Interview by Erin O’Neill Armendarez

From the start, Aji’s art reviewers were intrigued by the unique, compelling creations of Kaya Davis.  How, they wondered, could she fashion anything so tiny?  Thanks to staff from Ability Now and to Davis herself, their questions were answered.

It’s clear that Davis is deeply focused on her craft, and on reaching a wider audience that will appreciate her work.  Her drive is an inspiration.  She has followed her own imagination and intuition into a pursuit that can only grow as she devises her own miniature tools and aspires to learn animation one day.  Are you wondering whether your own wild idea could ever become a reality?  Ask Kaya Davis. She has an answer for you.

EOA: Please share some basic background information about yourself with our readers. 
KD: My name is Kaya. I am 28 years old, have autism, and am an artist from California. I grew up in Berkeley with my parents, as an only child who was adopted at birth. My hobbies are drawing, knitting, and origami, and I do it on a very tiny scale.  I am a cat lover and I collect my drawings of dolls, specifically Barbie and Blythe dolls.

EOA: How and when did you discover your artistic talent? 
KD: I have always loved to draw. I’ve also always preferred smaller toys, such as Polly Pocket and Barbie, over bigger toys like American Girl dolls. There were often times that I found myself wanting clothes and accessories for my dolls that I couldn’t buy in the store. As many children do, I would use art to express myself, but as I got older, I discovered that I could make a career from my skill of drawing people and crocheting or knitting the doll clothes and accessories I had always wished I could buy. That was when I was about 14 years old and knitting and crocheting miniatures has been a passion of mine ever since. Throughout high school, I improved my knitting, crocheting, and doing origami skills, and when I turned 21 I found that I wanted to focus only on miniatures.  

EOA: What first attracted you to miniature forms?
KD: I have always seen my dolls as real people, not as dolls at all. I’ve also always been interested in fairytales about fairies and other mythical creatures, as well as the spiritual world. I would sit and draw the fairies, their tiny houses, and the tiny worlds I was imagining in my head. Once I started drawing and painting on a small scale, I realized that was my preference because of the control it gave me over my fine motor skills. The more I drew, the more interest people showed in buying my work, so I figured, why not make money doing something that I love?

EOA: How did you find Ability Now, and how has the program supported your art and your business?
KD: I found the program through a referral from Regional Center of the East Bay, a non-profit agency under contract with California to coordinate supports and services for people with developmental disabilities like me. Because I have autism, I tend to have art ideas all over the place. Before attending Ability Now’s Small Business Development Center, I was struggling with how to turn my passion for tiny art into a business. I couldn’t have gotten to where I am today if it wasn’t for Ability Now’s Small Business Development Center. The staff at Ability Now have helped me focus on my goals and given me structure. 

EOA: Who are your mentors?
KD: Andre Wilson, the Small Business Manager, and Alva Gardner, the Small Business Vocational Coordinator, and all the small business staff at Ability Now have been mentors and supported me along the way. However, my iconic role model as an artist is Walt Disney. I’m very fascinated by animation and making a drawing come to life with a series of images, and am interested in learning animation in the future.

EOA: Please describe your process as an artist, from idea to finished piece. 
KD: This varies depending on what I’m making. I often take walks to get inspiration. Then I usually think about what I want to make and sometimes how. While I’m walking, I visualize how I want the finished piece to look. Then I will sit down and draw or paint. Because of the small scale of my work, I often also make some of my own art supplies including tiny watercolor pads, paint palettes, and knitting needles. When I sit down to draw or paint a miniature, I try to complete the whole thing in one sitting. 

EOA: Of all of your accomplishments, of which are you most proud, and why? 
KD: Learning how to work on a tiny scale. Mastering my skills, I would say, because without being able to do that, I wouldn’t have my business or passion. 

EOA: What are your short-term and long-term goals? 
KD: My short-term goal is to make more work in a shorter period of time. Long term, I would like to be well known for my art – to me, this would mean having lots of followers on my business Instagram and YouTube. 

EOA: What advice do you have for novice artists and entrepreneurs hoping to attract interest in what they have to offer? 
KD: Find your passion and what sets you apart from everyone else. It’s important to market yourself in a way that makes you stand out. I still struggle with this, I must say, so just remember that it’s a process and takes time. Don’t give up on your passions and dreams – if something isn’t working, get advice from family, a mentor, or someone you look up to. Follow your passion and remember to always do what you love. 

Interview by Erin Schalk
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Helen Fukuhara began her visual arts education at the Braille Institute in 1987. While being blind from birth, Fukuhara has pursued the fine arts in earnest, dedicating her university studies to music. Today, she remains a prolific and passionate artist who works in ceramic, mosaic, printmaking, and fiber arts.  In addition, her print Dancing Fingers was recently awarded an honorable mention in the American Printing House for the Blind’s (APH) annual art competition InSights. 

“I like the feel -- the tactile qualities -- of mixed media projects since I use my hands to see.  I also like how multimedia allows me to work independently.  When I’m in the process of making a piece, I can feel and experience the design fully as I create it section by section.  In my work, I also am open to letting things happen rather than sticking to one specific plan.  However, when I finish a piece, I feel somewhat sad because my entire surface is covered, and I cannot experience each part of the design as well.  So, I create again.  And again.” -Helen Fukuhara

Erin Schalk (ES): Please share with us how you came to be a visual artist: 
Helen Fukuhara (HF): I started at Braille Institute in Los Angeles during the end of September of 1987, when I moved from New York to California.  That’s when I started taking art classes because the art teachers at Braille made it comfortable for me to do art, since art is generally done with your hands.  Basically, it involved the colors and materials being explained to me in more detail. 

I also learned from Hailstones and Halibut Bones, which is a children’s book.  It takes colors and puts them into poetry so I have something concrete to relate to, for example, black is the color of licorice.  I like to associate art with music since I was a musician originally.  For example, I might think of the bright colors as piccolos in an orchestra. 
The lower notes would be the darker colors, and so on. I used to do sewing when I lived in New York, so naturally, I worked with fabrics in different colors and textures.  I was aware of colors, and I wrote the color combinations on a braille sheet to remember the combinations that go together. Sometimes if I am in the mood, I’ll make something unusual, which you can do in art!  

I love doing art.  I love the making of it rather than the completion because once it’s done it’s finished and hurrah.  But when you’re doing it, I think it’s more fun.  

ES: You studied music during your college days. How did your practice evolve into visual art?  Is there overlap? 
HF: I studied music at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York.  I didn’t have any idea that one day I would be moving to California and go to Braille Institute, nor did I know that Braille even had an art or music program.  
In time, I realized art and music work together in certain ways.  I read music history books, so I figured there must be art history books!  I began reading art history, took art history courses, and received six credits from Cal State Northridge. In art history, I had opportunities to do some art projects related to the class such as a beehive tomb [from the Bronze Age Mycenaean civilization].

If I’m working on an art piece, I’ve thought about how to make the piece connect to the sound of music. Some people can do that, but I find that’s difficult for me to do. When I try to make shapes, it’s never the same as what I’m visualizing in my mind. For example, when I saw the movie Chariots of Fire and they played the running music, I didn’t picture somebody running.  I don’t know what that feels like or what that looks like visually. I can’t compare music with art that way.  However, one thing I have done is take poems that people have written and put them to music.  

ES: What artists, contemporary or classic, influence you most and why?
HF: It’s an interesting question. I mainly go by era more than individuals, since I cannot see or touch the work or have it in my hand.  I prefer Renaissance and Baroque music,  so I tend to like art of that nature as well. The difference is I do know I could write in the style of Beethoven, or I could change a song to fit a composer.  
When it comes to art, things become a bit more complicated.  If somebody says, “Do a piece like DaVinci or like Picasso,” it can happen sometimes.  One time, I made a piece at my friend’s house, and she said, “That actually looks like a scene from Manzanar!”  I said, “What do you know?  It just happened!”  Likewise, if someone says a piece of mine looks like a Monet or similar, I wouldn’t know, and I’m quite surprised because I don’t have anything touchable to compare.

I can do abstract art more than abstract music.  With music, I’m used to rules. So, when I wrote music, I preferred writing music with rules, whereas music now can be more freeform, so you can do anything you want.
In regard to art, I like mosaics.  I’d also be fascinated to try more paper mache sculpture sometime in the future.

ES: You grew up in an artistically rich environment in New York City, and your father was acclaimed watercolorist Henry Fukuhara. How have these influences shaped you as an artist?
HF: My family was supportive of me, and my parents and family came to my concerts.   My dad was always fond of watching the conductor more than listening to the music! 

My father really became influential to me as a visual artist once I started taking art classes.  Before that, we would only talk about art once in a while, and I didn’t know I was going to be taking art at Braille Institute at all.  For a long time, I didn’t ever think about doing art myself.  Also, my father didn’t know how to teach me art then, so we didn’t discuss it much.  However, I went to his art workshops and demonstrations, and I found it interesting to listen to the art demonstrations if they would talk.  And some of the people at the workshops would ask questions.  I always enjoyed the questions.

I began taking art classes at Braille Institute because I knew you could do art with your hands. Things opened up and my father and I would discuss.  Sometimes my dad would be painting and have music playing.  I would ask him, “What kind of orchestral piece did you do today?” and he would laugh.  So I could understand, he would say, “Well, I have violins here, and I have trumpets there. This one is a mixed orchestra.”

As time went on, I really wanted to do an art show with my father.  First, he arranged for me to have a solo show.  Later on when he became totally blind and still painted, he finally agreed to have a show with me.  That was exciting!  
When we had our show together, I imagined a 50-50 setup.  But, my dad suggested I submit more pieces to the show and he would enter just a few.  He was a well-known artist by then, and he didn’t want to dominate, rather, he wanted my art to be the highlight of the show.  That really surprised me! 

Later on, my father became fully blind and still continued to paint.  He confided in me that he was more sure of himself as an artist even when he lost his vision, because he knew all that I was capable of as an artist.

ES: What are some of your favorite artistic media and why? 
HF: I like them all.  I like doing mosaics because you can use different shapes and different textures of pieces, and you can make your own tiles if you want. You can also incorporate found pieces to create an image.  I’ve done mosaics that are freeform and ones more like a realistic picture.  For example, I once made a mosaic artwork of my neighbor’s birds. He had a picture taken from a magazine so we had something to work from.  Someone helped me because I couldn’t cut out the feet since they were really tiny, but I was able to put them in place.  That was a challenge!

I also like paper mache.  You can mix materials into the paper mache to give it different textures.  For example, I’ve experimented with adding in sand and sequins.  Of course, you can put in a variety of paint colors as well.  I like that paper mache is light, versus clay which is heavy.  I also like basketry because you can add a range of materials like beads, whether they’re commercial or handmade.  You can have different patterns and shapes of baskets, as well as wide or narrow reeds.  Mosaic, paper mache, and basketry...I would say these art forms have been the most successful for me.

ES: You once said about your ceramic and mosaic combo works, “When I’m making a piece, I can experience the design as I create it section by section.” Tell us more.
HF: Some of the clay medallions or shapes were found or abandoned in the studio.  With the ceramic and mosaic pieces, they’re not in my head originally.  It’s a matter of what I have to work with, and then it’s placement and glazing.  So, I just do them as they come.  I may have nine ceramic circles of a certain size, and I begin to arrange them.  Once I can say that it feels like a nice arrangement, I begin fitting ceramic or glass mosaic tiles in between and so on.  

Sometimes I work in sections, and sometimes I don’t because I have the whole board to work with, unless it’s a particular section with a particular color of tiles.  Then, I might try to do a border first, then fill the inside.  

ES: What do you hope your audience will gain when they encounter your artwork?
HF: I leave it up to the eye of the beholder.  That’s why a lot of my work is untitled.  Viewers have to look for it.  When people ask me about my art, I don’t have a list of all the textures I used, where I placed them, or what colors they are.   
I think things change in people’s minds when they view my work.  Why did I use a certain color in a certain place?  Not seeing, I have no idea.  I just hope that when I’m able to see them - if I get my sight back while on Earth - that I would enjoy seeing as much as I enjoy doing them.

My father used to say to me, “Seeing is believing.”  And I would say in return, “Believing is seeing.”

​Looking across the Amstel River into the Herengracht in Amsterdam. Pitt Artist Pens in 5” x 8” Moleskine sketchbook.​

Looking along the Reguliersgracht in Amsterdam. Pitt Artist Pens in 5” x 8” Moleskine sketchbook.

Looking along the Mittelburggraben in Friedrichstadt, Germany. Rotring ArtPen and carbon pencil in 5” x 8” Moleskine sketchbook.​

The harbor in Kuden, Germany. Ink, black carbon and white pastel pencil in 5.75” x 8” Clairfontaine sketchbook with tan paper.

The drawbridge in Heiligenstedten, Germany. Pentel Tradio fountain pen, Tombow brush pens, and white gel pen in 5.75” x 8” Clairfontaine sketchbook with tan paper.

 Katie Redfield (KR): Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, where you are from and where you are
working now?
Gordan Skalleberg (GS): I was born in Norway in 1960. My dad is Norwegian and my mom is German. At that time, Norway was not that welcoming for Germans, so we soon moved to the Stockholm area in Sweden. My dad is an entrepreneur and I soon started working for him during school breaks. After finishing school, I started working full time in the family business. I spent two years in Atlanta, Georgia, in the early ‘80s as a trainee and while there I met my future wife Andrea. We had three kids. I worked long days in the business, traveling a lot, trying to fulfill expectations and responsibilities. I gradually became more and more weary and almost subconsciously I was dreaming about doing something more artistic. A lot more can be said about this process, but in 2004 I resigned as president of the company and set out to become an artist.

KR: How did you get started in the arts?
GS: In my late teens my dad encouraged me to use his nice camera to develop my seeing and communication skills. I started taking more artistic photos and learned darkroom work. I really enjoyed it and found that I had a fairly good eye. While growing up we did not go to museums or galleries much, but my mom painted some and her grandfather had been a fairly well-known painter in Germany (who once painted a portrait of the Kaiser), so I guess there was some artistic influence anyway. When I decided to quit working in the family business, I wanted to do more art and I had to find my way.

KR: It looks like you spend time between the US and Sweden. Can you share if or how that travel has been impacted by current events?
GS: My wife, Andrea, came from the USA to Sweden and after the kids grew up and moved out, we needed a change and started looking for a place to spend some time here in the USA. We eventually found Santa Fe and immediately felt at home. I am a permanent resident, currently applying for naturalization, and we spend most of our time in the USA. We normally travel to Sweden in the early spring to be partof a large studio tour and then we always spend the summers in Sweden. In the current pandemic, we have had to change these plans. We are staying in Santa Fe and hopefully we will be able to go back to Sweden in the not-too-distant future to see our children and my parents. Everything is so uncertain now.

KR: Your paintings often feature very classically posed people that give them an almost historical feel. Do you typically work from old or new photographs, from life, memory or a hybrid?
GS: I normally work from photos, more or less. I like to alter the photo images to add something that will create questions, inspire people to make up their own stories. I like to say that I am a storyteller without telling the story. I always look for old photos of people I do not know and when I find a photo that inspires my imagination I can go to work. I also use my own photos. I do not like to use photos of ”famous” people or photos where the ownership rights can be an issue. When I paint landscapes I mostly make them up; maybe I will use a photo to just get a color or a cloud or some other detail right.

KR: How do you choose a subject for a piece?
GS: As I said above, the subject has to speak to me. It is hard to define what gets me inspired. Maybe I have had an idea for a long time and then I construct a piece with the help of one or several photos.

KR: It seems most of your work is on plywood. Can you tell us when/why you started working on wood and what has kept you coming back to it?
GS: When I began trying to find my way into the art world, I started almost from scratch and I had to teach myself a lot of things. I remember studying paintings - how the background was painted, colors chosen, materials used. Once I visited an exhibition and saw large works by Swedish painter Rolf Hansson, who had painted on some kind of board. I went home and found a large plywood sheet in my shed and that is how it started. I soon found that I could paint on untreated plywood and let the grain be a random part of my work and from then on I was hooked. I gave a really nice, large roll of canvas to an artist friend.

KR: Many of your pieces seem to juxtapose landscape and portrait. Do you typically start with one or the other?
GS: From a painterly process point of view, I start with the landscape, the background. But before I start painting I have sketched the piece and have a good plan. I will do a lot of the sketching with Photoshop and InDesign. Then I will print it and maybe paint on it or draw in ideas and work from there.

KR: Your laser cut steel sculptures and the shadows they cast are sort of two pieces of art in one. What sparked the idea to start creating these? I read that you have some background in photography. Did that experience with light and shadow play into your design?
GS: When I worked in the family business I learned to do graphic design, photographed our machines for marketing purposes and learned to work with Photoshop. These tools have been fantastic in my work. The steel pieces came about in a process where one thing leads to another. I like to describe it as hiking - you come around a bend and you see a hill and get curious about how it looks beyond that hill. So you move on. At that hill you see something else and you keep moving on - and you will never know what it will lead to. I worked on a photo in Photoshop and applied some cutout filters; then, I took that image into InDesign and played with it and soon came up with the idea of doing a large steel cutout. I made the first test with a full 8’x 4’ plywood sheet; I created a mock-up with a jigsaw. I placed it outside my studio and was blown away by how the landscape and the light interacted with the piece. Next I wanted
to make the real steel piece, starting with some smaller pieces. I came home from the laser cutting factory with my new pieces, had a cup of coffee and played with ideas about how to use them. I drilled two holes at the top of one piece, applied some steel wire, hung it from the ceiling, adjusted a spotlight…BOOM! The shadow on the wall was a surprise that I had not planned. But if I had not constantly been on the move to experiment, I would never have found it. So was it just luck or a result of my process?

KR: How do you push yourself forward to find new creativity?
GS: I think I have partly answered this above. Even if I am not actively painting in the studio, I am almost always thinking about ideas and looking for new projects. I do not normally take huge leaps; I try to move ahead in small steps that are based on my core artistic activity. So, when I am working, I like to surprise myself with the thought, ”I have never done it quite like this before.” As I am not trained and educated as an artist, I very often have to start from what seems to be scratch. How do I paint skin color? I do not have a patented method, so I experiment…over and over.

KR: Experimenting with as many different formats and techniques as you do, I am guessing maybe you
have encountered some failed attempts along the way. Can you tell us about an idea you had that did
not work out the way you expected?
GS: Fear of failure is always there, but I think it is especially important to take that risk. Often when I start on a painting I feel like ”this time it is going to suck.” One nice thing about painting in oil is you can add layers and work on mistakes. This normally creates depth and character and sometimes I have to remind myself to move on and add a layer and keep pushing beyond the ”mistakes.” I am currently working on a relatively large painting that I was looking forward to working on, but I lost the ”fun” and had to take a break. I will soon start on another layer and deep down I am sure it will eventually work out. I have tried to sketch landscapes to be used for steel laser cut pieces, but until now it has not worked out. Is that a failure or am I just not done yet?

KR: What would you consider to be one of your best successes as an artist and why?
GS: I think my first large laser cut piece is one of the best I have done. But in terms of success I am maybe most excited when children are intrigued by my art. I even had a blind man visiting me in the studio once during a studio tour. The place was packed with people, but I had him grab my elbow and then I ”showed” him my art. I let him touch my work and he could ”see” with his sensitive fingers and it was an amazing experience for both of us.

KR: How many hours a week do you devote to your art? What are some of your work habits that you
think are an asset?
GS: A few years ago I started taking riding lessons from a very experienced and ambitious reining trainer. I soon wanted to have my own horse. I now own an awesome reining horse and I ride 4-6 times a week. Every time I learn something new. So I normally go to the barn to ride and then I come home to work. It is a perfect balance and I am convinced it helps me in my artistic work. I will paint maybe 4-5 hours and then do other studio work. I like to keep my studio in order; I need order around me to be able to create. I do not work all the time, night and day. I need to be fairly rested to paint as it takes so much concentration. When it comes to assets in my work, I think my over 20 years in the business world taught me a lot about work discipline, presenting your ”product,” meeting with customers/clients and very much more. My years in the cable industry is my ”diploma,” so to speak.
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KR: What motivates you to keep creating? What do you hope viewers experience when they engage
with your work?
GS: If I would have to choose between riding and painting, I would sacrifice my beloved horse without hesitation. Even if I get weary at times, creating art is my passion. When I get tired or weary, I try to inspire myself, maybe by leafing through a book about one of the masters, or I go to a museum or gallery and that will most likely restore my desire to create. Sometimes I ask myself about the meaning of it all, why make art when there are so many dire needs in the world? Then I again think of children and young people, how important it is to connect the two brain halves, inspire imagination and creativity. Older people need that stimulation as well. You do not have to be an artist to have imagination and creativity – it is equally important for a designer, a technician, an architect, a doctor, a scientist, etc. I want people to be inspired by my work, even to the point where they might start painting or creating on their own.

KR: What do you find to be the most challenging aspect of being a painter?
GS: I guess the greatest challenge for any artist is to be able to make a living while doing what you are passionate about, having the freedom to work on your own ideas. In that process I think it is important to find out what success is to YOU. I believe I have to start with ME, to do what I love and make sure I am pleased and happy with my work. Only then I can give something of value to others. If you lose that focus, maybe because you are hungry, it is probably easy to lose your ”core business.” When I started out trying to become an artist, people would say ”well, you can afford it.” But it was an immense struggle, not least to break free from what I thought (imagined) other people thought about what I was doing – my family, my parents, my former colleagues and customers. It took years before I actually felt I was WORKING when I was painting. But over the years I have had countless people tell me I made the right choice and that is a great reward…and probably success.

KR: Who are some of your art influences and mentors?
GS: I do not think I have ever had a mentor. In the early stages of finding a way to paint, I was inspired by Andy Warhol’s handling of colors and I was inspired by how Edvard Munch painted. I have gotten so much inspiration from seeing work by known and unknown artists, and also to read about their lives and their work. I take bits and pieces from here and there and let that influence and inspire me.

KR: What advice would you give to aspiring artists?
GS: That is maybe the hardest question of all. It is not a good idea to try to become an artist because you do not want to have a ”normal” 9 to 5 job or because you want to call yourself an ARTIST and hang out with artists. To be an artist you have to have patience and perseverance and you have to be able to spend a lot of time alone. I read a lot about artists; I like to visit their studios. I do question whether I am in a position to hand out advice. For me, maybe I was trying not to burn out, I was desperate in a way…I had to do it.