Interview by Jimon

1-Where do you reside and create?  I live with my husband and four kids in Salt Lake City Utah, and I work from a home studio.

2-Did you study art or is it inherent?  Art was so far from my mind throughout my education that I never even took a single art class in high school or college. So I’m self-taught yes, and creativity is inherent to my nature–but I’ve also made a pretty diligent study of it these past five years.

3-How would you describe Miriam Tribe?  Open, expressive and always in motion.

4-Is there any reality behind the characters in your paintings or are they purely fantasy?  I usually start from my imagination but I often end up drawing the faces I know. It can go either way though.

5-What do you dream about?  The only dream I have consistently is that I’ve lost one of my two youngest daughters and am searching for them. Both of my daughters are autistic and prone to bolting (one also has Cornelia de Lange Syndrome) and I think my psyche replays that scenario when I feel a lack of control in my life.

6-If you could have dinner with 3 artists living/dead who would be at your table?  I don’t know about dinner, but I want to sit across the aisle from Vincent Van Gogh on a long plane ride. I would love to hang out with Kate Chopin, Einstein, and Martha Graham to name a few.

7-What are your guilty pleasures?  I love Taco Bell and I don’t care who knows it.

8-What artist working today do you most admire?  Anne-Sophie Tschiegg is endlessly inspiring to me.

9-Do you consider yourself a pop artist?  Mostly no.

10-What is the last great movie you watched?  JoJo Rabbit was such a good film, I’m a huge fan of Taika Waititi.

11-If you had access to a working time machine what period would you choose to live in?  Well I would hopscotch throughout history, but I Iike my equal rights too much to put down roots anywhere but 2020, disaster that it is.

12-In your professional career, what is the longest you have gone without creating?  I’ve gone several weeks without making art, but I’m always creating something. If I am not making art, I am working on a home project or woodworking or sewing. Working with my hands in some way is like breathing for me.

13-What is the source of inspiration for you? I think music is the most evocative art form for me personally, but I’ve always longed to have the talent of dance because it’s part music part whole body expression, and it just really does it for me. Traveling also really inspires me.

14-If you hosted a TV talk show, we will call it, The Miriam Hour, who would be your first guest?  I want it to be an improv art-show with an over-the-top prop and costume collection, and I want to see people make art, music, poetry and dance on the fly. Sia would be my first guest.

15-What is the most extravagant thing you have done?  To be honest, a long hot shower feels extravagant these days.

16-How many pairs of shoes do you own? 18. More than I thought!

17-Are you an optimist, pessimist or realist?  I am a realist, but I spend time at both ends of the spectrum.

18-What scares you the most?  Rejection? I’m afraid to admit that, but I think it might be true even though I embrace it as part of the creative process.

19-If you could have a super power what would it be?  Teleportation. I want to be able to pop over to Sicily for dinner and Gondola ride and still be home to Netflix and chill in my own bed.

20-What emotion do you expect to be on people’s faces when they look at your art?  Recognition

21-What is art?  Art is an expression.

22-What question would you ask if you were the interviewer?  If you could see one piece of art in real life, what would it be? (my answer would probably be Guernica).

23-How would someone find you on the internet?  @miriamtribe on Instagram

24.Please name the first thing that comes to your mind while reading the following:

Art= art is life

Food= sure, I could eat

Sports= not my thing

Politics= dumpster fire

Poor=no toilet paper

God= entanglement

Rich= tons of toilet paper

Luxury= time alone

Sex= yes please

Picasso= brilliant bastard

Religion= falls short