Fluidity

Willow Pannozzo

Interview by C. VanWinkle
January 23, 2025

What was the prompt that you responded to? Can you describe it for me?

It was a broken sonnet. It was, let's see, eight lines of text. I honestly found it to be a little bit challenging because I don't usually work with written prompts. So it was really fun and out of my comfort zone. The piece itself seemed to be about someone who was maybe stuck in their place, like a bedroom or just within themselves, kind of alone and isolated.

I really like the imagery of the colors. There was the fever and the blue sky; I really connected with those lines the most. Another part I really liked was: “from this fabric that craves the patience of the needle’s point.” I guess it has something to do with sewing or crafts of some sort, but what I got out of it was this tone of self-seclusion.

How did you get started making your own piece?

Well, I usually start with color. I knew I wanted to work in black and grayscale, so I decided to just start going. That's usually how I start my art projects: just put paint on paper. I wanted to make some sort of collage because the prompt is a broken sonnet, so it doesn't have that flow. I wanted to emulate that in a collage sort of thing.

I started with three or four sheets of paper, just painting shapes and squiggles on them. I was putting paint on the brush and then throwing it at the page to see what patterns started forming. The colors of the fever and the blue sky got me thinking about blues and reds, and that opposition that they have. So I made a separate page of just blues and reds. After that, I started cutting it up and putting it out in layers, and that's where we got!

Cool! How are you with letting the process guide you? Is that something you're comfortable with?

I think so. I like the process. I think it's more fun to be present with the process so that you can reflect on the final product. I like to see where it'll take me. I usually take it in pieces, what feels right in what place. I usually don’t plan anything out, and it was the same with this piece. I just let myself do it, though it was a little bit hard to get going. The first couple sessions of me cutting and pasting weren’t coming together exactly how I wanted them to, but once I added the color it kind of formed in my head and I was able to take that as it was. To answer your question, I’m definitely okay with the process leading me instead of me leading it.

That’s my crusade for sure. How does this piece relate to the rest of your work?

That is a really good question. I’m really drawn to working with shapes and layering. I like playing with shape and line. A lot of my paintings come out as a bunch of squiggles and colors, just because that's what I wanted to do. I think this fits into my scheme of work very well because it's very shape- and line-oriented, but I think I experimented more with sharp lines and points on this piece than I usually do. It created some sort of edge that I haven't made before, and I really like that. It’s made me want to experiment more with sharper geometric shapes within my squiggly blob projects. So it did kind of open my mind to what’s possible in collaging.

Right on. The writing that you responded to had a lot of sewing vocabulary and imagery in it. Do you sew?

Funny you say that. For my thesis project, I made a quilt by hand out of paper towels.

WOW!!

So I don't sew very often, but in the last six months of my life, I was sewing a lot. So this did feel pretty timely to my artistic career. I do enjoy sewing. I think it's therapeutic, helps me relax.

I get that. That’s why I knit. I don’t enjoy sewing though. I only sew to mend my clothes, and I do it by hand because I don’t know how to use a machine.

I definitely found the appreciation for it once I had to sew my paper towel quilt together using the machines at school. Machines don't want to sew paper towels, of course. That poses some problems. When I was able to hand sew again, I thought, “Ahh, this is so much better.”

Are there other materials that you would like to try working with?

I would like to start working more with fabric as a collage textile, like maybe creating more quilt-based projects using fabric. I really like the tactile aspect and people can come up and touch it and appreciate it for its texture. I enjoy creating texture and my 2D art, but doing it in 3D was even more rewarding as a change. I also would like to start painting on materials other than canvas. I'd love to try painting on plexiglass or wood or metals, just to see what the paint does.

You said you don't usually work from written prompts. Do you work from prompts in other ways?

Usually not. If I see something in my environment, I usually respond well to color. So maybe if it's not the object [that I’m drawn to], I might just love the colors that make it and then want to use those in my own art. But I don't usually work from one specific prompt. I usually go off of what I'm drawn to in the moment. I would like to start working from prompts more though. I think it would probably enhance my technique or help me learn new things.

I haven't used prompts mostly because I don't need one to start making art, but I think it'd be interesting to see how my art changes when I do use a prompt. And so this was a really nice exercise for me.

That's great. You know, on social media, people always have these challenges that are a different prompt every day for a month. I want to learn to work faster, so I appreciate those, but it’s hard for me to keep up.

Yeah, same.

Now that you are on this side of this process, what is your advice to a new person getting their prompt today?

Maybe this goes without saying, but I think I started coming up with something once I had read my prompt multiple times and let it sink in. I kind of wanted to be ambitious and just start going for it on day one, but it didn't work. [laughs] I needed to let it sit and reread it to come up with something more holistic.

Also, it’s 14 days and that’s not a lot of time. In your email, you said it's not your magnum opus, you don't have to give it blood, sweat, and tears. I found myself getting in over my head, but then I was able to step back and remember that it's just one piece in this longer chain of pieces that goes back years. So it really is, in the best way possible, like you're a cog in a very creative machine. So doing something that you're proud of is the most important thing. Whatever you can come up with, as long as you're proud of it.

Call Number: Y128PP | Y129VA.paFlu

Willow Pannozzo is a mixed media artist whose work pushes the boundaries of perspective, texture and color through assemblage. Using collage techniques, she creates pieces that allow viewers to be subjective and find their own meaning within her work. She has exhibited her work in galleries and visual art exhibitions, most notably in Northeastern University’s Gallery 360. Pannozzo continues to experiment with new mediums and techniques in her practice, and is currently working primarily in painting and collage in Los Angeles, California.