Interview with Poet Hillary Kaye
By Rex
Butters
Beachhead: How long have you
lived in Venice/Ocean Park? How did you start with painting, with poetry? How
has the Venice environment inspired you? Do you feel advantages/disadvantages
being a woman artist in Venice? What women most inspired you in your work and
life, and how?
Kaye: I’ve lived in Venice/Ocean park
for a long time. Not that I knew Mr. Kinney personally or anything, somewhere in
the 60s era i moved here and I couldn’t leave, well i did leave a few
times but something kept bringing me back here.. Something to do with the nature
of the place, shifting sands, liquefaction and all that. Seriously like its
namesake Venice, Italy which threatens to disappear below the waters, it has a
special ephemeral nature like magic and art.
The light here has a special quality
and without getting too much into Jung’s collective unconscious idea, you
can feel and be inspired by the spirit of other artists and writers who
have lived here. There is also a community of artists here today who provide by
their example support for the ridiculous notion that one can be an artist in
this society
I didn’t really
start with painting and poetry, it was more like they started with me, thrust a
brush in my hand and said paint and make poetry. I’ve been doing it most
of my life. As I said it’s a ridiculous choice given the mercantile
society and the rising rents but it’s helped a lot that there were women
artists who were brave enough to do this before... Joni Mitchell, Frida Kahlo,
etc. and women who today are still being and brave and doing this ....I am
inspired by many women in this area....there are many creative women here who
are poets, painters, singers, musicians and dancers of the soul.
Posted: Thu - March 1, 2007 at 05:00 PM