What art movements do you relate to?

Dadaism has always been near and dear to me. It's an artistic language that finds ways to express human-ness in times when words fail society. I feel that in our current state of environmental and infrastructural collapse it's important to access this kind of language. I see a lot of interest in a global discussion of race, class and environment, but there is an unseen hand that's pushing us away from having this discussion in the open. This means we need to perform these discussions in covert, encoded languages. A lot of people see absurdist art and say “I don't get it.” Of course you don't. It's there to challenge you. It's an encoded message.

How has your work changed?

Well, I’m 27, which is young for an artist. I keep switching mediums, mixing them together. I started with writing, and added in layers photography, acting, sculpture, filmmaking, book alteration, painting, and most recently performance and conceptual social media projects. The versatility that comes with accessing all these mediums really frees me to come up with fresh ideas. What I’m struggling with right now are the stakes of my work. I’ve noticed I’ve gotten a little fearful with my art, and am not taking the kind of risks that would really push my art to the next level. I currently have a non-art job as an irrigation system designer and salesman that keeps me very comfortable materially, but leaves me little time to work on my art. I expect to see some new changes soon.

Most significant project or accomplishment

Transitioning from female to male has certainly been the most significant accomplishment:

What are your goals?

I want to have influence on the world. I want fashion movements, art movements and literary movements to take cues from me. I want college students fifty years from now to have to mention me in their essays about post-post-post-post-post modern art. I want to finish my novel. I want to attend residencies all over the world. I want to get a fine arts degree in Mexico. Also, goats. I really want to have some goats.

What toys do you have?

I have two new toys worth mentioning. I just got a smartphone for the first time, so it’s much easier to correspond with everyone from film festival organizers to casual sex partners. Also, trolling, which is very important to my artist identity – think of it as a sort of social media intervention, a vandal-dadaism on your Facebook feed – is much easier with a smartphone. I love disrupting and exploiting normalized languages and forms. Memes, for example, are such an excellent use of referential humor and I love how they encourage people to appropriate images from pop culture and insert their own subcultural humor into it. I am currently working on a couple of essays in the form of buzzfeeds. TMDMM 5 : Shampoo Commercial is a satire of the progression-of-time transition videos common to trans culture on Youtube.

And the apps! Oh the apps! There are such apps in the world that open up whole new potentials for cybernetic art. Smartphones really do make us cyborgs, you know, because we can now transpose our creative selves wholly into cyberspace if we care to. Instagram is my favorite right now, but Snapchat is the one that really blows my mind because of the notion of impermanence. The image once received from the sender is only viewable for a few seconds and then it’s lost forever! It’s like the image as object has become so prolific that instead of trying to preserve it physically in an album forever, we are content and even excited by it only lasting a few seconds.

My other new toy is my body. I started the physical transition from female to male about three years ago when I started undergoing hormone treatment. It’s been about a year and a half since I had chest surgery and, now that I’ve healed I’ve been very interested in pushing the limits of my body as a performance in and of itself. I could give you the whole “at last, I feel right in my body” speech, but I try and resist the narratives we’ve started getting used to hearing about transpeople. For me it’s altogether like having a new body, a new vessel for expression. There was nothing inherently wrong with my previous body, I was just ready for a new toy.

What are your favorite movies/tv shows?

Right now I am completely infatuated with House of Cards. It is so excellently queer, and I love stories about power and manipulation. Also, Kevin Spacey is endlessly entertaining.

Do you believe in magic? Why or why not?

I feel that the stories of my family coming to and settling in this country were made possible by a specific kind of magic. So, yes, family law obligates me to believe in magic.

               Should there be censorship?

God yes! But, of course, I am the only one allowed to choose what is appropriate and what is not.

What advice would you give to others?

Whatever that thing is you know you need to do but you won't? Go do it.


I love chatting, answering questions and being flattered/insulted so please, please feel free to contact me! I can be contacted through any of the following:

Cauhboi.wordpress.com

facebook.com/cauhboi

youtube.com/cauhboi

vimeo.com/cauhboi

twitter.com/cauhboi

 cauhboi.tumblr.com

@cauhboi on Instagram

Goofing around with patinas on copper and steel, heat, salt, vinegar, linseed oil, beeswax, baking soda, 

2. What were your earliest works of art like? How old were you when you made them? 
I don't remember my earliest artwork but I believe I was in Pre-K when I drew a rose on a paper the size of a postage stamp. I traded it for a coveted eraser. When I was 4 or 5 years old, I made a crayon drawing with the sun, moon, and stars shining together at the same time. In that skyscape, I also made a pink cloud because a friend had told me that clouds were actually cotton candy and I liked pink ones better.

As a teenager, hanging out with friends and sleepovers were a lot of fun. I also developed a love for reading adventure fiction and writing poetry. Art took a backseat as I began to focus on academics. It would be many years into adulthood before I would return to my first love – art.

At Cabrillo, I trained in metalsmithing and fabrication under the tutelage of Dawn Nakanishi, an accomplished metalsmith and a gifted teacher. I am also fortunate to have learned from some of the most talented jewelers from all over the US.

5. How has your work changed?
Over the years, my work has become more aligned with my thoughts, whimsies and even as an outlet for questions I grapple with. I have also become more receptive to what the metal wants to do even if it is not what I had in mind.

8. What are your favorite kinds of music?
'Breathless' by Kenny G is one of my all time favorites. I also enjoy Hindustani vocal music by Bhimsen Joshi – he sounds like the ocean waves! I love how Pandit Shivkumar Sharma plays the santoor, and especially his album 'Antardhwani I'. Santoor is an ancient string instrument that sounds to me like the amplified resonance of falling water droplets, big and small. I also listen to Ravi Shankar's sitar music and old Hindi songs from my childhood.

9. A. What are your favorite movies/tv shows?
I like Life of Pi, Dolphin Tale, Matrix, Star Wars, Shark Tank and  Project Runway to name a few.

10. Do you believe in magic?
Yes! Love, Life and Art are all Magic! 

11. What advice would you give to others?
I am happy to share what works for me as an artist. When I am designing, I try to allow my thoughts and feelings to flow onto paper without editing. It is important to me that the design excite me at an intuitive level. During this process, I consciously steer my mind away from thoughts of what techniques I would use to execute the design. When I am able to do this, it allows creativity to flow with originality and unbridled possibilities.

12. Where can one buy your artwork?
My wearable metal art pieces and art objects can be bought through my Etsy Store: AshaRameshDesigns.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/AshaRameshDesigns

You can also buy my work through Many Hands Gallery in Capitola, California. 
 http://www.manyhands-capitola.com

I also love collaborating with customers directly to make custom pieces. I can be reached at: [email protected]

It gives me deep satisfaction to contribute a portion of the proceeds from every sale of my metal art pieces to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. I am not affiliated with the center, just a regular person who finds their work to rescue children in danger, outreach programs for child safety and rehabilitation invaluable.

2. What was your first work of art & how old were you?
I'm sure my first work of art was a finger painting about age 2 or 3. My parents had it framed and hung on our wall.  I do remember in middle school my mother would take me to the bead store and I would make jewelry.  I didn't take art in high school or realize I wanted a career in the arts until college.  My first intentional work that I was really proud of was in college in my 20's.

3. What did you do for fun as a teenager?
I was a bad kid.  I didn't do anything productive for fun.  Actually, most of what I did was kinda illegal, except play cards. 

4. What and when was your first job?
My first real job was when I was 13.  My mom was the manager of a catering business and when they needed extra help I would work as a server.  I was told to tell anyone who asked that I was 15.  Please, don't get the impression that this was a bad child labor violation thing; for a 13 year old it was great money and I got to go to some cool parties with local celebrities and eat really good food!  I even met the Vandellas (from Martha Reeves and the Vandellas) at the Motown Museum in Detroit.

5. What was your first work that really pleased you as an artist? 
I was taking a class at U of M called Mixed Media.  It was the first time I had really started combining materials and techniques.  I realized that I have too many interests to focus on just one thing.  I was making anodized aluminum pieces that I would die form and then sew to watercolor painting on fabric. They were my first Ah Ha!, epiphany moment for me, when I just knew I was doing what I was meant to do.   

6. Who was the first artist to influence you?
My Mixed Media teacher, Marianetta Porter, really was the first one to truly influence my work.  Her work has a great sense of humor to it.  As a teacher she really influenced me to think about my work differently. 

7. What art movements do you relate to?
For fine art, Pop-Surrealism, Contemporary, Abstract Expressionism.  For design, I am very into mid-century mod and Americana design aesthetic. It is very nostalgic for me.

8. How has your work changed?
For years I worked primarily in silver, copper, and brass and I heavily oxidized just about everything.  I have always loved including weird found objects and odd things. For years I looked for non-gemstone ways to add color to my work.  Gems just don't fit with my conceptual pursuits.  I tried fabric, paintings, found objects, polymer clay...  In the past few years I have included enameling.  It started as just a few pieces.  Now, I work almost exclusively with enamel because the colors are just so great!  I have recently started to add more silver work back in with the enamel.  I am constantly getting ideas for new things and I rarely stick with one design or look for too long.  Blame my ADD.

9. What things do you not like to do?
Accounting.  Marketing.  You know, the essential business stuff outside of making. I'll do it but, I really just like to make things.  

10. Most significant project or accomplishment
I was pretty proud of going to my first wholesale show last year.  I went into debt to do it but it was a big step.  

11. What are your goals?
My goals are to be an independent, self sustaining artist.  I currently teach high school and as much as I love sharing knowledge, teenagers don't always appreciate what you are teaching them.  My goal is to make a living teaching adult classes and workshops and producing work.  Bigger goals include professional recognition like doing some of the big shows and getting work into galleries that I have been admiring for decades.  

12. What toys do you have?
In the studio, my favorite is my kiln.  Personally, I have a 150cc scooter, a vintage trailer, and a juicer!  

13. What do you eat?
Right now, mainly vegan.  I don't usually like to define it because I don't stick to it strictly.  True vegans would probably cringe at that statement!  I have a love affair with popcorn!

14. What are your favorite movies/tv shows?
I love the creative challenge/building/how to shows.  Face Off, Project Runway, Tree House Masters, How its Made... and comedies Raising Hope, The Big Bang Theory...  As far as movies, I'm a sucker for a good romantic comedy, the funnier and sillier the better.

15. Do you believe in magic?
Nope.  Actually, I really dislike magic shows and magicians.  

16. Should there be censorship?
For the most part, no.  I think there should be a few exceptions.  I do think we should continue to have censorship to protect innocent people. For example, child pornography, publishing images of people without their consent, etc...  For the most part, if it isn't hurting others, I think people should be able to decide for themselves what they want to watch or read.  

17. What advice would you give to others?
I don't really see myself in a position of being an advice giver.  I usually seek out advice from others!  I'd keep it simple.  Be a good person.  Be kind to others. Be true to yourself.  

www.kirstendenbowdesigns.com
www.kirstendenbowdesigns.etsy.com
[email protected]

WORKSHOPS
http://artmakersdenver.com/workshops/
September 14-16, 2014

GALLERIES
Craft Alliance 
6640 Delmar Boulevard
St.Louis, MO 63130

Dim Sum - A Concierge Shopping Service
Philadelphia, PA
www.shopdimsum.com

Gallery Fifty 
The Village at  Grand Traverse Commons
800 Cottageview Drive, Suite 50
Traverse City, MI 49684

Pacific Gallery 
228 Forest Ave.
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
www.PacificGallery.net

Seebeck Gallery 
9020 76th Street
Pleasant Prairie, WI 53158 

Show of Hands Gallery
210 Clayton Street
Denver, CO 80206

Trinkets 
Woodland Village
1943 Rt.9 North
Clermont, NJ 08210

Willow - An Artisan's Market
2400 W. Main Street
Littleton, CO 80120

My father's parents owned a restaurant in downtown Youngstown called Hermes. It left us with restaurant-size pots and pans and dishes. Cooking and food were pretty important – eating, as well as for socializing, and my father cooked a lot, too. I remember coming home and my mother and father were huddled over the stove frying big slices of zucchini. I remember how bad I thought that smelled then! We had a huge backyard and my grandparents and parents had an incredible garden filled with vegetables and fruit trees.

Before I was born, my grandmother had a still in the basement and made her own ouzo, (my mom had to stand at the top of the stairs and be the lookout) and there were also big wine barrels and accessories for making their own wine. 
When I was little, I remember serving guests small glasses of ouzo on a small black tray with flowers painted on it.

Check here to see what other Etsy Metal members have written about this topic:
Laney 
2Roses
Laura Jane Bouton