Meet Avery Mei Skillin

We had the good fortune of connecting with Avery Mei Skillin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Avery Mei, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
I actually come from a musical background, I played the violin for 15 years since I was 5 years old. It was very rigorous and that pressure teaches you a lot of discipline and self regulation; I would practice for at least an hour a day and even after moving on from audial to visual art, that work ethic has been physically ingrained in me and has stuck to the rest of my art practice. I never saw drawing or painting as a natural ability, I saw it as a skill you constantly have to train and develop the same way you exercise, that should take up your entire life. I used to treat my time in the studio like a 9-5, I would constantly make myself spend time there in an effort to be productive but I realized that forcing my creative process wasn’t the best thing. Being in art school or any sort of institutional environment encourages you to constantly produce but I think art is an emotional and innate thing and it doesn’t work that way.
For the first time in my life I’ve been taking a 3 month break to attempt to unlearn that. I’ve only been creating when I feel naturally compelled to and that has made what I do create even more powerful and meaningful to me.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I feel like a lot of artists say they’ve been drawing since they could pick up a pencil but I only really started getting into visual art the last year or so of highschool. What really put me on track was my first year or so at the School of Visual Arts; in 2019 I started in their 2D animation program. I was so desperate to learn to draw and improve and pushed myself so hard that I would draw for 8 hours a day until I gave myself an RSI and couldn’t pick up a pencil- then I was still so anxious that I was behind that I’d draw with my left hand. That environment wasn’t a good fit for me, so after covid hit I took a year off, applied to Calart’s animation program and was rejected. I had done nothing but prepare for it for years and was distraught over it but looking back, that rejection was the best thing that ever happened to me. Learning art in the context of the animation industry (or any sort of industry for that matter) didn’t bring out the best in me and I didn’t think it was worth it for me to continue pursuing so I ended up going back to SVA and attending their Fine Arts department.
That’s when I made my first ever oil painting 3 years ago, and I absolutely fell in love with the way it let me express myself. Instead of spending all my time on a Cintiq I steered completely towards physical media and analog techniques- I was able to experiment without being held back and began exploring mixed media stop motion animation, oil on glass and paper cutout techniques.. I made whatever I wanted, soft sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, risograph comics, conceptual installation, and trying a little bit of everything was really great for figuring out myself and what I wanted in my practice. That led me to opening up my own online store, creating my own apparel and self publishing my own zines, comics and writing.
The animation and cartoon influence is definitely a forefront in my work, especially when people would discuss my paintings in a fine arts context.. I definitely don’t feel like I fit into the animation sphere but because of my style I stand out in the fine art scene too. That’s also because the violence in my work is off putting for some people but I don’t focus on those labels or trying to make work to cater to a specific sort of crowd anymore. I make large scale “professional” paintings with gallery presentation in mind at the same time I make indie zines and post stupid drawings online. Depicting violence can be a therapeutic thing for me, my artwork comes from a self introspective psychological approach, it’s made with working on myself and my own feelings in mind. The sort of people that can resonate with it are the ones that are attracted to my work.
I think people are used to hearing “typical” success stories or thinking that there’s a specific path or success story that you compare yourself to and need to follow- go to college for a 4 year degree, get a job in a related field and continue until you retire- I personally can’t name anyone who did that, and if they seem to have pulled it off perfectly they definitely had outside help or were probably nepotism babies. Most of everyone I know had to make mistakes along the way and figure out what worked and didn’t work for them, I think most people that went to college switched their major within the first year. And I had the privilege of going to a private art school and the opportunities that came with it; not everybody has that and they still make their own way.
Everybody has their own path to discover, I still don’t know if I’m “successful” or not and might be far from it… but concentrating on furthering myself and what I naturally gravitate towards that inspires me and makes Me happy is what I focus on, that’s what excites me about what I’ll make in the future and what’ll come from that.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
It’s because it’s my vibe and what I’m into but I love taking visitors on book and music store crawls throughout the village.. Printed Matter on St. Marks is great because it has a free museum inside, but their storefront in Chelsea has their main collection and should also be checked out. Desert Island, Quimby’s, and Village Works are other great places to find independently published writing and comics. Mast books has a good mix of art and photo books but also more academic readings, I also absolutely love Alabaster Bookshop and Mercer Street books and records.. in terms of music stores I’d recommend A1, Academy, and Generation Records. I think in order to make good artwork you have to consume a lot of artwork and build a palette for what you enjoy, whether it’s readings, music or movies.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I do wanna shoutout my bestie Jay Knight who’s been there for me the past couple of months… the SVA Risolab for introducing me to risograph printing and the possibilities of independently publishing work, and Jungle Network in NYC for putting me on to a beautiful community of self made artists in the underground scene that inspire me everyday..

Website: averymei.com

Instagram: aveemei

Twitter: aveemei

Image Credits
Personal Photo: Sonia Tsang