Please introduce yourself and share a little about yourself and your background.

I was born in Bellingham Washington and have spent most of my adult life in Seattle. I’ve lived in Springfield, Illinois; Reston, Virginia; Roswell, New Mexico; and most recently, I spent five years in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. I also lived for two years in Thailand directly after college (in Maha Sarakham and Khon Kaen).

I’ve been making art and other things since I was a child. I was a really shy kid, I remember being somewhat scared of adults even though I had incredibly supportive parents. In middle school and most of high school, I felt like an outsider, not fitting in with the “normal” kids. However, I had a great art teacher in high school, David Shaw, who encouraged me with my art. In the last two years of high school I actually went to a citywide vocational school for half days, where I studied photography and radio. I actually think going to vocational school kept me from dropping out of high school.

I went to college at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA where I focused on film, animation, and electronic music. I don’t think I could have gone to a normal college. I’ve always been someone who thrived more with self-directed, experiential learning and I think Evergreen was perfect for me.

My parents are both incredibly supportive of anything I’ve chosen to do. One thing I have recently realized about them is that they get a lot of happiness by making people feel important and comfortable. My mom was a principal at a public elementary school, and she spent a lot of time there figuring out how to make children feel listened to and important. She wrote a book called The Good News Chair about a chair that she had in her office where children were encouraged to sit and share their good news with her.

Both of my parents have had a lot of influence on the type of work I make today. I want people to feel joy, comfort, and a sense of importance when they experience my work.

Your work is vibrant, colorful, and inquisitive. It tends to address relationships between people, the importance of imagination, and what it means to have hope. How has your practice all these years impacted the way you think about hope and imagination?

My imagination is one of my most treasured things about myself. When I was child, I remember just sitting by myself, thinking of random words and images and being amazed at my brain for being able to do that. I love absurdity and laughing. I don’t know how I would live in this world with these things.

I like to make work that sparks some sort of elation within myself.  That’s always been a barometer for everything I create; if I feel some sort of joy from what I’m experimenting with, then I make it.

Sometimes people think my work is only about happiness and joy, but much of it is a response to the darkness in the world. I can be deeply upset with the state of things one moment, and then go for a walk, see a flower, a cat, or some shadows, and suddenly find hope again.

Before I started focusing on visual art, I was in a band called the Bran Flakes. The Bran Flakes music is made 100% out of samples. Mostly records but also tapes, television, and movies. Because the music was created with samples in the studio we decided that we needed to make our live shows an experience. The shows included animations, dancers, props, and LOTS of audience participation.

Our shows were absurd, incredibly happy, over-the-top spectacles with a nod to the world’s darkness, similar to a comedy that makes you laugh at terrible aspects of life.

These shows are a direct influence on the interactive music installations that I make now. I want people to be directly involved with my art, but in ways that are safe and encouraging to them. I feel like people are constantly challenged in a multitude of ways every day, and I want to provide them with some relief from that.

Art is constantly changing and developing. How has your work developed over the last few years?

I’ve focused a lot on drawing over the last several years, and I think that that’s made my work more expressive. Almost everything I make now (at least for visual art) starts out with drawing. It feels like the most direct link to my imagination, intuition, and feelings.

I’m someone who is almost always thinking about the future more than the past. The past sometimes seems very abstract to me; I have a hard time remembering exact times and dates that have happened. Sometimes I’ll look back at something I made several years ago and think, “I can’t believe I made that!” That being said, I’m usually most excited about the thing I’m currently working on.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to be able to spend the last six years in the studio developing my work. The reason I’ve been able to do this is that Julie and I have been supported by artist residencies such as the Roswell Artist in Residence program in Roswell, NM and the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in Roswell, NM.

Andy Arkley, Born in 1970, airbrushed acrylic on hand jigsawed wood, 36” x 35.75” x 1.5”

Andy Arkley, Waves, airbrushed acrylic on hand jigsawed 3/4” thick wood, 26” x 23” x 1.5”

What keeps your creative practice moving forward? Why do you create?

I currently find a lot of inspiration from the things I see while walking. I walk about an hour every day, many times at Seward Park where I appreciate the sounds and sights of the water, plants, light, birds, and animals. When I was living in Tulsa, I used to walk around the city everyday. I like walking around a city; I find a lot of inspiration from the coexistence of the natural world and human-made structures.

I’ve always been somewhat obsessive when it comes to art. I love to work, and I’m in the studio almost every day. I actually start to get somewhat apprehensive if I’m not making art!

When I’m not making art I’m usually petting my cats, cooking, or gardening.

You recently moved back to Seattle to continue your career as an artist. Can you talk about the state of the arts in Seattle? What do you see for the future of the Seattle art scene?

I’m so incredibly happy to be back in Seattle. There are so many wonderful, talented, and kind artists here. I also think that the Pacific Northwest is one of the most beautiful places in the world.

The city is much more expensive to live in than when I moved here after college. There was a time here in the late ’90s where I feel like you could move here with not a lot of money and dream.

The reality is that most artists here need another job, hopefully one that allows them to have enough energy to create art. I worked in graphic design for almost 20 years and had to do this. There’s an Onion article titled, “Find the thing you’re most passionate about, then do it on nights and weekends for the rest of your life,” which is very true!

The weird thing about Seattle is that there IS enough money here to support artists.

What has always confounded me is that there are so many people here who make a lot of money and could easily support the arts by just buying art. I believe one reason they enjoy living here is because of the vibrant art scene. If more people committed to purchasing art from Seattle artists, it would likely enhance their love for living here even more. Also people will think you’re much cooler if you own original art versus have nice countertops in your kitchen!

I love the relationships and connections that happen when I buy some art from someone, or when someone buys it from me. Our entire house is filled with work that we’ve bought or traded with other artists. I can’t imagine not living with art—it makes the world so much more wonderful!

That all being said, I’m so happy to see that there are still young people here making art and creating their own scenes. I find them incredibly inspiring!  BUY ART FROM YOUNG ARTISTS!

How can Artist Trust continue to support artists across Washington State?

I think what you’re doing now is really great. Giving money to artists, holding workshops on documenting work, writing statements and CVs, and listing opportunities are all really important.

I’m really happy that Artist Trust continues to support artists. I encourage people to support Artist Trust as well!

Andy Arkley was born in Bellingham, WA and resides in Seattle, WA. His work has been presented at the Bellevue Arts Museum, Mad Art Studio, the WNDR Museum (Boston, Chicago, and Seattle), Facebook Seattle, AHHA Tulsa, The Science Museum in Oklahoma City, The Salish Coast Elementary School, Sweet Tooth Hotel Dallas, Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, and the Pictoplasma animation festival in Berlin.

Andy is a visual artist, designer, musician, and animator who often combines these disciplines in his work. He strives to make art that fosters inclusion, positivity, and elation. Arkley frequently presents his work in installations – many of which combine sculpture, light, music, animation, and interactivity. These interactive installations are meant to encourage creative collaborations between the viewers and his art. He also creates more traditional paintings/sculptures using cut wood and acrylic paint and often uses brightly colored simple forms that invoke a sense of joy about being alive.