Dani Schmidt
3/20/21
by Clio Thayer
The Owl Deer’s Dinner by Dani Schmidt
I was really excited to talk to Dani, they were a senior I had no interaction with beforehand and it was refreshing to talk to them and get the perspective of a student who wasn’t here right out of high school. Dani has more of their own independent life established than me or other students I know, which is intimidating, but inspiring.
Tell me a little about your senior project.
It has kind of changed a little bit since I first conceived of the idea, but I’m working on some surface design work. That being things like your phone case or textile prints, anything that has a pattern. The pattern design [is] from my own paintings. I use mostly watercolor and India ink. I’ll make these assets and put them together into patterns. My goal is to put them on textiles, or products, or basically anything you can put your design on nowadays, and have them on my shop for sale. The other part to this is I’m also doing these “Birds of Prey” India Ink/watercolor paintings, which are larger format. They’re 16x20. Those are going to be made into prints and selling on my site as well. I’m focusing on this e-shop aspect for my senior show and offering things under this small business of mine. It’s all nature themes, animals, bugs, mushrooms, flowers. That’s what kind of pulls it together.
Is that something you usually do or have done before?
The pattern making is pretty new to me. This actually started because this past year, right before the pandemic started, I had all these stickers and prints ready to sell at conventions. I had all these in-person things planned and then of course the pandemic hit, and everything just came to a screeching halt. Now, I really had to think about, “ok, well, how do I sell my work now?” So I revamped my online store and got in touch with local businesses to do wholesale agreements. I started making masks and printing linocuts. In that way I baby stepped into patterns and then when I started my Senior Studio, Ryan O’Rourke, my advisor, said “You’ve been doing really cool stuff with these patterns. Would you like to take it a step further? You can print these on textiles and get into the licensing thing.”
And do you usually work on themes of nature?
Yeah, I would say most of my work is definitely something to do with plants or animals. It’s something I feel very close to and connected with. I try to involve a sense of magic and wonder into my work and I always feel magic and wonder when I look at our natural world. So I think that comes through in my work, really strongly.
The White Mountains by Dani Schmidt
What are some of your artistic inspirations?
Well, it’s funny if you look at my portfolio, I have so many different styles and things that I do. I feel very inspired by people who are just adamant creators; especially strong women. It feels cliché [to say] Frida Kahlo, but she was one of my biggest inspirations, for years, because she persevered throughout her life, making art no matter what stood in her way. I’ve adopted that philosophy in my life “never stop making art.” She also had a lot of natural themes, botanical work, florals and whatnot. I definitely draw inspiration from her. Otherwise, the natural world around me. I live in a rural area of New Hampshire, I can go hiking right in my backyard. I have a pretty big garden [filled with] the most beautiful things in our world. I constantly get enchanted by flowers blooming and owls being owls and the simple magical things in our life.
The Forest Spirit of the Shadow Wood by Dani Schmidt
Do you commute to campus?
I was, but right now I’m doing all remote because of the pandemic. I’m actually seven months pregnant, right now, and I’m due in May, so I’ll graduate and then my baby is due. I have been very, very careful about the pandemic in regards to my pregnancy because it makes me more at risk. So, I’m remotely commuting, if you will.
How does your studio work at home?
I’m really lucky to have a really sweet space at home. I’m a bit older than most students, I’m 28, so I’ve got a little bit more of my life established under me. I have my own home and through that I was able to build my own studio. I rehabbed the garage, it used to be this really old dank, dark space. It took me a while, but we were able to pull out the garage door, put in sliding glass doors and heat. I’ve had the space for over three years now and it’s a blessing. It’s like my temple! It’s my art church.
Do you think it helped, going into art school, to already have a degree and be established as an adult?
Definitely. I don’t think I would have gotten the same amount out of this program if I didn’t already have experience. Coming into this program, I was already an established artist in a sense, I was already making work all the time. I was already selling stuff. I knew I didn’t have the steps to get to the next level or the knowledge I needed to push. There were some holes in my knowledge, specifically with digital art and industry standards. That I knew I needed to learn, I could technically learn that on my own, but it is so much more helpful to have a mentor and people to talk to who are working in the industry. I feel like because I’m a bit older, because I’ve had that experience of going to school already, and already doing art on my own a lot, I kind of knew what I wanted more. It made me be able to focus quicker than someone who’s just out of high school and thinking ‘Woah, I have to be an adult!’
What types of mediums do you come from? Did you originally start with the linocuts and India Inks?
No, I, originally, years ago and still do this sometimes now, worked a lot with acrylic paint on canvas, specifically. I sold a bunch of them this summer but I had over a hundred [acrylic] paintings in my house. Being in the illustration program has kind of broadened my horizons in terms of mediums, textures, and figuring out how I feel towards those mediums. Because my emotions are very evident in my work and I do different work with different mediums. My acrylic work tends to be more abstract, expressionist, more painterly, and just organic and fluid in its energy. My inks and watercolors are more exact and precise, meditative and more technical. But I’ve done linocuts in the past too and I came back to it. I constantly have my fingers in multiple mediums
Where would you like to take your career after you graduate?
After I graduate, I’m doing parental leave for a few months, but then I have a plan to jump headfirst into illustration as a freelancer. I’m interested in doing work in terms of licensing my patterns. I’m interested in doing book arts, either for children’s books or for tabletop role playing game books, because I play a lot of that. I’m also very much a fine artist so I’m looking towards, in 2022, hopefully, to be going to grad school for fine arts. Not sure where yet, got to apply, but I would eventually love to teach and do everything! I want to do the book arts, I want to be a teacher, I want to have my art in galleries, I want to sell my stuff on my website! I want to do it all!
Stand Up by Dani Schmidt
Do you have any advice for underclassmen or freshmen that are just coming in?
I’ve only been here for two years, because my program was shorter. I would say to not be afraid to ask questions and participate. There are so many younger students in my classes that are very shy and they don’t feel like they want to say anything or contribute because they might say something wrong. I say you don’t know what’s right or wrong until you try and ask questions. You’re gonna get the most out of your time here if you really engage the community. Even from home with the pandemic, it’s been harder to feel engaged, but [try] talking to people online, having your say in crit. Make sure that you’re involved with what everyone is talking about in class. Don’t be afraid! People want to hear your voice!
I think one of the reasons why I feel more confident in participating in critiques and being more vocal in classes is because I have done college before. I’m here because I absolutely know what I want to do and I’m paying for this all on my own. I feel that emphasis to suck every bit of education marrow out of my experience here. I’m gonna get my moneys’ worth! I remember when I first went to school, I did not feel that way because I thought ‘Oh, I’m so nervous! Everyone is so smart! Everyone else is way more of a big deal than me, I’m just a kid. What am I doing?’ Which is valid, but [you have to] step out of your way.
