“I have a lot of dreams and try to remember my dreams and let them influence me. I like to daydream, and, you know, I see patterns, you know, in my eyes, and form things like that. And I just kind of like go from there, and then the ideas kind of pull up. It’s awesome”.
Erin Ives
My friendship with Erin started a year ago almost to the day. I attended ARTBASH at Artspace with a few friends. When I signed into the event the wall behind the attendants were a grid of famous women in collages, made by S. Erin Ives. I immediately felt drawn to her work, excited to have a conversation with her about art, and wanted to know her.
During the event I anticipated the opportunity to see more of her work, her studio, and meet her. I was a lucky lady that night because I did get to meet her, hear about her process, get her number, buy one of her art pieces, and start a friendship with a local, fellow female artist.
This piece of Erin’s I bought the night I met her. It fits perfectly in my home, and into my aesthetic. It’s great supporting another female local artist.
The Saturday I interviewed Erin we headed to Goodwill for a little thrift shopping which is one of Erin’s favorite activities. During our drive I ask her some questions about her art life, career, and perspective as a female artist.
This interview was set up to feel like a conversation in a fun and interesting setting. My goal is to share Erin’s energy and enthusiasm for other artists, community, and her art. The interview has been edited for space and clarity.
Erin Ives is a local artist with a studio at Artspace (a downtown art collective) who currently lives in Raleigh. She started making art when she was “about 22 when I decided to go back to school and started taking a few different art classes.”
Who are some of your female inspirations?
“Barbara Kruger. I love her graphic features, her message about female empowerment, her feminist qualities in her work. I like the mix of marketing, and convincing people. What works is the tongue in cheek nature of it.”
“I would say Nan Goldin was huge, I just loved her work, so powerful, so raw and of the time, it inspires me. Even though I’m more of a ‘reflect on history’ kind of a person, I’m trying to push myself right now and incorporate the real, the present, and the presence of what is happening out there now. The dichotomy of these rich, fruitful colors of her photography and then she might have people who are shooting up. Or, how she documented herself in a relationship. Those really influenced my work.”
How do you find new female artists?
“YouTube. Louisiana is a great YouTube channel, and they do small videos about artists all over the world, but not just female artists. Of course, I’m always drawn to female work because, you know, I am female. I can relate to it. Find the inspiration within it.”
What else she does to find artists...
“Small school is in Raleigh.”
“Seeing who (the visiting artist) comes through, even if I can’t go because I’m super busy. I can look at their work and read about them on my own time. So that’s a been a really good way of seeing what is going on in our community.”
What is your favorite medium?
“I’ll give you a HR answer, which is, it depends. It depends on what I’m trying to get across. I really do always go back to photography.”
What do you think is the hardest part of being a female artist?
“Conversations with certain people who ‘don’t get it’. There’s a lot of content in my work. Sometimes people see it and sometimes they don’t”.
Ives gave me some examples of when people “don’t get her work”.
“I did some work recently where it’s vintage images of women of their mug shots. I was talking to somebody who came into the studio at Artspace. And he basically laughed at me when I started talking about my work. He shook his head and said, ‘That’s not true about the women.’”
Has there been a consistent bias through your career that’s already in place?
“A little bit. Yeah. Why do I only have pictures of women? Because that’s who I am, that’s, who my people are, mainly, I obviously have some men in my life. That’s the story I know.”
What would you like the next generation of female artists to know?
“Don’t listen to that voice or someone else’s voice telling you not to do it. Try it. Decide for yourself what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it. Don’t, don’t let anything hold you back. And don’t let the NO’s get to you, because you’re going to hear a lot of them, and they suck, but it makes the yeses even better.”
is that advice the same advice you wish you had known when you were 20?
“Yes, and the real advice I wish I had known was don’t go to school for art. Go to school for business.”
Do you have a community of females that support you and support your work?
“I have found good community here in Raleigh. I mean men and women, a lot of women who were supportive of what I was doing and encourage me to push myself and to grow in different ways.”
Where is your show next year?
“At Wilson Arts in Wilson, North Carolina, and it’s a dual show with Jennifer Clifton. We’re both splitting enormous and beautiful gallery space. And I’m excited.”
First Friday Raleigh is a great way to meet Erin in person and visit her studio at ArtSpace. The next First Friday is December 6th, 2024. Just in time to buy some gifts.
You can also find her work on Instagram.
Until next time on @glasscanvas!
Instagram – @heartmailstudios
See you in a few weeks- M.E.
Heartmail Studios 
Thanks Melissa! This is really sweet. It is ALWAYS great talking to you.
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