I'm trying to recall how I met Clear or rather how I've come across their work besides seeing it online. I remember Juntos Co-op when it was in Mcallen, they hosted a goodbye art exhibition with some music. I remember seeing Karla's ceramics in person, Clear was posting up work, Alan screen printing on t-shirts, I picked up a zine from Gretchen, and Kaitlin was there too! I took photos of the set up when I went with my friends. Yeah I remember now. Good times at Juntos fr.
Well this interview involves Clear @clearkitten who has also been involved in putting up workshops under Webb with Jena the owner of Webb, @bordertownbrat @webb.956 which y'all should consider looking up! She'll be sharing more about Webb shortly, but first I ask Clear if she could tell us a bit about herself and her art style? How would you say you incorporate your interests/personality into your work/style? "I’m a mix media artist born and raised in the 956. I like to mix and play around with acrylic paint, digital art, wheat pasting, graffiti + street art, and vinyl. A lot of my art is heavily influenced by my love for anime- both of my parents were super into anime so I spent a lot of my childhood and teen years binge watching anime and trying to break down the different art styles the artists used. I went to my first anime convention at 12 and started cosplaying a little while after that, and I feel like you can see that reflected in my art. Even some of my favorite wheat pastes I’ve put up were panels from some of my favorite mangas. I really wanted to combine something that I love and have a lot of nostalgia for, with messages that are important to me. On the other hand, I’ve always dreamed of drawing and tattooing pin-up girls, and now I get to draw hot girls in my own style and put them up for other people to see. A few years ago I lost my dog, Persephone, and I haven’t been able to stop drawing dogs since. I think all of these things blend together to make my art what it is." As Clear mentions about her childhood and her interests. There's a Morrigan cosplay that she uses of herself as reference then turns it into digital piece. In a sense reflects on your interests from what was just shared as well. What may show a mixture of what Clear expresses is her "Santa Vela" post. The various individuals drawn in her style, the manga panels, the graffiti-esque fonts. It's so cool!
If you could give your art style its own personal label what would it be and why?
"If I could give my art style its own personal label, it would be Clear Core, I don’t really know what else to call it, haha. I think my art style changes so frequently that it would be hard to really put a label on it, so I’ll just go with Clear Core because I like to draw what feels natural to me." Clear Core goes hard. I'd say yeah due to the core fundamentals that make a piece of work just scream "Clear" did this. It's rather distinguishable.
Looking through your account you've been at this for a good while and your style has changed throughout different points. Have you noticed your art change or adapt as you've continued? If so how? "I’ve had my art account running for 6 years now; I started vending and selling my art a little before I started my art account, and I definitely feel like my art style has changed and evolved constantly over the years. I think getting to experiment with so many different media and mediums, like acrylic, water color, spray paint, vinyl, digital art and wheat pasting, has really allowed me to explore a lot of different corners of what I want to do artistically. It’s been a lot of fun and I love looking back at the progress I’ve made with my art. I think with each piece I do, I try to think about how it would translate if it was large scale or if I tried to turn it into a sticker so I think that’s definitely influenced the way I finish my pieces recently." I do see the "dog eat dog" and the large "clear" stickers that were also made so I can see how you translate these pieces of work over to a different "scale" or a sticker for example. Keeping it from inhabiting a 2D space out into a 3D space (anywhere you place it). My one regret is not picking up the Fat Kitty Club stickers! Especially out of all the times I went over.
How do wish to continue with your art? Anything you wish to experiment with?
"I want to continue getting better at my digital art and eventually make huge, building sized, wheat pastes of my girls and dogs together. I think wheat pasting is such a cool technique and I love that it’s a universal experience. I’ve stumbled across some really amazing digital artists from Mexico and Japan who also turn their digital pieces into large scale wheat pastes and I have a lot of admiration for them. Aside from the wheat pasting, I want to keep experimenting with screen printing and animation. I’ve dipped my toes into both ponds, but I really want to release a full line of different hoodies and clothes with my art. I’d also love to make a full length animated music video, and make my own anime in the future. I’m going to finish welding school next year so I really want to incorporate that into my art, too. I think welding my pieces is the thing I’m most excited for, I can’t wait to make big, metal dogs." Ive tried a couple of mediums from workshops or from doing it at work, but I have not done wheat pasting...yet. If you taught a wheat pasting AGAIN workshop I'd go (I missed the first one)! Screen printing is so much fun. There's something about getting messy with the paints that just make it fun and then seeing the design. From digital, stickers, to eventually a metal dog? Now that's something I'm looking forward to seeing or even seeing drafts/concepts of it.
Do you have any favorite pieces? If so which ones and why?
"I think my favorite pieces I’ve done are any and all of my dogs. I could spend the rest of my days happily drawing big dogs with sharp teeth- I love them. There’s something really comforting about capturing their playful expressions and fierce smiles. Each stroke feels natural, and it makes me happy seeing how every dog I create has its own personality. Also any hot girl I’ve drawn has been fun, too." The dog I was looking at right now was the one from the Lazy House flyer from last year. It's the dog with stars on the side of it's face. Especially the Cerberus from one of Clear's earlier posts. She's not joking, she really LOVES LOVES them!
Now, WEBB. What pushed you to create WEBB? What do you wish to put out for the community? So my good friend Jena, @bordertownbrat, is the creator and owner of Webb! It’s named after the street she grew up on in Mercedes, and also a little spooky because Jena loves horror movies. I first met Jena back in 2016 when I was 17 at a punk house show she was having at her house/diy venue, the Fat Kitty Club. Ever since I’ve known Jena she’s always wanted to create a space for the community where people can express themselves and meet other like minded creatives. She’s been working really hard on getting her space together and I’m very excited to see Webb grow. I know she wants Webb to be a DIY space for artists, musicians, performers, and creatives, where they can have markets, workshops, and intimate events. She’s also an amazing cook so I would definitely encourage everyone to keep an eye out for the vegan and veg friendly food that she’s going to be having in store and at events." Well besides the current workshops being held I am looking forward to the Grand Opening date release! There's always a need for a space for artists. To teach their medium, to propose a workshop, to meet others, and especially to have fun!
The first workshop recently just finished, how did planning it and seeing it happen make you feel? What kind of workshop was it? "I was very fortunate that Jena asked me if I’d want to co-host the wheat pasting and handstyle workshop at Webb and it just turned out that it was the first event in the space, yay! We’ve gone on a lot of wheat pasting missions over the years and have spent a lot of time mixing up different batches of glue, so it was a topic we both are pretty knowledgeable about. There were a lot of years of trial and error and learning the do’s and don’ts of street art, so we really wanted to teach people a little bit of etiquette on this topic. Something we really tried to instill in our workshop was avoiding small businesses, where it can be harder for small business owners to clean or repair the space, we both felt like that was a big one because of how many small, local businesses there are in the valley and how vital they are to our community. I have a lot of love for handstyles and I wanted to share that with others but it’s a little tricky because there’s so much that goes into it before you get started. It was a lot of fun seeing what everyone who attended the workshop came up with, and seeing everyone put up their wheat paste on the boards we provided was heartwarming. A very proud moment, for sure."
Any other workshop ideas you have in mind that you can share with us?
"Jena and I are definitely going to be doing more workshops together very soon. We sat down one night and came up with a whole list of artsy things we both enjoy doing and would love to teach others how to do. We’re planning on having a stencil workshop to teach people how to turn their own designs into different sized stencils for street art. We both have a lot of fun using our Cricut machines to make decals and stickers, but the process can be tedious and confusing for beginners, so we want to have a workshop on how to make your own stickers soon, too. There’s a bunch of others we have in mind too, and we’re also planning on doing some paint and sip events in October too for the spooky season. All very fun things that we’re excited to share with everyone." Okay, a WHOLE LIST!? Besides from what you just shared I'm curious to find out what they are as they get announced. There's just a strong need for workshops I'd say. To be hands on, to learn something new, to experience a mistake to experience doing it again and getting it right. I've personally only worked with stencils once sooo reading that has me interested in what's coming up.
With the grand opening happening in October and October is close by. Are you excited? Anything you can share that you have planned? "Oof, October is so soon and I’m very excited to see how Jena fleshes out Webb. She’s shared some of her visions with me on how she wants the space to look and progress, and I can confidently say I can’t think of another valley space that has the same vision or vibe. I’ve been working on a mural piece at the building so I’m hoping to finish it before the opening, but Jena’s also looking for any artist that want to display their pieces up at the building. We’re definitely planning on some very cute collabs with some of my favorite valley artists so I think that’s something I’m really looking forward to seeing in the space. I think what makes Webb so special is that its very much a DIY space, so I’m excited that Jena and I are getting to teach the community some really cool techniques they’ll be able to take with them and apply into their own art. Oh, also buy our clothes." Oh art displaying also? That's cool! Collaborative workshops with other artists from the valley??? Keep a look out for the grand opening announcement!
Are there any final comments you'd like to add?
I think the last thing I’d like to add is to stay consistent. Sometimes it's hard to shake the art block off, and I think over the past few years with AI coming out so strong, it’s easy to get discouraged or thrown off of your game. The main thing is to remember why you’re doing this: for you, because you love doing it. I spent a lot of time at the beginning of my journey trying to conform to what the algorithm or what I thought society wanted to see out of my art, but once I gave up on that and just started making art again for myself, my whole world opened up. Any progress is progress and consistency plays a huge part in that, so keep thuggin it out. It’ll come to you when you least expect it.
Clear also shares a shout-out "I’d like to shout out anyone who’s shown my art any love or support over the years. Every person who’s commissioned or bought a piece from me, I appreciate you!"
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