IN THE MIND OF AN ARTIST
The Interview – Part 4
Answered By Melissa LaFontaine
Where do you find more turbulence when looking at your belief system? And how much influence, if any, has your art had in the way you navigate through these rough waters?
I was raised in a semi-Christian household. My mom still read Tarot and went to psychics but also thought you should never get divorced if you ever did get married which- it was implied- all smart women should. One of the first people I fell head over heels for was another girl. We were sitting at a Hardee’s restaurant on a pretend 12-year-old date when I realized I’d get in trouble if anyone saw me hold her hand, and that I probably wouldn’t be able to play it off as just playing pretend. I tucked my preference deeply away, ignored all the one night stands I had with other women throughout my life while spending most of the next 35 years trying to contort myself into an idea of woman that could please a man and always wondering what was wrong with me when I never could quite get to happy. It is almost too devastating to accept.
I’ve had to rewrite everything in order to make sense of my life. I’ve had to update my beliefs so that my love for spirituality, philosophy, and magic could co-exist without the deeply conditioned label of heterosexual woman in service to man attached. Art, at the very least, allows me to express my voice without an implied role, gender or ideology. And if some diabolical beliefs about what a woman should and shouldn’t be shows up in a piece and I don’t like it, I can set the thing on fire, and that’s a pretty satisfying ritual too. The only cooler thing there is to be in the world besides a lesbian writer, is a lesbian artist, so I still have something to shoot for and a way to celebrate and heal that isn’t really offered so profoundly elsewhere.
Artist’s Profile
Melissa studied Studio Art and Psychology at the University of Minnesota. She creates artistic pieces that add visual narration to her written word. She uses a blog format to publish insightful reflections, poetry and essays about life, spirituality and trauma recovery. She is also the proud homeschool mom to a budding Rockstar and has dreams of one day owning an artist’s retreat and wellness center.
Melissa’s Website
Copyright© Melissa LaFontaine
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About ‘In The Mind Of An Artist’
‘In The Mind Of An Artist’ aims to uncover the artistic mind, the perspective of individuals living under the influence of art. By and large we live collective lives, but artists see life a bit; well sometimes very different than others. As some seem to float from one artwork to another; others are deeply encrusted in their work making it difficult to catch that ride offered by the world around them, creating realities in which one person (the artist) must navigate in order to survive in society. If you are an artist and this speaks to you, please contact me if you like to share your story.
This series of articles, written by artists is about the artist’s way of processing and reacting to events in their lives. These can be tangible communal events or struggles of philosophical and psychological nature.
Through these articles artists will share their intimate views. Talking about how their perspectives changed as they trapped themselves in the cobwebs of art.
By design ‘In The Mind Of An Artist’ will not contain any images of artwork, biography, profile, lists of exhibitions, books or the artist’s creative process.
The goal here is to give the artist a chance to pause from the creation of art for a moment and explore the self.
Interviews will also be included in this series.
To submit your article, get an invitation to participate or for more information on this new series please email jo@edgeofhumanity.com .
SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN!
See New Articles HERE
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Edge of Humanity Magazine is an independent nondiscriminatory platform that has no religious, political, financial, or social affiliations.
We are committed to publishing the human condition, the raw diverse global entanglement, with total impartiality.
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