Amina Harper - Illustration

 Cupcake King

Amina Harper

City/State: Minneapolis

Website: aminaharperart.blogspot.com

MNArtists Page: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=251692

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amina-Harper-Art/237348532964916

Twitter: @aminaharperart

Bio~ Amina Harper is an emerging artist born in Minneapolis MN, who studied for 2 years at the Pacific Northwest College of Art (until she got kicked out). At its core Amina's work is about dragging her inner child kicking and screaming into adulthood. She expresses a horrific and twisted world with bright, candy colors and sweet, innocent faces that often hide seductive secrets. Amina currently works out of Minneapolis.

Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

Currently I've been paying more attention to  how art and fashion can coexist together. I've been trying to take the content of my work and translate it into garment form.  I want lots of detail, lots to look at and the additive of wondering what it would be like to wear the art as well. Basically, I've always wanted to make cake dresses. 

Jumping the Gun 

  

"What is Art?" is certainly too big of a question to ask here, but what do you hope your audience takes away from your art? What statement do you hope to make?

To me, art is more about the exploration of the question and less about the answer. The process of finding the answer and the journey you take in its name is what's really important. I guess I just want the audience to have fun and get excited about what they see when they look at my work. There’s a lot of detail and I want people to feel like they’re really interacting with my work by looking at it. I hope that people always find something new in my work that they haven’t seen before, and that they come back a second time and find something new. I love when people come up to me with a big smile on their face after they see a piece of mine they really like; sometimes they’re really excited like they just got off their favorite ride at an amusement park. I love that.

 Stag Girl

What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 

Don’t be afraid. EVER. Fear stops everything before it can start and it can keep you from all the beautiful and wonderful things the world has to offer.

Tell me about your work space and your creative process.

I just work from my home. I think the creative process is an ongoing mindset that should never shut off. I try to keep my mind as open as possible and let as many different things in as possible. Sometimes I go to different places to try and feel what I see (if that makes any sense); I’ll got to Lakewood Cemetery or antique shops for the sake of acquiring images; You never know when a certain image, phrase, song or idea will find its way in and inspire you.

 Queen Bee

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy? 

Oh, there are too many to count and it’s always changing. Right now I like to see the new things Rudy Fig comes up with. And I love Erin Sayer and Jennifer Davis too. 

  

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?

Um, you'd probably end up on some strange family outing where you're taking on a tour of the seediest, strangest and most vibrant areas of Minneapolis; you know, places where there used to be old strip clubs or where somebody got murdered, or where somebody decorated their house with bright pink tiles. My uncle used to be a bus driver so he tells me where all that stuff is. I also go to a lot of thrift and antique shops cause you never know what you might find.

 Tea Time

Where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?

I often go to MPLSART.COM to look up galleries within the city that I think might show my work or to see what’s happening in terms of events, I check out the opportunity section at mnartists.org to see if any venues are in need of artists, I check Springboard for the Arts job section as well. I check out my friends’ facebook pages to see if they know of any galleries that would be willing to show my work. Every day I check a website call cgunit.net to check out new artists I haven’t heard of yet

Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?

Last year I was in the Cult Sister II show at Cult Status Gallery and I'll be doing Cult Sister III in May 2012 with the same ladies and some new ladies as well. Right now I have a piece entered in the 2012 Munny Contest at Tomodachi.