Life & Work with Alison Reid

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alison Reid. 

Hi Alison, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My art practice has always been part of my life. It has been a necessity for my mental health. As I grew older, I came to learn that it can be what I do with my life. I can share the strange creations that come from my meditations and hyper-fixations with others, maybe even help others find healing in the art too. I was fortunate in high school to be able to design my time there around growing as an artist and photographer, before going off to Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design to get my bachelor’s. With the endless support of my mother and my husband, I’ve been able to build my art and photography business from the ground up. While I still have a long way to go, I’ve come so much further than I ever dreamed I could. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has NOT been a smooth road. No full life is. Whether facing unemployment, eviction, car accidents, and endless struggles with my own brain and nervous system. The journey I have been on has been full of potholes in a car with a flat tire. However, I’ve never faced these struggles alone and we have always learned and grown from everyone. I will say, if I didn’t have my art practice to turn to every time the chaos of life hits and rips the steering wheel from my grasp, I likely wouldn’t be on the road at all. Instead, I sublimate the chaos into creation, allowing life to flow around me until I’m ready to take back the steering wheel. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My art practice is relatively chaotic. It doesn’t quite fit into any subject or box, and that’s how I like it. While I specialize in film photography, I create what I’m inspired to with whatever material, style, technique that appeals to me in the moment of inspiration. Art making is an experience and that experience outweighs any preconceived result for me. The experience allows me to set aside adult life and the worries and fears that go along with it, letting my mind and body free of the weight of it all, if only for an hour. If there is one consistent factor in my practice, it is that I tend to choose art-making experiences that embrace chaos. I choose experiences that will require me to set aside total control and expectations. I work with film photography primarily because I don’t get to check my photo as soon as I take it, I have to trust myself, trust that I achieved the image I want while never releasing the awareness that any number of factors could completely change that frame into something unexpected. This is also why I have a tendency to soak my undeveloped film in various chemical concoctions (known as film souping) to intentionally cause a surprising result. My drawing practice is very centered on being art therapy, while even more critically embracing the unexpected possibilities. I practice automatic drawing specifically, which involves actively removing my intentions and expectations from the process, instead focusing on one line at a time, allowing whatever happens to form to do so. Reminding myself along the way that it just doesn’t matter what I draw, it matters that I’m drawing. I hope that my images can be enjoyed by strange folks like me, beyond that I hope to share my approach to art making with others that may be in need of this kind of mental support. 

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success, in my opinion, is simply another factor of hundreds of factors in life. To build a life focused on reaching “success” is to miss out on so much else. Success can be a goal to motivate an individual to keep going, keep working. But if that goal doesn’t grow and change as we do, then what good is it? I’m not really sure how I would define success. I think if I can reach a place of calm in life, a place my mental health can thrive and my time can be spent creating, I’d consider myself as succeeding in my life. Who knows if that will be the same in 5 years. 

Pricing:

• Large prints: $28
• Medium Prints: $18
• Small Prints: $6
• Originals: Vary
• Photography services: Vary

Contact Info:

• Website: www.linker.ee/alisonreid
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/neurons_and_photons
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisonreidart/
• Other: www.alisonreidart.com