BYT sat down with artist Camille Schefter in her Petworth studio this past week to discuss her upcoming gallery opening, her ability to do push-ups, and her disappointment in Mastodon's live show. Unfortunately, the first interview we did with her was erased, but a second interview was performed with the same questions only in a different order. Camille's work is showing at Studio H, opening Saturday evening after the H Street Festival and running through October 17th.
all photos: Chris Svetlik
BYT: How many push-ups can you do?
Person: Like real push-ups?
BYT: Real Army Push Ups.
Camille: Like good form?…28
BYT: But you aren’t going to do them?
Camille: No, I’m not going to do them.
BYT: So we won’t have any proof you can do them?
Camille: Yeah, you are just going to have to trust me… you don’t like believe I can do 28 push ups?
BYT: Tell us about your athletic career in college.
Camille: I went to Macalester College in the Twin Cities and I played soccer as a midfielder. I played soccer for about half a year than I didn’t want to go to practice anymore. I had a lot of extra curricular actives going on.
BYT: You had, like, a hard liver?
Camille: I WAS a hard liver.
BYT: So after you hurt your, leg you got into art, you started painting as therapy?
Camille: Nope, I never hurt my leg! I’ve been painting since I was little. I mean, everyone paints when they are little, but I was one of the ones who were fortunately good at it. So I’ve always wanted to do it.
BYT: What was the first thing you ever painted, do you remember?
Camille: I think it was a little animal my parents have since framed. I was really really young, I don’t remember what animal it actually is; it might be a rabbit or a horse. Neither of which are in my paintings now.
BYT: What’s your least favorite color?
Camille: Purple! But I use a lot of purple; it just kind of makes me angry. I use it when its necessary, but I wont wear people. I have one purple item in my wardrobe.
BYT: Who is your favorite artist?
Camille: Well that is kind of hard to choose, I really really like Peter Doig, Neo Rauch & Cecily Brown
BYT: Tell us a little bit about your art, what style is it? I know the Washington Post called you dark, is that a word you would use to describe yourself?
Camille: Well, not dark in an unhappy way.
BYT: Have you ever painted a Pokémon? I'd find that to be dark.
Camille: Nope, I’ve never painted a Pokémon!
Camille: The first interview was so much better; can’t you just find it in there?
BYT: Yes, yes, if I just hit the tape recorder with a hammer it will come back. But nope, it's erased. I will remember some of it though (ed. note: not true).
Camille: Do you like my paintings?
BYT: I do, I like them a lot. Can you tell if someone doesn’t like your paintings?
Camille: I mean, not everyone likes my paintings, and they don’t have to. I’ve gotten over that. A lot of people tell me they like my paintings when they actually don’t: they are liars.
BYT: So we were talking earlier about you smoking cigarettes and you told us that you do, even though you know your mom is going to read this interview.
Camille: Yes, occasionally I do.
BYT: So, can you gauge her disappointment level (on a scale of 1-10) when she reads this? 1 being moderately disappointed & 10 being extremely disappointed?
Camille: Maybe it’s only like 4 or 5
BYT: Cigarettes per day?
Camille: 4 or 5 on the disappointment level, not cigarettes a day. I smoke maybe 4 or 5 per week. That’s not very many!
(Ed. Note: to be clear, Camille is not double fisting IPA's, she's holding the photographer's beer)
BYT: So is there a 1 to 1 correlation between levels of disappointment and cigarettes per week?
Camille: I am not sure
BYT: Can you tell us a bit about some of the stuff here in your studio?
Camille: The stuff on the walls: I collect things. Some of it i use as references for work (like the magazine images), some are pieces by other artists whom I admire. The other stuff I just like (shells, sticks, feathers, metal parts from old machines, vintage stuff, funny stuff, lots of of it i find on the street or in the trash, people are really wasteful, I find great stuff in the trash). I guess I have a little bit of a bluejay syndrome. It creates a mood in the studio, just like listening to music.
Camille: The two zipatone pieces (we dig our own graves & prove it or fuck off) are kind of my mottos. There are so many people who say they're artists but they don't do any work, they just want to dress the part. Proving it to me is thinking hard and critically, reading a lot and going to shows. And painting as much as possible.
Camille: "We dig our own graves" is more about life in general. I thought of these, though nothing is original, so they can probably be attributed to other people in other times, just to clarify.
BYT: Minnesota for four years, ya?
Camille: Yes, Minee-SNOWta
BYT: And where did you grow up?
Camille: I was raised in Iowa, but I was born in Denver
BYT: Okay so how did the Midwest shape your artistic sensibilities?
Camille: Well both my parents were from opposite coasts. So because of that I did not have a lot of family in the Midwest and I was always sort of the new girl… I just didn’t have a connection with any of the places. We were just on this little tiny island, my family and I.
BYT: A little tiny island in the Midwest?
Camille: Well I mean when you grow up in the Midwest almost everyone has their entire family in that area. SO it was just different for me.
BYT: So can you tell us a little bit about your tattoo, the fish?
Camille: It's a perch. When I was a little kid we would go to this lake in Ontario and these fish are the only kid of fish I could catch, so I got it as to remind me of my childhood.
BYT: So you spent a lot of your childhood around lakes.
Camille: Yeah and I don’t feel comfortable with rivers as much.
BYT: Well you know you are about an hour from the Chesapeake Bay right?
Camille: Yeah, but that’s just not close enough. I like to have a lake like right near me. I ride my bike a lot, though, so perhaps I will just ride my bike over there sometime!
BYT: What is your favorite lake?
Camille: Cedar Lake
BYT: Cedar Lake in Minneapolis?
Camille: Yeah well that’s my favorite like in Minneapolis.
BYT: What is your favorite lake in Minnesota? Gull Lake? Mille Lacs?
Camille: Its way up north, not Mille Lacs, more north than that but I cant tell you where it is.
BYT: Hmm, you can’t tell us? Why not?
Camille: Because you will try to find it and that would ruin it.
BYT: Well we are going to go to Minnesota to find your secret lake. Can you paint it for us sometime?
Camille: I don’t generally paint lakes.
BYT: Okay, well next question, which metal bands are the biggest pussies?
Camille: Hmm, difficult question, I don't really want to call anyone out. I was really really pumped to go see Mastodon one time, and I was really disappointed when I saw them.
BYT: Were they drunk?
Camille: They might have been.
BYT: Well we are interviewing them at the end of the month so we might let them know what you said.
Camille: They are going to come and kill me.
BYT: That, by nature, would make them not pussies. So we will see, maybe you can paint them!
Camille: I would paint them, live?
BYT: Nude, like artistic nudes. Would you be down?
Camille: Yes, tell them I will paint them nude if they want me to.
BYT: What artists are you influenced by?
Camille: I sometimes tell people that if Peter Doig and Cecily Brown had a bastard art baby, that I would that bastard art baby.
BYT: And if Peter Doig and Stefley Brown had an abortion?
Camille: Aww, I would survive.
BYT: What sort of hipster band that our readers might identify with is the music version of your art?
Camille: The Black Keys
BYT: So why are you like the Black Keys?
Camille: Because Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are too bright.
BYT: I might just drastically change this interview so that the Black Keys are the biggest pussies in metal and that your art is most like Mastodon.
BYT: Tell us about the show.
Camille: I use oil paint on wood panels (salvaged and from the lumber yard).
Camille: I'm working on melding my more narrative tendencies with my more visceral/abstract style. I think it came together pretty nicely for the show, but it's all really still in process. I wish i could have shows back to back and make all new work for the second one.
BYT: When does your show open?
Camille: It is September 18that Studio H Gallery, and the gallery opening is 6-9 pm.
BYT: After the H Street Festival?
Camille: Yes directly after and it goes on for a month until 0ctober 17th. We should have done this entire interview in Minnesota accents.
BYT: Oh yah, you betcha, we could have had some hot dish, too. Any last words? What is your favorite fruit?
Camille: Oh that’s a hard one I used to work in produce so I have a close bond with fruits, maybe a yellow Kiwi.
Check out Camille's opening tomorrow night after the H Street Festival at Studio H from 6 to 9 pm
408 H Street NE second floor Washington, DC 20002 • 202.468.5277
Previously in Inside The Artist Studio:
God loves a cheerful giver.
ah ha! i think i can decode your artist transcription errors:
Suffley/Steffley Brown = Cecily Brown
Leo Roche = Neo Rauch
but you nailed the Peter Doig. Nailed it!
JEFF seems to be a bit of a douchebag, and clearly doesn't know much about art. Why is he doing art interviews?
Awesome paintings!
I'm a complete douchebag, Lover. And you're right, I don't particularly know a thing or two about art, but I wanted to expose this artist to a wider audience so I interviewed her for the website. I apologize completely if I've offended your artistic sensibilities or misspelled any of your favorite artists' names. Perhaps you have some burning questions that my primitive mind was unable to imagine for this interview. Feel free to post them in the comments section and I'll be certain to ask Camille to respond...
Also, thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to offer such constructive criticism. I will start applying for dual Bachelor's Degree programs in art history and journalism this weekend. I hear the University of Missouri has a good program.
Camille is awesome and her show is going to be wonderful. Thanks for telling folks about her!
Jeff, you should make a "retort to claims of douchebaggery" form letter. Accusations happen often enough.
Or just come to terms with the fact that I'm probably a douchebag that doesn't know anything about art. Oh well, let's all just agree to agree and concentrate on the art. Come to the opening, Alan!
Even if Jeff is a total, complete, and utter douchebag, I commend him for introducing a talented and (incredibly) gorgeous artist.
Met Camille before and she was super cool, so it's awesome to see her getting a show! (+that she's actually good, cause, you know, that's always awkward)
Love the pictures.