In this interview, Delma Soult speaks about her experience at the Mudhouse Artist Residency and how the MFA@CIIS has supported her growth as an artist.
Please introduce yourself.
I am Delma Soult, one of the students of the current MFA cohort at CIIS. I have drawn all my life and I started painting about thirty years ago but always as a hobby. I have always taken classes and workshops, but this was alongside working full time. Recently, I wanted to focus more on my art so I enrolled in the MFA program which has been pushing me to be more active. Painting is my main medium, but I also work in other mediums such as mosaic, encaustic, mixed media and digital arts.
I call myself a surrealist painter, so I paint from my unconscious. I often start by sketching or by painting directly on the canvas. Most of the time I just start doodling, and from that I develop something. I don’t necessarily have anything in mind, I allow whatever images or symbols to come up. I begin with a sketch and then allow it to become its own thing. I am also very influenced by my Spanish culture and feminine spirituality.
Can you share about your international exchange experience?
I have always been really attracted to Greece and the Greek Islands, especially Crete because of its feminine energy and spirituality. I travelled there when I turned fifty, and I really liked it and wanted to go back. So, when I learned that I could do an International Exchange as a part of my degree plan, I found the Mudhouse artist residency in Crete and applied. A few months later I was admitted to the residency, and I was able to earn academic credit.
The residency was fantastic! It was two weeks, and we were fourteen artists from different parts of the world. We were given a place to stay in this beautiful village on top of the mountains with a view of the Libyan Sea so the place itself was very inspiring and each of us had a designated space in the shared studio to work.
It was very well organized and included opportunities to take classes from the organizers or guest artists. I was able to take workshops in printmaking and ceramics. We often spent the mornings creating work, and in the afternoons, we would explore the island, rest, or continue working in the studio. In the evening, we often had planned activities. A highlight of the residency was the shared meals that were prepared by local chefs.
The residency gave me the space and time to really be with myself and my art. I was able to take advantage of the time and was very productive. It was also a very beautiful and inspiring location, and I created quite a lot of art that I was happy with. At the end of the two weeks, we had an art show that was open to the public. Overall, it was a very worthy experience.
How has the MFA Program at CIIS supported your growth as an artist?
The program has been very key to my art making. The different classes, professors and the constant inquiry encourages you to ask yourself a lot of questions. And the cohort is really inspiring- we are all really inspired by each other. Because it is interdisciplinary, you push yourself to try things that perhaps you haven’t tried before. So, I think the combination of the wonderful faculty, the classes, and the dedication of time and space is really pushing me to the next level. I am more confident about calling myself an artist, and I can better discuss my art with other people.
What are you working on now?
I am creating a video documentary mixing art, illustration, and animation about the inquiry of the emerging feminine and what I call the Invisible Goddess Project. In this project, we ask women age fifty and above how they feel about that transition and then I make work about it. This is something new that I started exploring since beginning the MFA program. I was inspired by my classmates who work in this medium and have created two video art projects that are on my website, one about my art trajectory and one about the Invisible Goddess Project #2. I had a lot of fun with those, and that is what gave me an idea of doing a third. So currently I am learning some technical skills for this project and am continuing to paint my unconscious, surreal feminist series. In addition, I have recently shown my work at Art Fuse, Arc Gallery, The Drawing Room, and An.a.log Gallery in San Francisco. This has been keeping me busy!
Delma Soult is an interdisciplinary artist and current MFA@CIIS student. Born in Sevilla, Spain, she is interested in exploring the connection between the familiar mundane and the sacred unknown through her art making. You can learn more about Delma and see more examples of her work at www.delmasoult.com.
