Meet Eileen Roscina | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eileen Roscina and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eileen, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I view risk as an integral part of my artistic career. I would not have advanced past a box of crayons without taking risks in my work. And this is all to say that it has not all been a linear path upwards – taking risks has resulted in many failures, and some successes, but it has moved the needle, and I have learned from each experience. I always try and remember to trust myself and that I will grow no matter what the outcome.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Disconnection from the environment fuels the myths that we are the most important entity on the planet. My creative practice challenges this fallacy by examining what nature can teach us about being human. Through the emulation of natural processes, I use pressed flowers, willow, mycelium, mirror and alternative film methods to examine social issues and spiritual practices to raise the question of realizing a radically different metaphoric mapping of time, space and our place in the world. My art practice often relies on spending hundreds of hours gathering materials in the wilderness that I use to make biotic material sculptures and experimental films. By manipulating celluloid film and hand-collected organic materials in concert with specialized industrial optics, I propose a radical therapeutic evaluation of the natural world, our connection to it, and to one another. My artwork draws from observation of ecological forms and processes; animal architecture, the unexpected and often dramatic beauty in the smallest of cellular processes and the magic of decay. I aim to encourage an internal dialog, and inspire a greater awareness on the benefits from connecting with nature. My challenges have been overcome by perseverance, hard work and focus.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would take them inside a specific cluster of 5 trees along 17th avenue parkway. It feels like you are in the forest in the middle of the city.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to dedicate my shout out to my grade school art teacher Ms. F. She told me that I should choose a different career than art because I couldn’t draw as realistically as she wanted me to. She tempered my dreams for many years to come. However I felt an extra drive to prove her wrong – so she gets credit in this story. But truthfully, I would not be anywhere without the support of my loving family. They have truly given me everything and every opportunity to succeed.

Website: www.eileenroscina.com
Instagram: @eileenroscina
Other: vimeo: eileenroscina

Image Credits
Eileen Roscina Last Image: Credit Denver Art Museum