PHOTO/Images by Johnny White/Mile Zero
A floating forrest-island, inside, 2014.
Media: found roots from Key West
Courtesy of the artist, Don Soker Contemporary Art, and The Studios of Key West.
IT’S YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Wild Things
Artist-in-residence at Studios of Key West weaves the ocean into her art
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Were she not the artist, Dimitra Skandali could be mistaken for the muse. She is lovely, genuine, earthy and unpretentious.
But her muse is the ocean, which connects to her home in Paros, an island in the Aegean Sea. Much of her art is composed of elements in or near the sea, such as sea grape vines, seaweed and sea grasses, other plant matter and coral.
An artist-in-residence at the Studios of Key West in November, Skandali has devoted herself not just to making art, but residing in it. She has spent almost every day of her residency here at the beach, where she has found materials with which she likes to work, and has translated these natural elements into work she has shown at the Studios of Key West, including her largest piece, called “Floating Forest Island Inside.”
The piece hangs from the ceiling inside one room in the Studio, with the delicate lines of the plants connected to one another, creating a canopy effect.
She said she loves the sea grape vines that already look like drawings on the sand.
She points out that just the few elements she chooses for her creations can produce so many different effects and that they remind her of the connections that ground her to her island home and of the empty spaces about which we so frequently forget.
“They are very elegant lines.”
She strives to reveal multiple dimensions with elements so common that people may see them every day and overlook them.
She loves “to be able to observe and discover new kinds of lines and qualities. Something so simple can have so much richness.”
She has spent the last few years in San Francisco, creating, studying and working, and her time on this tiny key is just one stop of a hard-earned journey she has created since devoting her life to art 10 years ago.
In San Francisco, and in the many other places she has worked (Greece, Venice, The Netherlands, Austria) and here, she has used seaweed and sea grass to create similar installations, and in fact crochets with it. She has made balls of it that she has strung painstakingly together.
She emphasizes the importance of the physical nature of her art.
“If you pick it up, you make it individual. [You take] something so humble and transform it into something precious.”
The physical act of creating is both grounding and meditative. She described art as having the quality of connecting us to things we might otherwise forget about, about not only what you see, but also what is missing. This applies to our world, the ocean, which is so much bigger than we are, and to our personal lives and connections, our emotions.
She compares it to the effort necessary in human communication across distances small and great.
She contrasts the age and size of the ocean, its vast unseen life, to our own personal ephemerality. She says we need to be reminded sometimes that we are only a small part of this planet. Skandali emphasizes also the empty spaces between the elements that are just as crucial to notice.
“It becomes a very fragile balance.”
“This is my approach. These elements … are my inspiration to be close to the water.”
She says the studio itself is transformed into a part of the beach, a link to her island, because she brings in plants, sand, coral, so that even the room begins to smell like the ocean.
“Making all these pieces is what grounds me here.” She said that sometimes it is difficult to feel grounded so far from home, and traveling as much as she does. But she also likes the risk of it. It makes her feel exposed, but alive.
Her art is very open, with lots of space in between, and giving the observer ample opportunity for their own interpretations of the art.
Some who visited her studio saw in the piece as roots below the ground, as if they were buried with the roots. Another saw the nervous system and the synapses of the brain.
“I wanted to create an environment so it would create an experience for the visitor. One little line can be come a universe. It can be complicated.”
Skandali wants people to see her art in whatever way it inspires them.
“I want to be careful with my personal stuff so people can see what they want, to leave the door open for interpretation. “
It is what is not said, sometimes, that stands out.
She said that she has moved around a lot in pursuit of her art, and has had many residencies around the world. Because of her approach, her life in art never becomes routine. She has loved the month she has spent in Key West.
“It is an open horizon for me. It encourages me to experiment and also be risky. It is vital for me to live this way.”
More of Dimitra Skandali’s art can be seen at her web site: dimitraskandali.com and the Studios of Key West site at: tskw.org/dimitra-skandali
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