Maggie Nowinski

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Okay, well, hello, Maggie. And hello, everyone. This is Maggie Nowinski, who teaches drawing at MCC. She teaches at a number of institutions and is a very active practicing artist. And you can, you know, you’ll be getting this link at the Faculty, Fine Art faculty show site so you can read about her in her resume and her statement and look at her work as well. So, Maggie, thanks again for being here.

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, thank you for setting this up,

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Giving us, giving us the time on this snowy October morning. All right, so the first, the first question is, how, if at all has the pandemic affected your work and your practice?

Maggie Nowinski
Well, the pandemic has certainly affected my work. And my practice. One of the ways I think that initially impacted my, my work is what had to do with sort of the intention, like where maybe my work was coming from, and, and questioning kind of, I think, sort of the motivation of making work and the pace. It was, you know, a lot of times we you hear about the pandemic being called sort of this moment of a great pause. And I think that’s a really a very apt description.

So I really sort of took stock of kind of what was, I guess, motivating my productivity, and really trying to take that word, productivity, out of my kind of practice and identity and, and really sort of took a good look at that.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
So productivity in that, like, does that suggest that you were drawn to stop looking at your work as a product?

Maggie Nowinski
Um, I think more this kind of almost maybe…

A little bit a product of my identity, and a product of kind of, sort of needing to stay in a kind of race, sort of, like, I’m a productive artist, I’m continually making work, you know, I exist in this kind of race that we’re all in. I think, in so many aspects of our culture, you know, and this has been talked about a lot in terms of modern culture and capitalist culture, we’re kind of constantly producing and producing in sort of whatever field we’re in. And I think when that sort of enters to sort of the studio, for me, it’s, there’s a compulsion that happens and looking at what that was about was really important.

Sort of, in other words, kind of, I think, one way to describe it is that I, I sort of was realized I wanted a more kind of pure connection to my work and a more private one. So that, you know, and it part of that has to do with social media, Instagram, websites, kind of applying for shows, like everything sort of went (breathes out). And there was this kind of space that opened up and I started to, I needed to be home first of all.

I have this really big studio that I work at normally. And so I needed to change scales, you know, so to start working more small and more intimate. And I think, that scale and that intimacy, not only is it was a literal thing, but also was kind of a conceptual, spiritual change for me. And I began to make work and not share it as I was sharing it on social media. Sort of not make plans for the work, you know, sometimes the plan for where the work is going to be shown or what the space is, you know, can structure and motivate work and that can be a really great thing. But I needed to step outside of that for myself. So, and I began actually a daily Coronavirus drawing practice, and that – after about three months, I did meet with a curator and, and it I sort of realized I was devoting a year to this project. And so I will be showing all of them in a year’s time. So I sort of took took the time to kind of create this new project that was very close to me, and I still am not sharing a lot of that work yet. But I do have kind of a date when I will be showing it all.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
It sounds like it actually brought you closer to your work and to your practice.

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, yeah, I think it did.

And also, to kind of, this the source of nature and my immediate environment, in terms of observation that does enter my, my drawings, so taking more walks every day, you know, twice a day being in the woods, taking walks that weren’t sort of like, “Okay, I got to fit my, my walk in with my dogs before I run to this place or that place.”

And so that sort of slowing down, I think, in general, inevitably impacted, you know, what was happening in my in my work.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
For sure. Okay.

Some of this, you’ve already touched on, but I’m asking everyone the same, the same question. So if there’s anything you want to add, are there certain requirements you have for making your work, either physical or sort of psychological or, you know, what needs to be in place for you to generate work?

Maggie Nowinski
Mmm, that’s interesting, I think.

I don’t know that I have a lot of requirements or a lot of things that feel like they’re in my way. I think the requirement is that I have the physical ability to make it happen. And I make, have always made sure that that is somewhat possible for myself by prioritizing having a large studio. Like, as soon as I sort of had a BFA under my belt, I made sure I had a really big studio space. So as a, you know, my entire adult life, I’ve made sure that I didn’t have sort of like, I set myself up so that I didn’t have any kind of constraints on the scale of my work, you know, or medium. That said, I obviously have certain, I can’t, you know, make a welded sculpture, for example.

But I think…I’m trying to think if there’s another, I certainly have my own sort of parameters and rules that I create within, within my work itself.

But yeah, I don’t think I have any requirements other than, than that.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Okay.

Maggie Nowinski
But I think that, um, like you prefer to work in in solitude, rather than a communal setting.

I do although I, I have collaborations that I do on a regular basis. And I am collaborating with two artists, currently, a writer and another and a sculptor. So I do collaborate, but not so much in terms of like a public art kind of Community Arts type of setting.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Or like a shared studio space.

Maggie Nowinski
Um, yeah, I have. Yeah, I like to be alone.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
I get it, I get it. Um, do you have a general specific system that you use in developing your work? Do you start in one general place, and then go forward, or drawings, or?

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, I think I think everything that I do, does feel like it’s grounded in a strong drawing practice that I’ve always had, whether it’s kind of like generating ideas in a sketchbook, you know, I have sort of an active sketchbook process.

Or, before sort of a drawing becomes maybe a more official drawing, I have sketches of it, and then I, you know, work kind of from that.

So, you know, and I even think that when I’m doing installation work, throughout the years, my mediums have changed and sort of been really, really varied. I, I think of my installations as kind of large drawings,

Susan Classen-Sullivan
I’m just trying to screen share one of your installations, as you’re talking about it. Give me a second.

There we go.

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, so the the sort of pieces in and of themselves, wind up being kind of modular drawings. And they change. Just that what we’re looking at here, the largest ones are about five and a half feet, five feet, 72 inches, they’re almost my height. And then so from there, you can figure out the scale. So individually, they’re, they’re drawings,

double sided drawings on canvas, but then when I’m putting them up, there’s kind of this sort of performative, or I don’t know if that’s quite the word, like time based drawing, practice that happens for experience for me.

It’s rhythmic, and I’m, I’m sort of using them, the individual drawings as a kind of language to expand.

And in terms of like how those particular forms kind of fit within my, my other drawings, I kind of think of these particular pieces, these are I call these “wholes” with a W. So they’re sort of a double meaning they have a hole in the center, but they’re also complete. rings or circles.

So they’re, they’re both whole and empty.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
In this image that we’re looking at right now, I want to make sure that we’re both looking at the same one. In this one, the the work, some of the work comes from the ceiling, it comes down on to the floor, is that what you see too?

Maggie Nowinski
Yes.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Okay. Okay, so very cool. Where did this take place?

Maggie Nowinski
This was in the gallery at Springfield College. I think it’s called the William Blizard gallery.

And this was a year and a half ago. Like last February, 2019.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Did people walk through this space?

Maggie Nowinski
They did, you couldn’t really get behind the scrolls. They were, they were somewhat anchored, and there was a small space, but you could walk kind of around the, the holes and kind of into it.

I really wanted people to because it’s a combination of drawing directly on the wall, collage directly on the wall, or cut out drawings, and then these, you know, these ones on canvas that are spilling out.

This was called 10 daring holes. And it was this idea that what I was trying to get at was kind of this physical experience that these were both, like, spilling out towards the viewer. And also like pulling away, like you weren’t quite sure if it was coming at you or kind of receding.

And I wanted that to pull people in.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Looking at it, you know, just virtually here, I can imagine being in the space, just looking at it here. I feel like I’m inside of something, you know, because your work has that sort of macro micro element to it. Like are these microscopic forms? Or do they relate to that? So, it does really interesting things for me as a viewer in terms of scale, my scale, the work scale, and how it creates an environment.

Listen, when you’re when you’re making your work, what criteria do you use to evaluate it? Like how do you how do you choose what you’ll accept in the work and what you won’t?

Maggie Nowinski
That’s a really good, a good question. And, you know, I think it changes throughout. And, like I, it’s hard for me to say like what, what criteria I use now, but I can I can tell you, I know when it changes, like when the criteria changes. And it’s usually when I break a rule of my own. I go, “Oh, wait, where did that rule come from? I think I’m gonna break that rule”.

And so then the criteria will change. So one rule that I know that I’ve broken in my sort of really detailed specimen drawings, I used to do them direct with ink, so I wouldn’t allow myself to…

I wouldn’t allow myself to sketch them ahead of time.

And, you know, so this one has like the flat black to it. And that that’s actually another rule that I that I kind of broke for myself.

So before I was doing these silhouette sort of areas, which is really something that’s just happened in less than than a year, I had to sort of really like hyper draw every single part. So these were, these all had different sort of ink textures and line work that was very, very, sort of over-rendered almost. And at some point, I thought, you know, I can have shape. It doesn’t have to be where there’s form and ultimate clarity everywhere, I can sort of flatten some areas into shape.

So it was sort of this revelation that I allowed myself to do that. But also, I allowed myself at some point to start sketching in pencil. So originally, I would just go directly with ink, and it was like, very tense process. Because, you know, this was actually a more simple one that I’ve, that I that we’re looking at.

But, you know, it was prohibiting me from sort of maybe certain elements, like where you can foreshorten and sort of create different twisting aspects of different forms, where once I sort of broke that rule that it had to be in ink and I allowed myself to sketch things out in pencil and erase, it was kind of, you know, really freeing,

But I also do have a, you know, I I guess this is more like rules rather than criteria. You know, I keep these drawings without color. I have some color experimentation in my printmaking. But I want the the color to sort of be imagined coming from the viewer.

You know, color is sort of a different language. So I’m really interested in just the structure.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
This, this this piece that we’re looking at seems so figurative to me.

Unknown Speaker
Yeah.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
I don’t remember seeing that in your work before. When I opened this up I said, “Wow, look what’s happening.”

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, this one was, I also think that there’s like a little bit more humor in this one. You know, there’s like this kind of lightness and sort of dancing quality.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Yeah.

Maggie Nowinski
And this kind of attitude about this one, whereas a lot of the other ones look more like some kind of internal organ system gone awry with plants attached. This one feels like a really, like more figurative kind of unit. So these, this one is actually slightly a little smaller. It’s, I think, how big are these? 14 by 19, something like that. So they’re not quite as large. And I’m, I am being sort of more playful with these and kind of playing more with like a figure form. Like a head is here and kind of a torso.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Yeah, there’s movement.

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, it can be a little more fun.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
So Maggie, when you’re, in terms of your practice, are there things that you do outside of your studio work, outside of your studio practice that feed it and support it?

Maggie Nowinski
Yes. And I have a really, pretty regular, I go hiking regularly. I live in an area that has a lot of different conservation trails, and this mountain Blue Mountain Range. And, you know, I’m definitely in the woods. I’m in the woods every day. And I photograph a lot of what I’m looking at. And you know, I have my little plant specimen guides. And, you know, I do a little bit of identification. It doesn’t it’s really

Susan Classen-Sullivan
You have that Google app where you can take a picture of a plant and then get it, you know, name and information and all that?

Maggie Nowinski
It’s called – the best one I have, everyone…

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Oh, she’s got multiples.

Maggie Nowinski
iNaturalist.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
What is it?

Maggie Nowinski
iNaturalist.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Okay.

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, it’s, it’s a revelation. It’s like, it’s, it’s so it’s so great.

Yeah. And you can sort of look at sort of ge-geographically, there’s sort of this community of people that will go like, “Yes, you identified that correctly.”

So I certainly do that. I also go to the, Smith College is near me and Mount Holyoke College. They both have really great greenhouses. In the winter, I wind up especially in the Smith College greenhouse a lot taking pictures, doing little sketches. I do a little blind contour sketches sometimes.

So it’s, I think, that is the biggest part that kind of feeds feeds my work in in a more like, lifestyle, less, like, I mean, I do sometimes research and things, but that’s different.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Okay, and what are the what are the biggest challenges, would you say, about, you know, being an artist making your work?

Maggie Nowinski
I think time, I think the fragmentation of time, that that is sort of inevitable, in that, you know, having to balance work, and studio and life.

It’s, it’s just like, it’s really challenging.

I think, you know, also, as I sort of get older, like becoming a little bit more aware of needing time and space that is, like, for wandering or play, and, you know, not sort of working every night in the studio till really, really, really late.

So it’s, it’s, I think that time management. But it’s also like a psychological space, kind of, like, you know, we have these different, I think as, as teachers too there’s different aspects of teaching that that can sometimes feel really generative and really creative and really connected to our art practice. And other times it can feel really separate. And, you know, and that’s even just sort of like managing, like, sort of the class and figuring out.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Especially now.

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, that’s right.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Yeah.

Maggie Nowinski
Exactly. There’s just like, we’re dealing with, you know, it doesn’t, it’s not hands on. So, you know, so I think that that’s the biggest challenge for me is time and, and the other challenge is kind of like, I, I feel like I haven’t spoken to any artists that this isn’t the case for, but finding time to apply for shows and update websites and that sort of admin part and kind of struggling with that entering the the studio time, and, you know all of that.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
There’s a lot to it.

There’s a lot to it for sure.

Maggie Nowinski
Not boring.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
But what how about the rewards?

Unknown Speaker
Um, the rewards?

Maggie Nowinski
So many.

I just get to make, you know, I love the idea that I have this sort of constant in my life that I, that I have this touchstone of my art practice.

I, it’s really interesting, I think I’ve been thinking about that a lot during COVID. And, you know, regardless of, I think, how any art or how can sort of conceptual, any art practices, it’s also therapeutic.

I think, you know, making work and engaging in a creative practice is a release, it’s a way to process what’s going on in the world. It’s sometimes both a way to confront and also a way to distract.

So I think, the rewards right now for, you know, being an artist feel, feel really huge and really present. And I feel really grateful to have it.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
You said that you were doing 100? Was it 100, 100 COVID drawings? You know, you have a daily practice or a year long practice of COVID drawings. Is there any other work that you’re involved with right now that you’d like to share with us or talk about?

Maggie Nowinski
Um, let’s see.

Well, I am, right now I’m finishing up putting together a curatorial project that I got a grant for, through a local city Arts Council. And I’m using their website to create an online gallery for, I put out a call to Western Mass. artists. So I kind of delineated the region and reached out and collected a lot of artists and tried to include as many as I could in this show.

Which was possible because it’s an online show. So it’s not in a space where there’s sort of constriction, so yeah. So that’s going to be launched on, on Sunday, and there’s a little over 70 artists. And then I’ll be curating, from that I’ll be doing an Instagram takeover of this organization and kind of doing sort of smaller curations from that.

So it’s a big project.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
When I think about coordinating something that huge. Well, good for you. I look forward to seeing it.

Maggie Nowinski
Yeah, that’s the biggest thing, you know, and then I have a couple of shows lined up for like, not starting till next June and, um, so it’s, I actually do feel like I have an opening. Maybe I’ll have an actual break during the, between semesters, and I’d like I’m trying to protect that actually.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Good.

So last, last question. Do you have any advice that you would give young artists students in pursuing, possibly pursuing a career in art?

Maggie Nowinski
Well, I know one of the things that’s really worked well, for me, and I mentioned this earlier, was making sure I had a space to make work in right away, like always carving that space.

And sometimes that meant sacrificing a living space in a, in a, in the greatest way. So it could be just also having like, making sure that you have a bedroom corner devoted to a space where you can make art. Like it has, you have to have a space in order to do it. Because, and, you know, you know, because otherwise it won’t happen.

But it also seems obvious to me and yet I see that as being such a hindrance for people, especially when they don’t have sort of the classroom studio space.

And so making that space and, and time and honoring that for I think oneself. I definitely do think that it’s it’s inevitable that right now Instagram is a big way to sort of reach other artists and I have had people contact me, I’ve had people reach out through Instagram to show my work or purchase it and you know, and just really trying to find ways to get their work out there. I think starting with even just cafes that show work.

And seeing work in person is like such a great way to feed, I think, that sense of community and sort of ideas knowing what’s happening with the art world.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Okay, well, that those were all my questions.

Maggie, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day and you know, you’ve got a lot going on. So thank you for being so articulate and generous.

Maggie Nowinski
Thank you so much, this was really fun. You got to visit my studio a little bit.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
I know, it’s big. It’s nice.

And we’ll see you around the block.

Maggie Nowinski
All right, sounds good.

Susan Classen-Sullivan
Bye. Take good care.

Maggie Nowinski
You too.