Larissa Uredi is an award-winning and internationally recognized fiber and mixed media artist. She has exhibited regionally and internationally and has won several artist residencies in Spain, Estonia, Italy and beyond.
When she's not out mountain biking or exploring this wide world, you can find her in her studio making a mess with paint, dyes and a myriad of other mediums. She writes about her adventures (locally and abroad) and is always up for swapping stories.
Tell us about the works on exhibit. What’s the medium? What has inspired their creation?
The works are on silk and use a variety of dyes, paints and found objects to create the marks and colorations. These pieces were inspired by two things: An artist residency I did in El Bruc, Spain and a solo show that I built around the concept of attrition, heat death and entropy.
What comes first – the medium or the message?
Silk belongs on the wall and in the home. It is not just a medium for clothing or bedsheets. It's a beautiful, sustainable and expressive medium. I feel it is essential for silk pieces to be able to move in their environment—having pieces that continue to retain some motion and character is a big part of my creative decision making. While it may not always happen, I keep the playfulness of the material in mind.
What’s the most challenging thing about your creative process?
I go through really wild swings in my productivity and creativity. I feel as though I am either completely inspired and in the pursuit of something or I'm focused on other endeavors— my job, my hobbies, etc. While it is all one big web that feeds itself, it can be really hard to keep the momentum going and remind myself to take care of my inner artist. The work I make also has a variety of processes, requirements and tools to really be successful—I love the challenge of working with those processes, but it often means keeping an open mind as I work.
Who do you consider your main artistic influences?
I LOVE Alphonse Mucha, Monet and Bocklin, as well as modern-day artists such as James Jean.
Please list 5-10 books, movies and/or music that currently inspire you.
I listen to a lot of The Decemberists, Of Monsters and Men, Deva Premal and World Rock. As far as books go, This Idea Must Die and Critical Mass both were major sources of inspiration and knowledge when I was building my body of work on entropy. The movie La La Land really shook me to my creative core, because of how accurately and cleanly it described the artistic approach and lifestyle.
