Artist Portrait: Anya Pertel

Fuzz is a section about visual culture produced on campus. This week, Fuzz interviews Anya Pertel, MC ’21, about her recent paintings and textiles.

Fuzz: How would you describe your work to your grandma?

Anya Pertel: I use a lot of fabric and think about fabric a lot. At the micro (yarn, thread, weaving) and macro (patterning, quilting, etc.) levels. I’m trying to figure out how to use that sort of mindset, but in terms of painting.

Fuzz: Which artists have influenced you and how?

AP: I picked up a book of Sheila Hicks’s miniature weavings and weaving studies recently, and that has been mind-blowing. Just looking at the way she uses color and texture in her weavings — wow. She put all sorts of stuff in there, like clam shells and fishing line and steel wool. And her color sense is out of this world! In her weaving, there are always two colors happening at once (the color of the warp thread and the color of the weft thread), so it’s been great to see how an absolute master handles that.

Fuzz: How has your work changed in the last year?

AP: In the last year my work has become a lot less about figuration and a lot more about tactility and material exploration. I think I stopped taking myself so seriously. So now I can actually have fun and enjoy making things and exploring how those things work. I used to worry about making bad paintings, but now I’ve realized that making lots of bad paintings is the only way to maybe someday make good paintings, so I make a lot of bad paintings now and I love it!