Founding director of the new art new world cooperative and artist in residence at unity on the river, Amesbury
Where she works: A studio at 14 Cedar Street in Amesbury. “In the 90s, I had a wholesale pottery factory in this very building. ‘Paula Estey Designs’ is still painted above one of the back doors!”
Her craft: Mixed-media painter. “I first started calling myself that after taking a course at the SMFA in 2001 by that same name. It reconciled the painter and the mixed-media artist into one genre and says it all for me. Everything is potential art supply!”
Current project: “The Temple of My Familiars,” a series of nostalgic portraits based on “enormously enlarged snapshots” from Estey’s own archives. First time making art: Writing plays at 13, novellas at 16, making art out of trash, leather, yarn, fabric-“Anything I could get my hands on.”
How she gets inspired: “By diving into my own subconscious. My own deep emotions, reactions, and responses to life are what I know best, what I am willing to work at the hardest, and what gives me the most satisfaction of understanding.”
Her “uniform”: “I wear anything, and ruin all of it. Some days, I wear whatever feels good and know that wrecking it is part of the territory. Yesterday, I had on a chiffon skirt, a blouse, and heels!”
Next up: The Amesbury Open Studio Tour, November 13 and 14. -Lindsay Lambert