm of medieval art and manuscripts. There is a certain freedom in their expression and the way animal and human elements flow into each other that I find intriguing.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think the creative life is a particularly smooth one for most people. It certainly has not been for me. I find that as I have gotten older, though, I am better able to embrace the way I think and express without much concern for whether others like or don’t like it. It has taken a long time to find my voice. However, it is incredibly freeing to have shed those who were the most critical of my work and to be able to move on with what is genuinely me.
My current struggle is in understanding a world that is in such incredible turmoil that I question everything. I wonder how people have come to this place of extreme anger and hatred, and what could possibly have led them to these feelings. How did I not recognize this, and how do I make sense of it? That’s my current struggle.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I think post people would categorize my work as surrealist mixed media, with a strong emphasis on collage. My work is constantly evolving, so it would be hard to say exactly what it is or where it will go next. People who visit my studio often express that they have no idea what they are looking at in the immediate, but are more drawn in as we talk.
I don’t want to give more than an overview of my thoughts on any work because I want people to find their own narrative for understanding it. Sometimes it means that they ascribe an entirely different meaning to it than I had in mind, but I’m OK with that. I find those interpretations the most interesting.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Although I understand why people feel that social media has many deleterious effects, I would still say that Instagram is magic to me. It allows me to see and engage with the work of artists from around the world which I would never have had an opportunity to experience otherwise. It is especially important to me to see what is going on with artists that I would never find in museums or major corporate collections. Just people expressing how they process the world in real time. I love that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://natalieschorr.com/
- Instagram: @natalieschorrart
