Atlanta

Meet local artist Molly, she is part two of a new blog series called Factory Flashy where I visit workshops and studios of artists/craftsmen and women around ATL-read my first visit here.  I first met Molly at an art show for a mutual friend of ours and following the show got to know her over beers and quickly realized I liked this down to earth artist.  It was later I looked up her work and realized, HOLY COW she’s really talented! We arranged for a studio visit at her space at the Goat Farm and like I imagined it was very laid back conversations that felt like I was talking to an old friend who’s now become a new friend. I snapped photos of her studio and asked her some Who/What/Where/When/Why/How questions to help you get to know Miss Molly:

 what is your current project?

Through my Creatives Project residency, I’m putting together a workshop for One Love Generation, using shadow puppetry techniques to explore how light and movement can animate a personal mythology. I am working on my solo show at Beep Beep Gallery, which opens in May. It will combine painting, drawing and installation, as well as sound and light components.

For this show, I want to create an immersive, full-sensory experience: to transform the gallery into a live organism. I’m also going to Athens at the end of the month to paint a mural at the Hotel Indigo.

who do you admire?

I admire anyone with a good work ethic and a good sense of humor.

where is your favorite piece?

Pastel (Argentina) has a mural down the street from my house, near where Moreland hits Memorial in Reynoldstown. I am a true fan of his work, and of him, and it’s really special for me to be able to drive by it every day.

The above isn’t what you think, it’s not paint or pen it’s actually a process that she experimented with using a flame to burn the wood, I thought this was really neat and like her other work has perfect lines!

how did you get started painting murals?

I got tired of working small, especially since my work is pattern-based. I felt too trapped in my own head. So one day, I guess about three and a half years ago, I painted a piece that covered the whole back wall of my studio. It was an adrenaline rush; I felt like, for the first time, my mind and my body were completely in sync. From there I just painted whatever I could, wherever I could, as often as I could. I was blinded by purpose, didn’t want to focus on anything but painting walls: I was traveling all the time, my social life was dictated by my painting schedule, I was barely subsisting. But eventually I built up enough momentum and now I can breathe a little, make a living, choose projects that are the right fit for me. I hustled really hard to get here, I’m so grateful for this life.

This is a sketching of a mural for the Hollywood Mural Project, so it started out on this small piece of paper and then she transformed it to a larger than life piece! I can’t imagine having to think in that big of a scale, but she’s nailed the system.

why ATL?

The South is my home, I’m bound to the landscape here. I lived all over and when I came to Atlanta, I felt like I found the exact spot where I was supposed to land.

when did you first realize you had artist skills?

When I was little, maybe four or five, I did this crayon drawing of minnie mouse wearing a wedding dress with a really elaborate veil and high heels and super long eyelashes. And the background was filled with stars (six pointed ones because I hadn’t figured out how to draw the five-pointed kind yet.) I used every color in the box, even some metallics, I spent days on that thing. And my mom put it in a plastic frame and hung it on the wall of our house. I didn’t realize it at the time but I think that recognition was the first time I saw drawing as a thing that could exist outside myself.

Thanks to Molly for taking the time for a chat! Visit her website to see more:

M O L L Y R O S E F R E E M A N