Artist Interview: Andrea Penn Bain

Learn More About Our Represented Artist

Q&A With The Artist

What are your ear­li­est mem­o­ries relat­ed to art?
 When I was giv­en col­or­ing books in my ear­ly child­hood, I remem­ber that I would add details such as shad­ing and depth that most chil­dren would not typ­i­cal­ly do. My col­ors often coor­di­nat­ed with real­i­ty. I also cre­at­ed prints, such as plaid, pol­ka dots, and stripes to add vari­ety through out the pages. I was always sur­round­ed by art due my late moth­er teach­ing me to sew and cre­ate as a young girl.
How and when did you start becom­ing an artist yourself?
 When I was 8 years old, I entered the Texas State Fair Art Com­pe­ti­tion for Juniors. I con­tin­ued to enter year­ly, in mul­ti­ple cat­e­gories. This allowed me to expand my port­fo­lio by explor­ing var­i­ous medi­ums of art. At the age of 12, I con­tin­ued to pur­sue my love of art by com­pet­ing in Area Com­pe­ti­tions. I also took com­mu­ni­ty art class­es at East­field Col­lege. As a young artist, I spent most of my time learn­ing about art his­to­ry, while per­fect­ing my draw­ing and paint­ing skills.
What was the evo­lu­tion like toward find­ing your cur­rent voice and visu­al vocabulary?
 The com­mon theme in my life has always been, “art”, despite my age, my sit­u­a­tion or my career. Art has defined my iden­ti­ty for as long as I can remem­ber. It has been my hob­by, my dri­ve and some­thing that I have been able to share with young minds through out my career as an Edu­ca­tor. To be an inspir­ing artist has always been my dream and it always will be.
What is your process like?
 My process is ever evolv­ing. I con­stant­ly try to explore dif­fer­ent medi­ums and prac­tices of art to find my favorite ways to cre­ate. Var­i­ous mate­ri­als go into each piece of my art, none of which are the same. This means that every day I can cre­ate a piece that is one of a kind with my view­ers in mind.
Is there any­thing from your artist state­ment that you wish to expound on, that you nor­mal­ly don’t have the chance to discuss?
 I don’t often have the chance to speak on the impor­tance of art as a ther­a­peu­tic method for those who may be strug­gling. Either through cre­at­ing art or view­ing it, art always holds space for those in need of being heard and expressed.
What do you try to con­trol in your sur­faces, and what do you leave to chance?
 Bal­ance helps guide the view­ers eye through my pieces, which is often some­thing I try to con­trol. How­ev­er, while using resin in my lat­est cre­ations, I am learn­ing that it is a medi­um that is hard to con­trol. I am cur­rent­ly work­ing to per­fect this process and have learned that some of the best things are left to chance.
Where do you see your work going from here?
 My goal is to expand and dis­trib­ute my art­work so that it may reach a wider audi­ence. I want to cre­ate less lim­i­ta­tions to own­ing my art­work and giv­ing it a place to be viewed and appre­ci­at­ed by all.
AndreaPennBain Headshot