Again we sit down with one of the talented artists participating in Dana Scully's 50th Birthday celebrations. We at XFN have come together with heART and X-Philanthropy to interview the people behind some of your favorite works of fan-art. Today, we spend a little time with Ivee Corday.
Round two of the overall drive featuring heART's artwork is going on now and can be found here. Round three of the auctions featuring Ivee's work begins February 26th with a fourth round coming right after. Click here to view the items up for sale.
Take the jump to read our interview with Ivee Corday.
XFN: In a nutshell - tell us what inspires you as an artist. What are your favorite artists?
Ivee: One word: emotions. If a piece doesn't stimulate an emotional response within me, I can't find it inspiring. Those emotions can be found in all forms of art: music, literature, movies and TV, and of course other visual art forms. I scan my whole world for these types of emotive responses, and whenever something hits home, I draw inspiration from that. One of my favorite visual artists is Alphonse Mucha; he did a lot of art noveau lithographs in the 19th century, which is a time period I'm incredibly fascinated with. I'm in love with their everyday aesthetics, and Mucha's work reflects those.
XFN: What type of materials/means and styles are your favorites? Water colors? Pencils? Photoshop? Tell us a little about your creation process.
Ivee: I started out as a pencil artist exclusively, but lately the desire to branch out into other styles has grown in me. I have come to enjoy experimenting with pretty much anything: different types of paints, charcoal & chalks as much as several digital art forms. Most recently I've developed a keen interest in watercolours and all the incredibly different styles you can create with them. My fascination with them is also why I've chosen to do a watercolour piece for the heART auctions. I'm still at a stage where I don't quite know what behavior to expect on different types of paper, with different amounts of water, and different brushes; I like that it's not predictable. For example, my imagination of the piece I did for heART was completely different from the final result. That can be frustrating if you're trying to go for a particular style, but it can also be incredibly freeing. Pencil art tends to be very controlled, but when you do a watercolour, you start out with an idea, and then you let the paint take over. The art guides you, not the other way around. I'm a very controlled person in most other aspects of my life, so I have come to enjoy letting go of myself through this art form.
XFN: What motivated you to create these particular works of art?
Ivee: My motivation has been to paint something that is hopefully appealing enough to bidders to raise as much money for SA-YES as possible.
XFN: As a fan of Gillian Anderson's work and most likely an X-Files fan, what part of their work has been life changing to you?
Ivee: "Life changing" is a very strong expression, but I'd certainly say that The X-Files had a significant impact on my formative years as a teenager, and even beyond. After all, it brought me a lot of my dearest, bestest friends to date, the only people I feel I can be 100% myself around, and the ones I can always turn to when I struggle. My life would be a whole lot emptier without them, and I can't express how grateful I am for having met them through our mutual love for the show.
XFN: What strikes you as the most important thing that SA-Yes does for their people?
Ivee: I think their mentor program to support these young South African people, who have no one else to turn to, in building a life for themselves is invaluable. I have grown up in an incredibly privileged setting myself, and despite that I still find growing up one of the toughest tasks in life. I'm currently at a stage professionally where I'm still very much a youngster, too, and I'm very aware of how important it is to have competent guidance, a sort of moral shelter in tough situations. My workplace employs a mentor-mentee system for rookies that is probably not unlike the SA-YES program (for different purposes of course), and oftentimes I feel like it's my lifeline. These positive experiences definitely fuel my desire to give back by supporting programs like SA-YES.
XFN: Scully turns fifty this year; she was a female character that many follow as an example, mainly because in one way or another she is a beacon that questioned the world around her. How do you think that you as an individual can help change and improve the world around you?
Ivee: I try to start small by being the best possible version of myself in day to day life. Most of all I think it's important to be polite and friendly to strangers and colleagues, and compassionate with people in need, because there's enough hate going on in the world, and why make our lives even harder by being rude to each other? The other day I read a quote on the internet, which went something like this: happiness is the only thing that multiplies if you share it. That really spoke to me. Those small things in life are the foundation of trying to improve anything, really, because they accumulate into a base line, and how can you change things for the better when you can't even employ a positive attitude in your everyday life? If I can contribute to "bigger things" outside of that, like organising charity events like those we do at heART, then that's even better.
Our thanks go out to Ivee Corday for taking the time to talk with us. You can check out all her work over at her webpage. You can check out all the artists taking part in heART and X-Philanthropy's Scully's 50th Birthday Celebration, including Ivee, here.
Stay tuned for more interviews with these incredible artists.