Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Professor Arini
English 102
Interview Transcript
There is a reason as to why I am doing an interview with Elaine Dillingham. The first thing to
note is that she is very easy to talk to and schedule a time with. She has done art for many years
and is also my Drawing Two teacher. She has a website that I can readily see and she is a
professional artists/ part-time teacher at Coconino Community College. She has a teaching
degree and has a major in art and minor in English so she can help me reword my questions to be
understood by my audience. The main reason why I am interviewing her is to also help me
decide on what career path I aim to go on, which was to start with an associates in art, Doing this
let me have a greater understanding on what I would have to look forward to in case I would like
to either major in art or just use an associates for hobby material that can build up a resume. As
she is easy to schedule with on short notice, has background in art, and I want to know more on
Ranger: Alright, and my name is Ranger Reemelin. So, this is my art teacher for drawing two.
Um, do you remember your first art project? If so, what was it?
Elaine: Oh boy! That’s a good question. So, going way back then?
Ranger: Yes.
Elaine: So not when I was a kid? Okay. Oh, huh. Let me think about that. Um, I started painting
professionally with acrylics in 1993 and the paintings I did at that time were… uh… aiming to
Elaine: Well, uh, I’ve always done it. When I was a kid I was always drawing. Um, I loved to
draw horses and anything really. And even as a young child I would spend hours on these
intricate drawings. Of course, they were child’s drawings so I cant really answer that except to
Ranger: That’s awesome. So, what family did you come from? Did they help you or-
Elaine: That’s a good question. I’m the oldest of three children and I wasn’t really encouraged in
art or discouraged either. They saw that I liked to do it so, um, I most of my well my junior high
and high school years uh were in a small town in north Carolina and uh the public schools didn’t
even have art and so I only took my first serious art class in college though I was kind of behind.
You know my mother tried to encourage me as much as she could, but they weren’t artists. We
didn’t live near major art museums or anything like that so it was… I just kind of did it because I
loved to do it.
know? When I started college, I thought I would major in either art or English. You know I liked
them both. I learned pretty quickly that I preferred to be in the art studio instead of the library.
Ranger: What type of competitions did you do? Like what did you put your art into?
Elaine: Uh, well, I’ve been in several galleries over the years. With mixed results I mean, and
from time to time I do enter jury shows. Though I haven’t been doing that in recent years. Ive
been focusing more on local things. Well… like Palette to Palette here at CCC. I’ll have some art
in that, I’ll participate in the faculty work show and either groups that exhibit and now with the
Elaine: I have some paintings that are 2/3rds or 3/4th finished that I just don’t know what to do
with. I worked on them too long and there not getting better, and so I just put those away and
there are some that will probably never be finished. Sometimes Ill come back to those and sand
off the paint if its on panel or paint over it. Start over. I have some that will never see the light of
Elaine: For someone to say they made a master piece is pretty arrogant. You know? It’s honestly
for other people to decide. That’s for art historians in a hundred or five hundred years to decide
what’s a master piece. It’s not for me to decide. But there are some things… I am getting better.
You know and I know it’s all about practice. The more you do the better you get. I can draw
people much better than I used to be able and that is from doing life drawings. I don’t think I
have one master piece. There are some that I like better than others.
Elaine: Oh, man. This is really tough. I don’t think I can pick one favorite.
Elaine: There is a little one I just finished. Alan asked if I could donate it to the Palette to Palette
auction. I kind of hemmed and hawed at him because I sort of liked it. To either keep it or sell it,
I don’t know. But I said I would. That one was titled Moon Shadows on Snow and its just a little
Ranger: Wow.
Elaine: So…
Ranger: What do you wish you had known when you started out?
Elaine: How hard it is. I mean there is a lot of jokes about the starving artist thing, but to be an
artist is because you love it. You work all the time, you have to constantly grow, you have to be
flexible, you have to take criticism, you have to be able to take rejection, and you have to find a
way to support yourself, because the reality is that very few people are able to support
themselves, much less a family, solely doing art. There are exceptions of course, and there are
some people that can do commercial art or graphic design and that kind of thing that are able to
have a regular paycheck. Art is a very precarious career. People really need to be told that. I try
to tell students “Do you want to major in art? That’s great! Have a back up plan. Have something
Ranger: Like for myself I plan on just getting an Associates and after that just going for anything
else just so I can get my foot in the door. Did you plan on being as successful as you are now in
Elaine: Well, that is a philosophical question really. Some people define success as financial
success. If your able to sell your paintings consistently for really big prices then you are
successful. Other people define success as constant. Some people make paintings that are boring
and redundant and some people like that. Something people will want to buy. So, I tend to define
success more as innovation in art. Some others would define success as being happy with what
you are doing instead of agonizing over it. So, am I successful? I don’t know. Sometimes I can
be happy with what I am doing and sometimes I agonize over it. So again, I don’t think I can
answer that.
Ranger: So, did you have to sacrifice anything for your art career?
Elaine: Yeah. You know there are friends I don’t have, movies I’ve never seen, there is travel I
have not done, because I don’t have time. I’m working on my artwork. It’s a solitary pursuit.
Your alone when you are painting. There are many worthwhile organizations that I am not a
Ranger: What is your favorite type of medium in art? When did you know what it was? Did you
learn what it was in college, high school, or when you were really young?
Elaine: I didn’t find out when I was really young because I didn’t have a chance to try all the
stuff like in Drawing Two. I didn’t get to try that stuff until later in life. I would say write now
that my two favorites, well I don’t even know if I can limit it to two. For painting I like acrylic
and watercolor and for water I really like water soluble graphite. So, I would say those are my
favorites.
Ranger: Do you have something you can’t live without in your studio if you had everything?
Elaine: Well I really like music. I really like listening to music when I am working.
Elaine: Yeah. The music is important and I like a cup of coffee I can sip on.
Ranger: Is there an element of art you enjoy working with the most? Why?
Ranger: Do you like doing abstractions, still-life’s, different thing like that.
Elaine: What I like doing most is doing things that are creative and maybe a little weird. Quite
frankly I get bored with realism. Even though that is what most people like. Most of the
paintings that sell are realistic landscapes or still-lives. I can do that and appreciate one that is
well done, but I enjoy the imagination of art. SO I enjoy distorting things or putting odd things
together in a painting. I like abstraction a lot. That’s all I have to say about that.
Elaine: To try and make some money out of it! Hahaha! You know it is a business. Art is a
business if you take it seriously and so I am motivated to make it have some income.
Elaine: When I was in college, I don’t know, when I was around junior or something I thought
“Oh dear, what am I going to do when I graduate?” I like people…usually, and so I thought I
could get the teaching credentials if need be. Try it at least. My first teaching job was eight grade
art and it was a disaster. I was so young and naïve… Well do you remember eighth grade?
Elaine: Well, these kids were so mean that if they could detect the slightest weakness or
hesitation as a teacher they just attack. Like a pack! They just go after you. They do things like
plug the sink in the back of the room and then turn on the faucets and I would dealing with some
crisis up front and I would turn around and see the sink overflowing in the back. No one knew
anything about it. I mean it was awful and I was not hired back at that school. All the art teachers