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

Hi Patricia, why did you pursue a creative career?
I am a curious person and I like to make things. I like to problem-solve, explore ideas, and learn. Of all the fields I have pursued, making art in my studio means that every day is an opportunity for new exploration, where there are new skills to develop and ideas to research. I also like the idea of engagement and collaboration; the artist and the viewer are in collaboration with each other, the maker and the user are in collaboration with each other. My work is not finished until it is seen and experienced by others.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I started making things in clay when I was young, and I still do, with a few digressions. I went to college and grad school, so I worked with other materials, studied art history, languages, politics, and archaeology, and then at some point I came back to making things with clay– gathering all the information that I had accumulated, my interest in human history and how clay is a factor in the study of human cultures, how functional objects create communication between humans and intimacy as we drink from a cup or eat from a plate. I’m very interested and deeply moved by the human story and by the stories that we have in common. Humans are the most adaptable species, we have moved across continents, we have moved mountains, we have changed the courses of rivers and then when those rivers changed their course and flooded our homes, we moved on. We are in a collaborative relationship with this planet. Human history through time courses through my work and process.

I have mostly identified as a sculptor, but not too long ago, I began to feel that sculpture was static, just objects to be looked at. In response, I added transformative elements to my work, and it started to reflect the passage of time and adaptation.

More recently I have been working in diverse media, including video projection, and environmental intervention which I document with video. These pieces speak to human relationships with nature, my yearning to be embedded and entangled with nature, and my reckoning with grief and loss.

Making art is not easy. Sometimes, as artists, we are called on to be visionaries, to solve problems and inspire, to soothe people, and to create beauty. It’s a big job, and it’s an especially hard job to make good art; it requires an ability to synthesize copious amounts of information and emotion, and to find ideas, as yet unexpressed, that might move people,  and be original. I struggle with trying to be original, trying to be inspiring. Right now, I feel happy that I am bringing people together to work on a project, Holding Up the Sky. Holding Up the Sky is a project that invites people to consider their feelings that the sky is falling, either their feelings of environmental grief or their sense of the world falling apart. And then we work together to repair pieces of the fallen sky and then hold them up on the highest peak we can find, getting closer to the sky. This is a collaborative project and I think that people working together can inspire each other.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I hike, and I love the North Phoenix Mountain Preserve– the park in my own backyard. Every day we would take a hike, checking out the many possible trails in the Preserve, then we would also explore McDowell Mountain and Brown’s Ranch, South Mountain, and to top it off, because it is so gorgeous, the Peralta trail in the Superstitions. And definitely, we would paddle board on the Salt River– my favorite thing to do in the summer. I’m sure we would see the wild horses. I think you also have to take a visitor to the Desert Botanical Garden, a treasure.

Since almost all of my friends are artists, we would also visit the Ceramic Research Center at ASU, and if there was an MFA show at Grant St., I would want to check that out. Then we would check out the new exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum and the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. If there’s a concert at the Musical Instrument Museum, I would want to show them both the museum and the beautiful performing arts space.

Dinner wise–well there’s a lot of possibilities. If I knew my friend was coming ahead of time, I would get on the list for Bacanora. Then we would go to Pizzeria Bianco, my regular haunt, probably the Town and Country location, because I’m so happy they reopened Bar Bianco there. I always get the Bianco Verde with prosciutto, but the Wise Guy is also so good, that it is hard to choose. Then Garden Bar for a cocktail. Also, we would have to go get a coffee, and attend a reading, at Changing Hands, and then visit Lisa Olson at practical art to see what she is showing. And because I like to shop, I would bring my friend to Now or Never for interesting imported clothing and then we would end our day at Last Chance for the best bargains ever, then collapse someplace– let’s see—oh yeah, the Womack, or maybe Highball, for a cocktail.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Phoenix art community is a supportive environment where there are open doors everywhere. Soon after I moved here, I met curators from most of the museums, and artists from across the city invited me to visit their studios. I soon met the remarkable Sherrie Zeitlin, an artist who is the founder of the Artist Resource Center, a vital creative nonprofit where artists and teachers can get art materials for free, the materials donated from local businesses and individuals.

One of my first sources of thrill and inspiration was the important and breathtaking collection at the Ceramic Research Center at the ASU Art Museum.
But where would any of us be without our friends? Artists need communities… people who show up at their openings, friends who are photographers to document their work, volunteers to help them take down and set up a show… I love my friends so much. Phoenix is a city where people help each other.

Website: https://patriciasannit.com

Instagram: @patriciasannitstudio

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patricia-sannit-869719104/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patricia.sannit

Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/patriciasannit

Image Credits
Lisa Olson, Claire Walgren

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