The Magnolia Review

Sandy Coomer–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

A few years ago, we expanded our kitchen to include a sitting area. We added lots of windows to two walls and the ceiling was elevated. I loved the light in that area, and the large free space above me. I decided to use one half of that sitting area for my “art studio.” I don’t use an easel, but work on a large bar-high art table instead. I put that table in the corner, added some storage cabinets, and voila, the perfect place to create! (And I’m very near the fridge and coffee maker – an added bonus!)

What kind of materials do you use? What mediums do you work in?

Recently I’ve started to work on cradled Gesso board and Clay board more than canvas. I love the harder surface, and the way I can better manipulate the paint. Plus, I’m finishing a lot of my work with epoxy resin, and I need the sturdier surface for that. I use acrylic paints, Golden heavy body. I also create mixed media art, using paint, pastels, ink, paper, and various embellishments to create an inspirational scene and message. I love hiding words in my art—leaving little secrets that require careful examination to find. Words like believe, blessing, dream, seek, love, dare, brave, and happiness. Also, I love birds. It’s not unusual for me to add a bird somewhere in the art.

What is your routine for art? Do you always sketch first?

I’m probably the most anti-routine person ever! I follow the muse, and most of the time I work backwards. I know in my head what I want to do and then I figure out how to make that happen. This means I have a lot of mess ups, but every mess up is a great chance to learn something. I’ve been working in the morning lately, immediately after waking, which is a switch for me. I used to work only in the afternoons. In many ways, I’m always thinking about art, and because I also write poetry, I’m always thinking about words. Any interesting color combination, design, texture, landscape, phrase, conversation, etc. is likely to become one of my many post-it-noted inspirational ideas for future use.

How long have you been making art? When did you start making art?

Selling art—about 3 years ago. Making art—forever. I used to draw as a child. When I had kids of my own, I was heavily into creating intricate pages for their scrapbooks. Then I started drawing birds with ink and using watercolor to paint them. Mixed media was my next addiction, and the basis for my first exhibit and art show. I love creating original covers for hard-back journals, and I sell a lot of those in art and craft shows. Lately, I’ve started exploring acrylic pour paintings and abstract landscape paintings. Obviously I find it hard to stick to one thing.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you make art for?

A lot of my mixed media art is geared toward children. The journals are for anyone who writes, draws, or keeps a diary. I make art for anyone who enjoys the creative nature of color and design.

What inspires you to create? If you are blocked, what do you do?

Nature inspires me. Language inspires me. Life inspires me. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with all the many things I want to create that it makes me anxious to think I won’t have time to do them all. I am a detail-oriented person, and I notice everything, and so many things lead to new ideas. I rarely feel blocked, but if I do, I like to go to Pinterest on my computer and search for interesting color combinations or a new technique for some random thing. Usually 10 minutes is enough to get me going again.

What other things do you do besides art? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

I write poetry. I’m the author of 3 poetry chapbooks and the founding editor of an online poetry journal called Rockvale Review. I’m a poetry mentor with the AWP Writer to Writer Mentorship Program. I’m also an endurance athlete and an Ironman. I just competed in the World Championship race for the 70.3 Half Ironman distance in Chattanooga, TN after qualifying for the race last year. My new goal is to complete a 50 mile trail race, hopefully in 2018.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

Probably the idea phase. I love to think up a dozen things I want to create, jot down some notes and color ideas, and plan how I’m going to do them. Even right now, I’m looking at four rough sketches of landscapes complete with color notes that I want to create in the next couple of months. I also really like holding a finished piece of art in my hands, one I’m really proud of. That makes me indescribably happy!

What is your advice to aspiring artists?

Don’t follow the rules. I’ve never done anything the conventional way, and I like it that way. But I realize I might be a stubborn person for thinking like that, so let me say this instead: Don’t follow all the rules. Be free enough to take chances, to dare to color out of the lines. Believe in yourself enough to create the way you are made to create—from your own heart and the unique way you see and experience things. And put your art out in the world. You may be amazed at how many people respond positively to your creativity, and how your gifts might inspire, move, even heal someone else.

 

Check out Sandy’s work in Volume 4, Issue 1.

Ruben Rodriguez–Interview

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Describe your creative space. Do you work at home, in public spaces, etc.?

Like any aspiring writer, I used to write a lot in bars. There is plenty of material in places that allows people’s guard down. Now, most of my writing takes place in my home. I like to stand while writing. Place my journal or computer on an elevated surface: a tote full of thrift finds, the turntable, kitchen counter. When I’m pressing ink to paper, I’m working. It’s a solo job done by steady hands. Silence is wonderful, music distracting. When I write, I’m there to scoop up enchiladas. I don’t like to fake it.

What is your routine for writing?

I wish I had a routine. Even now, I’m punching out the answers to these questions, an hour after they were expected. Writing is like offering flesh. It’s bloody and stings, but it kind of looks nice up there on the altar.

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing?

This evening, I was sitting with some friends over pints and slices, describing a collage of defeats, said, I spent a decade learning to write without having anything to say. In this last year and a half I’ve been offered no time to write, yet have read more now than the cumulative prior. I’m starting to get the hang of the writing. At worst, I got my hands on the pedals and my feet gripping the steering wheel.

Who is your intended, or ideal, audience? Who do you write for?

Laughter is a defense mechanism. If I am not laughing in composition, than I am torturing myself. No one has ever called me jolly, but I think it’s because they like me.

What inspires you to write? If you are blocked, what do you do?

Blocked is an excuse. Sometimes you can’t write what you want to write. That does not mean that you cannot write. I write, now, because one day the sun will rise, and my lungs will be empty. That sucks. The writing sucks too, but at least I can be a part of it.

What other things do you do besides writing? Do you dance or play golf, etc.?

I teach. I sell vintage clothing. I hike through the wonders of New Mexico every Sunday. I like the idea that is analog. I find its process tedious. My sister allows me to store art in her attic. I think she regrets that decision.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

After the ever-many months between conception and publication, I read the work and say to myself, I can do better. I know I can do better. I strive to write that thing ever-after I will high-five.

What is your advice to aspiring writers?

If you want to write, attach consequence to your writing. Be-Have. Art is a process of realized action. Thinking is never enough. Sit your ass down and do it. Be what you want to be. Have the life you want to live.

 

Check out Ruben‘s work in Volume 4, Issue 1.

Volume 5, Issue 1 Theme

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

The issue will be available January 2019.

The optional theme is Lost and Found. See the Submit tab for details on how to submit. We accept photography, art, comics, creative nonfiction, fiction, flash fiction, experimental work, and poetry.

For poetry, I would love to see more Blackout and Cross out poems. For examples, check out these books: Newspaper Blackout by Austin Kleon, A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel by Tom Phillips, The ms of m y kin by Janet Holmes, Bukowski Erasure Poetry Anthology: A Collection of Poems Based on the Writings of Charles Bukowski by Melanie Villines, A Little White Shadow by Mary Ruefle, Mornings Like This: Found Poems by Annie Dillard, Nets by Jen Bervin, and Of Lamb by Matthea Harvey. Please submit the original and the typed version. And for fiction, creative nonfiction, and art, photography, and comics, please interpret this theme how you will, or see if you can do something new and unique with this found poetry method.

Volume 4, Issue 2 is Here!

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

The issue is available as a PDF: TMR Volume 4 Issue 2.

The optional theme is comics, be it drawn in sequential images or just plain funny.

Contributors: Gershon Ben-Avraham, Susan P. Blevins, Mela Blust, Charles W. Brice, Aria Callaham, Joan Colby, Holly Day, Darren C. Demaree, Adam Durso, Kelcey Parker Ervick, Sarah A. Etlinger, GTimothy Gordon, John Grey, Jack D. Harvey, Aloura Hattendorf, Henry Hitz, Diane Hoffman, A.J. Huffman, Phil Huffy, James Croal Jackson, Lonnie James, Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer, Matthew J. Kreglow, Claire Martin, Megan Miazgowicz, Jennifer Davis Michael, Paul Mills, TJ Neathery, Simon Perchik, Steven B. Rosenfeld, David Anthony Sam, William L. Spencer, David Spicer, Chuck Thompson, Dennis Trujillo, Bess Vanrenen, Maryfrances Wagner, Michael Whelan, Theresa Williams, and Kelsey Zimmerman.

Reviews: Hold Me Gorilla Monsoon by Colette Arrand, Auri by Auri, Internet Yearnings by Gary Beck, Mnemosyne’s Hand: Poems by Charles W. Brice, Her Secret Husband by Abbey Faith, The Future by From Ashes to New, Burn Site In Bloom by Jamie Houghton, Rookland by Jesse Minkert, Beach Dweller Manifesto by Leah Mueller, Ghost Matter by Jade Ramsey, Heavenly Whispers by Roger Sippl, Permanent Change of Station by Lisa Stice, and i’m fine: A Haiku Collection About Mental Illness by Jamie Winters.

Winner of The Magnolia Review Ink Award: Theresa Williams, for “From The Diary of Lea Knight,” chosen by Dom Fonce.

Kelsey Zimmerman

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Kelsey Zimmerman lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She attended the University of Michigan and holds a B.A. in English. In her spare time, she enjoys writing poetry, taking photos of nature, and knitting.

Shots, Christmas Clementine, and Growing Pains, Volume 4, Issue 2
Interview

Theresa Williams

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Theresa Williams lives and teaches in Northwest Ohio. Her current project is a Sketchbook novel called The Diary of Lea Knight. It traces the inner life of Lea Knight, who has recently lost a baby. Theresa twice received Individual Excellence Grants from The Ohio Arts Council and has been published in numerous journals, including Gargoyle, Hunger Mountain, and The Sun.

From The Diary of Lea Knight, Volume 4, Issue 2
Winner of The Magnolia Review Ink Award, selected by Dom Fonce
The year is strangely quiet, Volume 5, Issue 1

Michael Whelan

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Michael Whelan is the author of the poetry collection After God. He is the winner of Leitrim Guardian’s 2012 Literary Awards and his work has appeared in The Best American Poetry Blog, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Galway Review, Little Patuxent Review and many other journals. https://www.michaelwhelanpoetry.com/

Tid Bit and Three Words, Volume 4, Issue 2

Maryfrances Wagner

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Maryfrances Wagner’s books include Salvatore’s Daughter, Light Subtracts Itself, Red Silk (Thorpe Menn Book Award for Literary Excellence), Dioramas, Pouf, and The Silence of Red Glass. Her poems have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies. She co-edits the I-70 Review, served as Co-president of The Writers Place, and for fun and relaxation, she enjoys creating collages and jewelry. Check out her latest book of poems, The Silence of Red Glass, and check out her website here.

The Sophomores Study Julius Caesar: A Found Poem and The Sophomores Study Grammar: A Found Poem, Volume 4, Issue 2
Interview

Bess Vanrenen

by Suzanna Anderson Creates

Bess Vanrenen is a writer, editor, and mostly armchair traveler. She lives in Denver with her family. Vanrenen has an MA degree in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MFA degree in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. Her personal essays are published in a variety of print and digital publications, including Role Reboot and The Manifest-Station. Vanrenen’s short story “Missed Connection” won a Stories on Stage contest and was performed live, and her short story “Unexpected Gifts” was published by The Sand Hill Review.

The Land of Lakes and Volcanoes, Volume 4, Issue 2