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Interviews |
Assignment #6 Creative Genius Interview |
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Interview with Katie Zuppan (Click HERE for her site) |
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Katie’s Response
Hey Mariah,
lets see here...
1. How did you get into what you do creatively?
I have always loved art and writing is a passion of mine, so creatively, my job is ideal. I actually kind of fell into what I do as web editor of Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine. After undergrad (where I majored in Sociology!) I got hooked up as an executive assistant at High Speed Productions, which publishes Juxtapoz. They soon realized I was interested in more than answering phones and sending FedEx packages, and within 2 mos of me starting, I was promoted to my current position. I worked my ass off, but it was also a shit-ton of luck.
Well, my job is so wide in range and I really have carved out much of my role and responsibility, than it could be difficult to explain exactly what I do. But overall, yes I do think I could teach it. I actually wanted to be a teacher for a while and TA'd 7th & 8th grade English was an undergrad. I like the concept of sharing knowledge.
It depends on my mood, but I try to remain open to allow virtually anything to inspire me. I'l have moments, hours, or even days where I feel super inspired and devour art or literature, have crazy conversations with those I respect and know have the same interests as I do. I think it's crucial to set out time, even if it's only small amounts, to allow oneself to be inspired--and by that I mean, one needs to constantly feed oneself inspiring things and situations. I try to go to an art show or museum at least once a week or every other week and obviously I look at art all day long, so that helps. I read as much as time will allow. I listen to podcasts of lectures at universities, or on NPR almost everyday while I'm working. I think many people see inspiration as something that strikes people, that is done to them...but in reality, I believe you have to seek out inspiring situations. It's crucial to growth.
My creative zone is most intense when I'm on deadline and have a feature article due for the print magazine. I work best under pressure and time constraint, so long as I've appropriately set-up the situation. After weeks and months of prepping for an interview, after the actual interview has gone down, I'll let it swirl around in my head for weeks. I love linguistics, so sometimes a cool phrase or way something is said will strike me and it will spin into an entire paragraph that I'll want to include in the article. I've literally pulled off the side of the road while driving because a phrase or way to describe an artist's work will pop into my head and I need to write it down before it flows away! Therefore, by the time I sit down to crank out the entire article, I (hopefully) have snippets of phrases and an overall idea of what I want to say and how I want it to flow for someone reading Jux. Then, it's all about setting my space: I use the biggest table in my house, clear it off, cover it with all my notes, laptop, water, a lot of coffee, and essentially don't move until I have a full working article down. It usually takes about 10-24 hours of intense writing in a sitting. Then I'll read it the next day, make changes, and surrender it to my co-editors for feedback and changes.
Learning to do my daily job as web editor as fast as I did. And all of the articles I've done for the print version of Juxtapoz. My first full-length article was on Audrey Kawasaki last summer and she'd never done a face to face interview, as she's SUPER shy. I was persistant and really wanted to get the story, plus it was my first interview too, so I persuaded her to let me meet her in her LA studio. I didn't tape record it or anything, so as not to freak her out. We spent all day together, she loosened up, and it was an amazing interview. I've never tape recorded a single interview I've done since then- it's all from hand-written notes and memory. I feel like this is more organic and allows the artist to be relaxed and honest that way.
No, as a journalist you really try to avoid any ambiguity. Sometimes an artist will ask you to omit something, so I'll have to get crafty about relaying the message without disrespecting the artist, but overall there are no hidden messages in my writing!
I love sharing my work, but because my job covers so many different areas of the mag, it varies in how I approach being credited, etc. Every single thing on our website is written by me. I have never cited myself, put up any photos of myself or quoted myself in the year and a half I've had this position because I'm essentially the collective voice of the mag. When I use contributors, I cite them, but I just don't think it's appropriate to inject myself into our website. When it comes to feature articles I write for the print mag, I definitely share it! It takes me so much time to get it all together that I love sharing with people I know will give a shit the final outcome. I think I sent every person I knew a copy of the mag with my first article printed in it...and I still send my closest friends copies of articles I write. I guess it's this weird desire to have some part of me out there, as you never know how long you'll really be around (as morbid as that sounds!)
Absolutely. It's crucial to the website and sometimes very helpful. Most people are very complimentary and helpful, but I also really appreciate constructive criticism because it only helps the collective grow, and as I said, the site is meant to be the voice of the collective staff (which is only 7 of us, but still is a group!) so I feel a responsibility to many people. In terms of my more personal work, I also love strong reactions to it. They have pretty much only been positive though, so that may be why :-)
I don't have a particular name to give as an example, but anyone who has a "relaxed" view of time; and by that I mean someone who isn't tethered to conventional ideas of when things should be done or how they should be done. Someone who cal cull cumulatively throughout history to find out what's truly important, inspiring, and withstands the test of time. Collect that, be smart enough to see where things are headed, mix it up, and that's visionary.
One of those 'Crazy Core' Skittles that has one flavor on the outside, another on the inside. Why? Because it's brightly colored, shiny, has a crunchy shell but is sweet and soft on the inside, and is damn tasty...in more flavors than one.
Hope this helps!!! It would be rad to get a link when it's up :-)
Take Care, katie |
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My Original Email
Hi |
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OK! No problem. I answered 6 total, use what you like!
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Assignment #5 Creative Website Designer Interview |
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Interview with Matt Whipple (Click HERE for his site) |