Layers Upon Layers: Mixed Media Art

Artist Profile: Anitra Cameron

by Cyndi on July 24th, 2008

Amos & Angie

Artist: Anitra Cameron
Business name: Coffee Pot People
Location: Portland, OR

Website & Blog:
Coffee Pot People blog
Coffee Pot People etsy shop

How do you describe your work, Anitra?
Quirky and funny, most of the time. To me, it’s high praise when someone walks up to my booth at a show and starts laughing!

I chose the name because that’s what I was making at the time–Coffee Pot People. Now, of course, I’ve added Tea Kettle Characters, China Blossoms, and Mega Blossoms. I also have greeting and note cards, some of which feature jointed paper dolls made from images of the Coffee Pot People.

Harold Angel

What is your creative process like?
It depends on my mood, I suppose, and also how much time I have, or where I am.

Sometimes when I’m away from home an idea will come to me, and I’ll sketch it out, just because I can’t rush over and start working on it. Mostly, though, a particular piece I’ve collected will inspire me. I’ll think, “What a great hat that would make!”, and then set about finding the head and body to go under it. Other times, I’ve spotted, say, a lamp that would make a shapely body, and taken it from there. Once a Coffee Pot Person is completed, I set it where I can see it often. Eventually, it will tell me its name, what it does for a living, his/her hobbies, etc. All that goes onto its tag, so people will have some idea who they’re “adopting”.

With the China and Mega Blossoms, a beautiful piece of glass can get me going, but usually I’ll cover a table or two with plates and saucers, and just start experimenting. It amazes me sometimes just how difficult it can be to find the “perfect” combination, but I do love the process.

When it comes to background sound (not to call it noise), it’s sometimes mood, and sometimes what I’m willing to do. I like to listen to music or books, but that takes setting up the laptop in the shop, and sometimes I just want to get out there and create and can’t be bothered with anything else. Silence is soothing and peaceful, and sometimes I revel in that, while other times I sing, whistle, and talk to myself.

As far as time is concerned, I like to have a couple of hours at a whack, but I’ll use what I have. If it’s a shorter span, I’ll take it any time over not getting to do anything at all.

Tea Fairy

What kind of training did you have which helped you achieve your current level of artistry?
I had a semester of art in college, but really, I think what trained me was watching my mom and my aunts. They’re so creative! And since they always had more brainpower than money, they used what was at hand, or what could be had for cheap. That really opened my eyes to see beyond what things were to what they could become. Loveliest of all, they included me in their arts and crafts projects, so I got to grow up making art.

Then there was a day, about seven years ago, that my husband and I were at an estate sale. Whether the coffee pot was upside-down already, or I turned it upside-down, I don’t remember, but I looked at its spout, and blurted, “That’s a nose!” After that, I simply had to buy it, and took it straight home, making my first Coffee Pot Person, Pierre, that very day.

I’d made several for fun when a girlfriend convinced me I could sell them, and since she did crafts, too, we signed up for a nearby sale. I was standing near one of my characters when someone excitedly asked me, “Are you the artist?” I said, quite calmly I think, “Yes,” but inside I had this mental image of myself, fingertips to the center of my chest, saying, “Why, yes. Yes, I am!” It was the first time anyone had called me “artist”, and I was thrilled down to my very toes.

After that, I juried with the Cracked Pots group, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Floyd

Is there a tool or material that you can’t imagine living without?
Ooooh. My electric drill, I think. Most of the Coffee Pot People are bolted together. Hard to do without drilling. (There’s always the hammer and progressively larger nails, but…nope. Gotta have the drill.)

What inspires you to create?
In general, I can’t help it. I get a little crazy if I don’t have some kind of creative outlet.

Specifically, unusual pieces of flotsam will get my juices flowing. Deadlines work, too, really really well!

Amber Arachnid

What inspires you to keep going when the work gets frustrating or tough?
Well, my husband says I’m the stubbornest woman he’s ever met. That can’t hurt. But I do give myself permission to just walk away and do something else. Usually, the solution will eventually come to me, and I can go back to the problem piece.

Barefoot

What is your best piece of advice for those who would like to rise in their level of artistry?
Just do it. My first pieces were so clumsy! The more I did, the more I learned, and hopefully that won’t stop, because there’s definitely still more that could be better. My Uncle Walt often recited this little poem:

“Good, better, best,
Never let it rest,
‘Til your ‘good’ is ‘better’
And your ‘better’ is ‘best’.”

It is, for me, the perfect motto.

What takes up the majority of your time besides your art?
I’m addicted to the internet! I’m also a wife, mother and stepmother to seven wonderful children, and Nana to seventeen beautiful grandchildren, who are all, needless to say, geniuses, so family takes up a lot of space in my universe, although not as much as I’d like to give it.

Anitra with her China Blossoms

What’s your favorite comfort food?
Cookies!

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POSTED IN: Artist Profiles, Assemblage, Business tips, Creativity, Mixed Media, Recycled Art