What style of art really makes you angry?

I'm not sure what the label for it is but I'm monumentally
bored by art which is a reaction to some or another art movement. It's
too cold and distant. If we're discussing anger, many modern movies and
pop culture television schlock makes me angry. I learned as a young
artist to reach for maturity in my work. That was the ultimate goal to
strive for. Well throw all that out. Unabashed violence and trashy sex
to sell the show. Why would I pay to see 1200 or so poor souls go to
their doom in the North Atlantic? Oh the visual effects! What hype. Car
chases, broken bodies, intimacy then betrayal and murder, and how am I
transformed as a person by viewing all this? Pop schlock on television
is even worse with among other things it's stereotyping of characters;
bright studious people are nerds, clergy or those who strive for
spirituality are pious, uptight, judgmental and totally out of it. The
beautiful people are those who do not think on their own,are socialized
to the point of dependency and are not too smart about anything because
it just isn't cool. The media talking heads spread fear. They tell us to
fear disease and doom everywhere in everyday life and tell us to
distrust each other. I used to joke about all the toys that could be
considered dangerous for the most inane reasons when the media experts
got onto that one but now that same spirit has pervaded alot of what
used to be joyful. Nothing is sacred as we partake in the misery of
others. Each segment of time has its villain: Tanya Harding, O.J. Simpson
and then on to the next. Eating a good diet of stimulating fulfilling
news and entertainment in America is like getting the right food that
one needs to sustain a healthy existence; it costs more, has to be
sought out, isn't the cultural norm and at times is a matter of
self-discipline!

Was art your first love or do you have another passion?

Art was a great passion for me at an early age.I did not
relate well to others so it was comfortable for me to go off by myself.
I'd make little figures and act out songs like "If I Ruled The World" by
Tony Bennet. I made little bamboo-like villages for the red ants
underneath my swing set. I designed and began construction on a bomb
shelter in back of the garage. I created a space capsule complete with
grasshopper astronaut and sent it aloft on the tail of my kite. When we
went out for drives there would be my face at the window catching the
sites and drawing them with my finger on my knee. I filled up scratch
pads practicing noses and eyes. At some point, I purposely set out to
have all the adventures I could so I would be more knowledgeable about
life for my art.I cannot even begin to describe how art helped me look
forward to a future in my turmoiled adolescence. Also in my teenage
years, I was athletic and referees at games told my coach I should be a
pro athlete because I had that aggressive instinct. She told me"you are
a very angry young woman" to which I replied "I do not intend to be this
unhappy all my life" and I felt that being an artist would bring me more
ultimate peace. In college, I felt I wanted to be a writer. I edited the
literary magazine,the newspaper,wrote for the PR department, and wrote
and did layouts for a small newspaper. I ran all around those small
towns on Lake Superior in Wisconsin like a literary type listening to
everyones' stories drinking alot of beer like Dylan Thomas or Jack
Kerouac perhaps? After college, I had a Wilderness Experience of painful
wandering for five or six years. Then I went sane and committed to the
artistic life of high adventure. I applied for a job as a taxicab
driver. The owner told me"We dont let women who look like women drive at
night so therefore, YOU will drive during the day." I thanked her and
signed on. Soon I was overflowing with stories and drawings of the
experiences I was having. That was eighteen years ago.

What would you like to be better at, and why?

After quitting cigarettes I became a bit buluga whale-like
so I went for work-outs at a gym with an ex-military fitness trainer. At
first I was dubious but I've come to appreciate this no pain no gain way
of pushing myself physically.(Although I confess to waving at truck
drivers in the parking lot as a diversion when I'm on the climbing
machine) It's easy when you're a kid to train. You make easy gains and
retain them. But as a forty-six year old woman? And after thirty years
of smoking? One day I thought I was going to die on the floor to get my
breath after a workout but when I didn't, my boundaries were pushed.
Plus I looked just a bit undignified like a fish out of a pond and
survived the embarrassment which pushed another boundary. I love it.