Fall 2014 International Artist-in-Residence, Anna Krachey, answers questions about her work, her life, and her time at Artpace.

Where are you from?
I was born in New Hampshire, but I grew up in Sharon, MA, just south of Boston. I moved to Austin in 2005 for graduate school at UT and have no plans to leave!

When did you start getting interested in art?
When I got a little artist award from my 7th grade art teacher. Just kidding. It was always my favorite class in school and I was always drawing horses and making things out of wood in my dad’s woodshop growing up.

Was there a defining moment you experienced that indicated art should be your chosen path?
Yes- I very specifically remember in the summer before I left for college, I got to choose my courses out of a giant catalog. I wanted to take all of the courses in the art dept, and kept moving my schedule around to accommodate them. It took me two full years to realize it should probably be my major.

Give three words that describe Artpace to you.
Exciting
Supportive
Immersive

Tell us a little about your work, how do you find inspiration?
I think that objects are a way that we relate to the world. I’ve always been attracted to objects based on their inherent material value, instead of their assigned function. I use photography to reveal to the viewer how I see these things. I’ve always thought that, for me, there is an intersection and often a confusion between creating and consuming, and that’s something that I’ve always been interested in exploring in my work.

I see my work as one continuous body, not grouped into series. I often look at Roe Ethridge’s book, Rockaway, NY, as a reminder before I shoot that there are no rules about photography or about making art. Ethridge’s work pulls images from all realms of his world- outtakes from his commercial work, his home life and travels. I’ve always been interested in the way that he appropriates his own work by re-contexualizing hit. I trust my intuition and impulse a lot more than my subconscious when I’m making work- I always “see” images in a much more interesting way that I can think of how to make them.

I always find inspiration hearing how others make their work by going to artist lectures. Art making is such a made up process- there are no guidelines, rules or structure other than whatever your medium provides. Hearing how others are making up their process always gets me thinking and I often spend lectures note taking furiously about things that I want to think about in my work.

See Anna’s finished Artpace project at the Artpace opening on November 13 from 6-9pm.