Profile: Artist / Writer Katelan Foisy's 'Phantasmagorical Landscape Portraits'

				(Photo: Beth Hommel)
				By Jimmy Aquino, Pop Culture Contributing Editor After stints as a shop girl, model, tarot reader, and Mistress of Magic, Katelan Foisy started working in the arts professionally in 2003, focusing primarily on visual media and specializing in collage and acrylic mixed-media paintings. She is the author of Blood and Pudding, a memoir described as Sid and Nancy meets On the Road, and has illustrated for The Grammy Awards, Hallmark, Ode Magazine, CitySlang Records, and Out Magazine, and many others. In her spare time she blogs, models, and tends to her garden. She currently resides in NYC with her very bad cat named QPI.
	BEING AN ARTIST IS…?			…sleepless nights, lots of coffee, vision quests, mantillas, lace dresses, point and shoot cameras, self-portraits, jury-rigged contraptions, mixed-media messes on wood floors, melted candles, sage, and a little bit of madness.
	WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?			One of the many studies for my new painting series about women and addictions, “Snow on the Roses,” and a bit more on my 1930’s wardrobe trunk. (I still plan to travel the world with it, even if I can’t lift it). Also the “Justice” card in my tarot deck. I like to work on a number of different paintings at once. That way, while one thing is drying I can keep working on something else.
	WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR WORK?			Really good spoken word. The Beat Generation, espiritisma, Frida Kahlo, animal totems, art nouveau, Paris street lamps, street art, decay, Francesca Woodman, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs; la vie boheme.
	OF WHAT PROJECT ARE YOU MOST PROUD?			Probably the tarot deck and my new project, “Snow on the Roses.” I feel like both of these really define me as an artist, as a person. They have pushed my work to a new level.
	WHAT’S YOUR DREAM PROJECT?			I would love to travel around and make a documentary on all the amazing people I meet on my journey. A friend and I joke a lot that we will do this while living in a Gypsy caravan. The joke is there is none. I totally want to do this. I would also love for both “The Artists Tarot” and “Snow on the Roses” to travel as well. I love the idea of traveling art shows. I’d like to do more with my self-portraits as well.
				(Photo: Robin LeBlanc )
	TO WHOM DO YOU LOOK FOR INSPIRATION?			I’ve been spending some time with Taylor Mead as of late. When I met him, I realized very quickly that he would become a good friend. We bonded over Charles Mingus and Jack Kerouac and talked about dreams of traveling all over. Sometimes I can finish his sentences. He called me the female Jack Kerouac once. When I asked him about it the next week, he said, “I’m 87 years old, I can’t remember what I ate for lunch.” I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of his world. Although perhaps it’s just that he finds it amusing when I open my bag and a bunch of crocodile feet fall out.
				(Photo: Veronika von Volkova)
				(Photo: Veronika von Volkova)
	IS THERE ANYONE FAMOUS YOU’D LIKE TO WORK WITH AND WHY?			I don’t really think about that actually.
				(Photo: Dan Martensen)
	IF YOU COULD LIVE/WORK ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD IT BE ?			I love London. It will always be my home, but right now I’d just really like to travel around with my wardrobe trunk. I’m rather obsessed with it.
	WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?			I modeled for a Star Trek Book as a teen. I believe it was one of the “Starfleet Academy” books.
	WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?			Coffee.
				(Photo: Kate Black)
	WHAT GETS YOU UP IN THE MORNING ?			Coffee.
				(Photo: Steve Prue)
	DESCRIBE YOUR WORK IN THREE WORDS.			phantasmagorical landscape portraits.
	IF THERE WERE A MOVIE OF YOUR LIFE, WHO WOULD WRITE, DIRECT, AND STAR IN IT ?			I couldn’t figure this question out so I put it into a friend’s hands… “First Answer: It would be written by Neil Gaiman, directed by David Fincher or Tim Burton…and starring…YOU!” (I actually can’t memorize lines so I’d just have to ad-lib). “Second Answer: OR if you wanted to be cosmic with it, written by Kerouac, and Burroughs, and directed by Louis Bunel, and you’re the movie star in the future.” (Still ad-libbing from the future).
				Visit Katelan Foisy… www.katelanfoisy.com @katelanfoisy Facebook