This is part of the ongoing series of articles about the Temple of Art exhibition and documentary. Directed by photographer Allan Amato, executive produced by Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, and Jon Schnepp, Temple of Art: The Documentary chronicles the lives of artists and asks them why they create their art.
There are many facets to Satine Phoenix. Her exuberance, like her creativity, cannot be easily confined. Satine’s work is very much the product of her imagination and her passions, which run the gamut from the sensuous to the fantastical. As one of the artists contributing to the Temple of Art project, I interviewed Satine about her work and her involvement with ToA. Here’s the interview.
Sean:
Have you always been interested in art and creative expression?
Satine:
This question is funny to me because the answer is more than yes. When you live and breathe a certain way you don’t realize that people don’t live the way you do or interact with the world the way you do. I just am, and my “am” is a creative “am”. Though my illustrations started when I was a kid and didn’t know how to be honest with my feelings and thoughts. I would say one thing and draw how I really felt. That’s why there’s so much emotion in my drawings… because they are my actual emotions.
Sean:
Unlike many artists that I’ve known who are introverts, you’re more of an extrovert. With the artists who are more quiet or reserved, they tend to be very expressive in their artwork. You, however, are very expressive in both your interactions with people and in your art. How do you maintain that level of enthusiasm and energy in both your personal life and in your art?
Satine:
I have a lot of energy. I’ve always been social and love to feed off of other people’s energy, especially creatively. So, I’m actually an optimistic introvert who is amazed by things like a six-year old… or I guess I’m both (an introvert and an extrovert as I live in both extremes). And that makes sense. I’m a Gemini. Laugh about those astrological signs all you want, but the duality of the monkey in me is a real thing. I love going out and having fun and learning and feeling and then I get overwhelmed and have to run inside and recharge for weeks at a time. I can’t even talk on the phone without being warned ahead of time. The photos you see of me online are when I leave my house for an hour to visit friends. I take a ton of photos and play then go home… and I’m enthusiastic. It’s just in my nature.
Sean:
As someone who has her hands in so many areas of the entertainment industry, from acting to modeling, from illustration to storytelling, how do you balance your passions and still have time for all the great projects that you do like Temple of Art or your graphic novel, New Praetorians?
Satine:
Balance? As I said, I have a lot of energy. Many years as a hustler has whet my palate with hunger for many different projects. Now I’m an artist who has a day job (doing New Praetorians). Sure, I could just sit back and work on this one gig for the next ten years (because that’s how long it will take me to do all 27 issues and extras we have planned), but that would drive me nuts, so it’s not really choosing to balance lots of projects. I need lots of projects or I get bored. Lots of all different kinds to satisfy all the different facets of me. Moment to moment I figure out how to fit everything in. Sometimes I’m successful at it. Other times I let projects build up and stress myself out and get overwhelmed. Luckily New Praetorians is my constant project, so it is my center, and for people like me it’s good to have a constant. My artistic endeavors won’t end with comics either. I’ve got a children’s book I have on the list, an animation and an autobiography, documentary, and short film I’ll be working on as well. Outside of work, I want to learn a language, get better at tango, am a fitness nerd/gym fox, want to learn the violin, get better at archery, do more marathons, climb more mountains, etc…. Never live with the regret of not doing what you dream. Maybe that’s how I balance, I know I’m working through my dream lists and sometimes they overlap. But the stress is worth it. 100%.
Sean:
How did you become involved with Temple of Art?
Satine:
Well, Allan is one of my best friends and I wanted to support Temple of Art and then when it started to become real he asked me to participate! That was really kind of him to believe in me enough to ask as I’m not a seasoned artist like the rest of the TOA clan. (I did go the Academy of Art for 5 years… that counts ya?)
Sean:
Can you describe the process of having Allan Amato photograph you and then reinterpreting that photo with your own unique artistic touch?
Satine:
Artists hang out differently than other people. When I hang out with many of my photographer friends, we usually just do photo shoots (aka: hanging out) and then go to lunch. Who knows what will come of the photos! It’s not like I sell them or anything. But that’s how we hang out; we create art. Allan and I have shot a few times together and I love being engulfed in his art. I’m hyper-observant and enjoy watching him in his element. So, being photographed by Allan was just another day of playing with my friend. The hard part was coming up with an idea that wouldn’t cover up his art. I didn’t want to cover it… but I also couldn’t paint on a drawing of myself looking at me, so I got rid of the eyes. (laughter) It’s a very vulnerable feeling. If I were to draw what I want all of the time, I’d draw girls wrapped up in girls in a sea of girls. That makes me happy for some reason. Not in a sexual way, but a sensual way. So, I drew girls all wrapped around the photo he took. I prefer black and white but added some color. This style is a bit cartoony, but so am I. And I wanted it to represent me specifically.
Sean:
With Temple of Art: The Documentary, you are part of an amazing collective of creative talents, both in front of the camera and behind it. What has it been like associating with all of these diverse people who are being brought together by their need to create art?
Satine:
This collection of artists is mind blowing. I admire all of them and have learned so much by chatting and getting to know everyone I’ve met so far. It’s one of the biggest learning experiences and growth experiences I’ve had. Finding out about other artist’s processes and lifestyles makes me realize how I relate and how it’s okay to embrace one’s weirdness and how it’s healthy for an artist to follow their specific intuitions.
Sean:
Have you found the Temple of Art experience to be inspiring or challenging?
Satine:
Yes, so deliciously inspiring. An inspiration injection right into my eye holes!
Sean:
In your opinion, what is the most special thing about Temple of Art?
Satine:
The most special thing about Temple of Art is that so many people out there really do appreciate the artists that create their favorite images. They are interested in the lives and processes. In this bizarre decade of throwaway everything, it’s hard to know if anyone is really paying attention, if anyone cares. Sure we make art because our souls can’t help it, but for me… it’s a way to connect with the outside world and to find out the outside does care… well, that’s tops!
Sean:
What other projects are you currently working on?
Satine:
My main big art baby is my 27-issue graphic novel, New Praetorians, which will be out Spring/Summer 2015. I’m finishing chapter three right now. There’s always the celebrity charity Dungeons & Dragons game I throw at Meltdown Comics. Celebritycharitydnd.com will launch a week from now once we have the charity (RORLosAngeles.org) donation center live. The big game day is November 2nd, but you’ll be able to donate before then as well. I’m excited to see the book Mistress Absolute is publishing. I drew about ten plus images for it. I don’t know what else I’m allowed to say about it right now. Pretty much just follow me on Facebook as I’m doing something bizarre and new every week from covers to RPGs to coasters for the La Luz De Jesus Annual Coaster Show.
Sean:
Just for fun… what was it like being there with Allan Amato (ToA direct0r) and Stephanie Inagaki (ToA artist) when Neil Gaiman (ToA producer) took the ALS ice bucket challenge?
Satine:
Allan, Stephanie, and I are all best friends, so they got to see the ecstatic giddy-kat Satine about this dreamy moment. I do believe Stephanie and I frolicked quite a bit about it.
Satine also took the ALS ice bucket challenge solo with a unique twist…
Satine Phoenix is an artist and illustrator, an avid Dungeons & Dragons player, a former adult entertainer, a model, an actress, a storyteller, a gym fox and fitness nerd. Her work can be found on her website, her Instagram page, her Facebook page, her Burning Quill online art portfolio, and ordered on Big Cartel, HERE. She is also available for commissions.