EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SPHERA
SPHEREALISM
B E Y O N D T H E C A N VA S W I T H S F E R A L O U I S It’s an honor and a pleasure to introduce you to Spherra, an artist and visionary whose paintings inspire others to seek purpose and potential in their own lives with an invitation to redraw lines and fill them in with shades of their on choosing. Sfera’s work reminds us all that our imagination remains a free agent open to the employment of our talent to craft a narrative needed now more than ever.
Jack: For me, and Allié as well, art, music and family are everything. In looking at you and Thavius, you are art, music and family. With Thavius’s most recent release of ‘Cosmic Noise’, you designed the album art, which originated as a 4’ x 6’ oil painting. Was the album cover the original intention of this painting? Or did you paint this for another reason? Either way, it’s kick ass.
Sfera: Oh, thank you! I did do the painting with the intention of using at least part of it for the album cover, as Thavius and I have been starting to collaborate creatively more, and I have been interested a bit more in portraits lately, so this was a perfect opportunity to do both. He wanted the portrait to be abstract but we assumed for the label it would be good to be still recognizable as Thavius. So that was a fun challenge. Because the canvas was not square I just tried to create multiple points of interest that the graphic designer could then sort of “harvest” for any sort of the packaging they needed. I must say they did an incredible job with that!
Allié: An artist and a musician create a life together. As Jack mentioned, for us it’s art, music and family. How do you find the balance? As an artist, a partner and a mother, how do you make it all work?
“I know there are super heroes out there that say being an artist and a mother is a cinch, but for me it has been the defining challenge of my adult life…”
Sfera: That is an excellent question… I know there are super heroes out there that say being an artist and a mother is a cinch, but for me it has been the defining challenge of my adult life and the main reason that I am starting my art journey relatively late and am predominantly self taught, since art school never quite fit in the equation. Part of the juggling act is simply time but the huge unspoken portion of the challenge for me is one of psychic space. As a mom, my kids are omnipresent in my mind and soul. The Venn diagram for their sphere and mine in this would overlap far more than halfway, leaving me a smaller slice for things that take my entire attention. And for me, art is one of those. I almost go into another dimension or something and cannot simultaneously be available or interrupted. So Thavius and I have created two magical days a week- Saturday is his day to himself and Sunday is my day all to myself. I basically squeeze most of my art making on Sundays since the pandemic kicked off a home-schooling journey. I have just now, for the first time, hired an assistant who may be able to help us create a bit more room not only for more art making but maybe even some grown folks time together, since we don’t get much of that either. 49 AWARENOW / THE KIND EDITION
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