Meet Liana Owad.
I am an artist working in a variety of techniques and materials to create sculptures and woodblock prints. My work largely explores the ideas of comfort and confinement in the domestic space. Shop Liana's Store Artworks by Liana Owad
How and why did you choose to work with your current medium?
As an art student, I explored many mediums and found that sculpture lended itself best to my ideas and how I wanted people to engage with my work. I continued to study sculpture through both my undergraduate and graduate studies. More recently, I started to explore woodblock printing. I lived in Okinawa, Japan for a few years and decided to step away from sculpture for a bit at that time. The printing process suited my life style there and through this new medium I found a connection to patterning and layering. I can see the work evolving into a mix of both mediums. I believe the medium is important for the delivery of ideas and changes with each piece. The medium and material choices are inherent to the meaning of the work for me and when needed change to accommodate the ideas.
What is your favorite/most inspirational creation?
I draw inspiration from many artists and their work. I cannot choose just one! Some favorite artists of mine include Do Ho Suh, Sara Zhe, William Kentridge, Rachel Whiteread, Roxy Paine, Andrea Zittel, and several others. There is nothing like experiencing their artwork in real life to feed your own desire to create.
What is your goal as a maker?
As a maker I have many goals: to practice my craftsmanship, learn new techniques, open my mind to new ideas, see as much art as I can, listen closer, and of course to show my work to the world. I work on several projects physically and in my mind all at the same time, and each individually has a set of goals I am working to achieve. I think success comes from a pragmatic standpoint of checking off a few items a day from a long list of tasks culminating in a messy array of lines on a scrap of paper. Some of those tasks are more complex than others but it is the accumulation of the list that speaks to how I spend each day. My work in many ways is derived from the tasks on this list and how I take pride in accomplishing some of these tasks and how others restrict or confine me to a stigma. I want to bring these conflicted feeling I have about how I have chosen to live my life into the work.