In this episode, we interview Coco Villa, an exceptional multidisciplinary artist residing in Asheville, NC. Coco is constantly creating and during our conversation we fondly termed her a “slash creator.” She is a clothing designer/self-portrait artist/filmmaker/dancer/model/creative director and the list doesn’t stop there. She teaches us what it looks like to fluidly move (literally and mentally) through creative projects and how she is able to honor each step of the process.
Here’s What You’ll Learn in this Episode:
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How the “flywheel” of creating allows Coco to always have a steady stream of new projects
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What having a healthy relationship and emotional connection to putting art and creative content out to the world looks like
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Navigating the economics of an artist
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How to transform negative thoughts artfully and stay in the present
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How we can all benefit from using the Spoon Theory
Enjoyed this interview? We think you might also dig this episode with local woodworker and resin artist, Anneliesse Gormley.
Show Notes
About Coco Villa
Coco Villa is an Afro-Colombian photographer and interdisciplinary artist residing in Asheville, NC. Villa was born in New York and raised throughout the United States, South America, and the Caribbean. They grew up dancing salsa, merengue, and cumbia and started sewing as a child under the influence of their grandmother, a wedding dress designer at the time, and their mother, who worked in upholstery and furniture design. In their late teens, they began to explore modern dance and performance art and experimenting with analog photography and self-portraiture.
Coco Villa attended The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University in 2012 and continued their multimedia studies through apprenticeships, residencies, and fellowships in New York, Colombia, Spain, and Germany. Coco Villa’s work integrates their exploration of identity + culture, familial history, and the pursuit of pleasure through sustainable fashion design, photography, film, and dance, often using themselves as the subject. Their works have been included in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally.
To learn more about Coco and all that she is doing, check out the links below:
Casa de Coco Website
Coco’s Instagram
People
Music by Commonwealth Choir
