A Conversation with Isabel Beeman '20
Interviewed by Mo Cooper ‘21
Talk about the process of making one of your pieces from beginning to end.
In relation to video, which is kind of what I’m focused on, at least right now, I would say that my process is very intuitive. I usually have, somewhat, [of an idea] in my head and a mood, but I don’t necessarily write a script. It’s definitely a lot of improvisation. I just end up liking the way stuff looks the most and if I try to recreate a shot for any reason, I usually don’t like it as much as the original that was more natural. So, I’ll typically use a tripod to shoot myself and sometimes I’ll have friends to help me shoot me. I run the shot a couple of times and completely move on and not really look at it until the end when I bring it all together. I don’t necessarily have an order for the shots, because a lot of my pieces are less narrative. Shot-to-shot does not matter in the way that you wouldn’t understand it if it was formulated in a different way. It usually ends up working in this surprising way sometimes. I end up with these cuts that convey this meaning that I wasn’t even thinking about during filming. It’s very interesting, because it’s a lot of intuition that yields a lot of powerful results. I really believe in following my gut in that way.
So you make the video with intentions of a reaction, rather than a specific story that you want to tell?
Right. Usually it’s more of a feeling. I am moving more towards a narrative in the film that I am working on right now. [I am] wanting to make work that is more specific, or more specific to me, by taking actual life events and recreating them into a short film. That would be more intentional and I would have to think more about shot-to-shot relationship. I think that those things are equally important. I’ll always lean towards evoking a feeling, but narrative can be quite important as well.
What are you working on right now that has such a narrative script?
I am starting to take some shots for this short film, that doesn’t have a title, that consists of short vignettes of my mostly childhood that is kind of a spinoff of “Sherry.” With those those similar themes of identities, and those things that we do when nobody is around versus what we do when nobody is around- like performance versus natural. And what is natural? And is it even possible to capture [what is natural] on film? It’s a series of vignettes that I kind of sketched out, but that I won’t write a sketch for. That’s just how I work, but it will be more of: this is a scene that specifically happens and what it means and what it has to do with the characters and the artist. I want to make a video to go along with the first story in “Sex at a Young Age,” so that will be one of the vignettes. It will be things like that- a similar time in [my] life, and similar things I will pair together for this short narrative.
How long have you been doing art and video?
I guess you could say I’ve been doing video since I was very young. I had a camcorder and I would always have my friends make movies with me. We remade Twilight and also did some original stuff.This was all silly, and not really artsy… I was Bella obviously. I did video in a more serious way in high school. I participated in a couple of J-term classes that were more film-making. Throughout two years of doing that, I made two short horror films in high school with a group of people. The video art started last year. I considered myself an artist all of growing up, because I always liked to draw. I painted and I did some ceramics. I was always doing something.
Are your parents artsy?
I wouldn’t say that my parents are artsy. I would probably say that they are specifically not. I guess my mom was always crafty. She always did scrapbooking and that kind of thing, but I don’t think she would get a lot of the stuff that I make, or she would be concerned by it. I think that my mom inspired a very magical imagination in me. I was always very into fairies and mystical stuff and she completely fueled that. She would set things up to make me think they were real. She was always really intense about Santa. She would leave little bells in the yard, so that I would think that the reindeer had dropped them. So I developed a very strong imagination from my mom. She always read me stories that were very women-centered. I had this book that had fairy tales around the world about women. She was always very adamant about strong female role models. I think that was very influential in my work. And she was always very open to me about sex, which I think I was very evident in my art.
Did you ever have artists that you looked up to or were inspired by?
I went through a lot of really intense phases as a child. Once I got to middle school I went through, and this is so embarrassing and I can’t believe I’m saying this, a huge anime phase. That was, honestly, what started my drawing, so I’m definitely grateful for it in a way. It’s definitely embarrassing. I would draw anime every single day and that was also, I think, a sexual influence because anime can be so sexually charged. That was a huge influence in getting me to pick up a pencil. I think it was later in high school that I really started to like artists that I can see a tangible influence on my work. That would be artists like Maya Deren, Cecelia Condit, and Naomi Elizabeth. [Naomi Elizabeth] makes these extremely iconic music videos. There are just strange, and at one point they look very low-tech, but at the same time there’s a lot of intention behind them. She’ll do these graphics that look cheesy, but it kind of works with the music. The music is this really bad electronic pop music.
What music do you listen to? Do the artists inspire you at all?
I listen to a lot of different music. I listen to a lot of experimental electronic music that I think influences my art a lot in a way more subtle way. This is more pop, but I am dedicated to my heart and soul to Bjork. She is definitely a huge influence. She doesn’t completely make her own music videos, but she definitely has a say in them and I would say that I am inspired by her music videos as well as her actual music. I think they really go hand-in-hand sometimes. This one is embarrassing, and also more recent, in high school I didn’t go through a Lana Del Rey phase. It has been extremely delayed and it happened this summer. I am especially a fan of women artists that create identities for themselves and she is so good at that. She creates these worlds that obviously do not exist. I really admire the ability to create a world and universe that you inhabit, and a different persona that is so real and so interesting and people eat it up. I am inspired by that kind of alternate personality that definitely makes an appearance in my art.
What place does art have in your future?
My parents ask me that everyday… I think about this a lot. I’m definitely torn between if I want to pursue being an independent artist or if I want to do art when I want to and do something more practical. Not that being an artist isn’t practical, because it really can be. I just don’t know if I am made out to churn art out on a daily basis. I swing back and forth so much. Some days I’m like, “there’s nothing else I could do” and other days I’m like, “if I had to do this everyday I would die.” I definitely consider design and production. I could see myself making music videos and being a part of production on a more commercial scale. I know that I will do something that is at least semi-artistic. Whether or not it’s independent art-making will depend on how much art continues to be a major part of my life in these next years. I imagine it will be because I’m a studio art major, but do I continue to feel the passion to make things even outside of class? Or is it dwindling and I would rather having a regular job and focus on other things in life? Art definitely has a place [in my life], forever.