Inside/Within has been interviewing and photographing Chicago artists and their studios with a diligence 2nd to none over the past couple years. Piqued by mere curiosity, writer Kate Sierzputowski, and photographer Ashleigh Dye, are producing a fascinating look into the present art scene of the city. The COMP Magazine recently caught up with this duo to discuss their fascination with the city’s artists, their process of selection and documenting, and how they plan to manage their ever growing archive.
Alberto Aguilar, January 2014
Lets begin with why you decided to create INSIDE\WITHIN. What was your impetus? From what I gathered, each of your studied at Ohio University in Journalism. (Kate studied Journalism, Ashleigh studied Photography) What’s your attraction to the fine arts?
Our main impetus was curiosity, peering inside the private spaces of artists that are often kept from the public eye. Before starting I\W we would visit exhibitions and feel like we had missed something, like we had absorbed the aesthetic qualities of the work but wanted to know more about the process of how each came to be. We wanted to know the artists and how they connected with the work, what drove them to make specific choices in their practice. We also craved the physicality of being present with an artist, choosing not to exchange questions or photographs via email, but to be within the same physical space as the artist and their work outside of a chance opening or closing. We also wanted to start a project that highlighted artists of all career length, creating a place that showed recently graduated artists next to artists that had been exhibiting for decades. We wanted to create something that was a democratic and inquisitive documentation of the present Chicago art scene.
Alex Chitty, August 2014
Ladies, can you share with us some of the items you look for when selecting the artists you want to include in your project, INSIDE\WITHIN?
We tend to search for someone that immediately captures our interest conceptually or aesthetically, or someone that completely confuses us. Our best interviews typically are with artists that mystify us, so questions come naturally. Each question we ask comes from a genuine place of curiosity about their practice and place in the Chicago community. We like to reach out to artists that are doing something unique, and those showing at smaller, more alternative spaces. We don’t like to focus on one particular section of an artist’s work, like highlighting a specific series for an upcoming exhibition, but rather show the breadth of their artistic practice—what’s happening across-the-board in their studio.
Allison Wade, November 2014
What do you hope your efforts will reveal? Are there any specific goals or items that you hope to convey over the course of the project?
We hope our efforts bring a greater understanding of each artist’s practice to a wider audience, so readers can have questions answered that they have been curious of themselves, or other artists can be prompted to open a dialogue with an artist they have admired. We hope one day to transition some aspect of the project to print, but for right now we are focusing on our expanding digital archive (we hope to have our new website up by mid-spring with a greater capacity for archiving and artist searches).
Cody Hudson, August 2014
Ashleigh, you make the images. Can you provide a summary on your process? Are there any consistent practices that you regularly apply when visiting the artist’s studios?
AD: Photographing for INSIDE\WITHIN has been extremely constructive for my practice, as shooting each studio unfolds in a similar way. I always take some time outside of the conversation Kate and the artist are having to really focus on taking in each individual studio. From a broad, visual perspective the interior of artists’ studios can seem redundant, but the personality of each place lies in the small details of what’s around. The redundancy also pushes me to modify my shooting, even if my surroundings remain similar. Something I try and do at each studio is catch myself in a reflection somewhere in the space. I like the idea of cataloging my presence throughout all the various studios we visit.
Dan Gunn, November 2014
Kate, what type of research do you do prior to your interview session? How do you balance freshness vs. proper research and preparation?
KS: I tend to research just enough to have a casual understanding of each artist’s practice, to know who they have shown with over the last few years, what their educational background is, and some projects that they have recently been involved with. Often it is interesting to see how an artist’s project (in the form of a publication or apartment gallery for example) overlaps with their personal practice, how they inform each other or push the boundaries of each area. I find that 5-7 prepared questions is best to have at the back of my mind to ensure an educated visit, mixed with more organic inquiries once in the studio—knowledge in combination with an untethered curiosity about what the artist is making and thinking about.
Diane Simpson, November 2014
What’s planned for INSIDE\WITHIN during 2015?
This year we are working to create a new website that we are incredibly excited about. In October we were thrilled to be awarded the Propeller Fund, and will use this grant to hire a programmer to ensure the longevity of our project. The current website excites us, but we are bound to an endlessly scrolling homepage. We want the website to become more dynamic, while still highlighting the simplicity of the interviews we conduct. We are also planning an event for next month with VIA Publication (http://www.viapublication.com/) from LA called ‘I Like Your Work’. We have both selected artists we would want to see cold call their work crush, and will be holding a series of interviews at Threewalls on February 15 to observe the artist/curators/writers with those that most influence their personal practice.
Samantha Bittman, February 2014
Ashleigh Dye is a freelance photographer who contributes a bi-monthly interview segment called ‘Empty Exchange’ for The Empty Bottle’s blog, as well as photos for various online publications. She spent her time before Chicago raising hell in a small town in southeast Ohio and continues to be fascinated daily by the humans around her.
Kate Sierzputowski is freelance writer based in Chicago who regularly contributes to Hyperallergic, Newcity, and Rabbit Hole Magazine. Fascinated by artists’ studio processes, she founded the website INSIDE\WITHIN to physically explore the creative spaces of emerging and established artists.
Heidi Norton, June 2014
For additional Iinformation on Kate and Ashleigh, please visit:
Inside/within – http://www.insidewithin.com/
Ashleigh Dye – http://www.ashleighdie.tumblr.com/
Empty Exchange – http://emptybottle.com/blog/tag/empty-exchange/
Rascal Magazine – https://rascalmag.wordpress.com/
Kate’s Hyperallergic – http://hyperallergic.com/author/kate-sierzputowski/
Kate’s Tumblr – https://www.tumblr.com/search/kate%20sierzputowski
Kate’s Twitter – https://twitter.com/katesierz
Kate’s Rabbit Hole Magazine Reviews – http://elementcollective.com/author/katesierzputowski/
Additional photographs from Inside/Within by Ashleigh Dye:
Karolina Gnatowski, December 2013
Maddie Reyna, October 2014
Paul Erschen, June 2014
Robert Burnier, June 2014
Sabina Ott, December 2013
Kate Sierzputowski-Ashleigh Dye, Inside-Within, Chicago, 2014
Interview and portrait by Chester Alamo-Costello
