Interview with Julia Haw

AT WHAT AGE DID YOU DECIDE TO BECOME AN ARTIST?

The decision to become an artist was never really there. It was inherent in my being, even from a young age. Growing up in a rural environment, barefoot and connecting with nature in a deep way really fed that connection with my desire to translate or depict the beauty of the world as I witnessed it. My sister and I maintained an art studio in my parents’ basement for years, starting around the age of nine or ten.

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

I’m positive in the back of my mother’s mind, particularly, she was rolling her eyes and thinking, Oh no. Ha ha! It was the same feeling when I told her I wanted to play the drums rather than the lovely French horn she had in mind. Regardless of any fears my parents may have held, however, they were always 100% supportive of my artistic path.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE ARTISTS?

Andrew Wyeth, Alice Neel, Van Gogh, Jenna Gribbon, Kenrick McFarlane, Alexis Nunnelly.

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

Helen Frankenthaler

ART BOOK YOU CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT?

Living and Sustaining a Creative Life by Sharon Louden is a fantastic practical read for any artist. But honestly, any large tome of art history speaks to me, just leafing through the pages and absorbing: Russian iconography, Southeast Asian art, Gardner’s Art Through the Ages.

WHAT IS THE QUALITY YOU MOST ADMIRE IN AN ARTIST?

The exalted bravery in brushstrokes and maintaining a painterly feel. Impulse and impetus. I admire this so deeply because I find it hard to “let go” sometimes in my own work, and when I do, it feels so good!

DO YOU KEEP A SKETCHBOOK?

While I do sketch from time to time, I actually don’t keep a sketchbook. When an idea for a painting occurs, I collect imagery and might do a couple rough sketches of the composition, but it’s well-formed in my mind and I usually go right in with paint to accomplish it. I have kept a diary since fourth grade, however, and write daily.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MUSEUM IN ALL THE WORLD?

I adore The Met. The Louvre is pretty insane. I’m also keen on the Art Institute of Chicago — what an amazing collection.

WHAT’S THE BEST EXHIBITION YOU HAVE EVER ATTENDED?

I loved the Hockney exhibit some years ago at The Met, and the Kerry James Marshall exhibit at the MCA in Chicago. But I must say, when I visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam it felt like a spiritual experience.

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

I wear several other hats currently already. I’m a yoga instructor and personal trainer and growing my own YouTube channel. I’d also like to begin leading a meditation group.

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

My sister, hands down.

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

That the best education an artist could have is working for another artist and witnessing the fortitude it takes to create, sell, and maintain a living as a working artist. Perhaps the “fine art” of the grind.

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

Andrew Wyeth’s Christina’s World, or his 1947 piece Wind from the Sea. There is something about the delicate tenderness, thoughtfulness, and poetry in his work. He was very intimate with his subjects, particularly Helga. When he was still living, I tried to get him a letter—from one artist to another, professing my undying gratitude for him. I doubt it ever reached his hands, but he always spoke to my romantic side. I have studied and tried to replicate his grasses; no one could paint grass like Andrew Wyeth. He also used a brilliant blue that stood out like a jolt in several works, one being Alvaro and Christina. The works were always laden with a deeper, spiritual meaning in life.

WHAT IS YOUR SECRET VISUAL PLEASURE OUTSIDE OF ART?

The Temples of Angkor Wat — it is the most spiritual, mystical place in the world, and I have the privilege of living right next door. I try to get in once a week, and each time the temples provide new meaning.

DO YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC IN YOUR STUDIO?

Yes, but more frequently I listen to talks on YouTube, and sometimes unplug completely, soaking in the surrounding sounds of my neighborhood Wat Bo here in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

WHAT IS THE LAST GALLERY YOU VISITED?

The FCC Gallery here in Siem Reap for my friend Tamara Venn’s exhibition.

WHO IS AN UNDERRATED ARTIST PEOPLE SHOULD BE LOOKING AT?

Kenrick McFarlane (although he’s well on his way)

WHAT ART MATERIALS CAN YOU NOT LIVE WITHOUT?

Delicious oil paints (primarily Gamblin, Old Holland, and Williamsburg); Silver Bristleon synthetic brushes, Old Holland Kolinsky Sable cat tongue brushes; refined linseed oil, a Masterson covered palette; Turpenoid Natural. (Artists may not realize how extremely harmful turps are as they soak in to the skin and are inhaled through the nose, I’ve re-learned to paint without them.)

DO YOU CREATE ART EVERY DAY?

I am creating every single day. Wether it’s painting, video editing, or existing and ingesting my surrounding world for future works.

WHAT IS THE LONGEST TIME YOU WENT WITHOUT CREATING ART?

When I was on road living in a van, it was difficult to paint or draw, but I did when I could. So, at most a few weeks time. I’ve learned to let go of any guilt surrounding these breaks. While I understand my service to this world is to paint, and I greatly respect that, I also know I need the gaps to feel inspired and begin anew.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE FEELING UNINSPIRED?

Keep working on the current work and shift aspects of my life around so there is movement and flow.

WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS THAT DRIVE YOUR WORK?

I find myself more and more as a narrator of this moment in time — working with social, political and everyday themes. Currently, I’m driven by the tangible feast of the senses and how this coexists with the unwavering, unchanging sense of self or Purusa. The work pulls from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, yet is largely driven by the cacophony of sense-contacts here in Cambodia and Southeast Asia at large — the smoke, sounds of ripping motorbikes, karaoke, monks chanting, and food carts.

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT QUALITY IN AN ARTIST?

The fortitude to continue. I heard this great speech once by David Goggins regarding what one does when no one is watching, and how those are the key moments that will separate you from others. There are often large swaths of time an artist spends in their studio… when no one is watching or even paying attention. These aren’t times to “go easy” — these are times to continue the creation and understand that we are here for a service in this world—to capture these moments of beauty, release them and let them go. Art is for others after we have exhausted it for ourselves and let go of ego.

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

A solo show in NYC. I’m ready.

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

The ability to be seen by thousands of eyes, and to sell work — and not just to seasoned collectors. I’ve sold work to people who have never even considered owning a piece of art — even people I went to high school with… and for me, that is truly one of the best feelings.

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JULIA HAW (@julia_haw) teaches a workshop at the Art Students League of New York, A Guide to Beginning, Developing and Completing a New Body of Paintings, which focuses on deconstructing your artistic mental blockages, honing your intuition, and confronting your fear.

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