In the summer of 2023, RMCAD students interviewed our 2022-2024 Resident Artists in their studios. Their video interview of Yazz Atmore showcases her inspirations, portfolio, and dreams for her residency here at RedLine.
Yazz Atmore is just a scattered brain barefoot babe who likes to dance with words, play in the spirit world & dabble in art magic.
Having created her own degree from Metropolitan State University, Yazz obtains a BA in Supporting High Risk Youth through the Arts. Yazz is a community organizer, creative & educator in Denver, Colorado where she continues to mentor and create with young artists as they explore their lives, stories, and passions through the beauty of art.
As an expressionist intuitive mixed media artist she creates breathtaking hand cut collage works, with the use of bright bold colors, metallic paints and gold leaf.
“Especially I think as artists, we’re always trying to hold on to our works and our art. We’re so sensitive about it. And a lot of times, our art is just meant to be simply shared. And I feel like the art, whether it’s floral work, whether it is collage work or whatever the medium is, it is meant for it to have its own experience.”
Watch the video of Yazz in her RedLine studio to learn more about her and her practice!
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:
“I've been working with kiddos for the last 12 years. And so growing up from the Boys & Girls Club to YMCA to Colorado Uplift, to just a whole bunch of stuff that I used to do. There was a particular camp called Arts in the Hood that I used to do when I was in high school that was all ran by young adults and high school students.
“It was in a church. It was like 500 kids in this small church. It was crazy. But we would teach, it was a performing arts camp and we would use what we have, so I had taught Polynesian dancing one year. I had taught tumbling and gymnastics, step, photography, poetry, arts and crafts. And so just growing up from pretty much all of my teenage years, I was just always working with kids through the arts naturally.
“And so then when I got into college, I was like, I've been doing this for free already. I wasn't paid anything. I was doing it for free anyway and I had already been in the community. I had always learned servant leadership and what that looked like and then with the arts.
“And then I was in college, went through like seven majors, and then I was like, oh, I can create my own degree? Are you serious? It was so dope. I was able to create my own degree. It was a whole process. I had to convince the school that it was legit. It was legit.
“But once I had settled on that name, it kind of just felt good. It just made sense. I was like, oh, I've been doing this for years. And so now that I've transitioned into being a full-time artist, I've been doing this stuff already naturally. And so I was poured into.
“Growing up, I was loved on, I was supported. And as an educator now as a community organizer now, and as an artist and a creative now, I'm just passing the baton now. I'm just naturally in these spaces that allow me to show up in these ways and to support in these ways. And so that's how they blend. They've always been blending. They've been blending since I was 13.
“I would find faces on Instagram, I'm not going to hold you. Or just random people's faces. All my art is rooted in my spiritual practice. So I work with my aunt and my dad, hence the name Chatty Ancestors. And so a lot of times I'll get these visions in my head and I might save a picture here and there just randomly. And I'll randomly get this vision in my head and I'm like, I have to cut it out and then do all these types of things with it.
“Half the time, I have no idea why I choose the face. I don't know why I choose the colors or the themes until afterwards. And so I always look at my art as conversations with God, conversations with the divine. And so a lot of times, actually all the time, it's literally just this conversation back and forth, me and the divine as I'm creating this piece. And at the end of it I'm like, oh, that's what you meant. Okay, I see what you did there. And so that's where a lot of that comes from and just the materials.
“Like I was saying before, all my work is rooted in my spiritual practice and working with my dad, working with my ancestors. My understanding with my ancestors are from how I've explored. There's ancestors that are past ancestors and there's ancestors that are future ancestors. And there's also a saying that we are the new ancestors. Act accordingly.
“And so being able to blend this kind of world in Afrofuturism where we get to imagine there's Black people in the future. We're in the future while also still honoring the ancient wisdom that we've been given. And so that's how I blend both worlds together. And I honor the ancestors before and the ancestors now and the ancestors that will be. And so that's how I blend.
“Like I was saying before, it's literally how I communicate. A lot of times, my emotions will be all over the place. I think especially as artists, we're just all over the place all the time. And a lot of times art was or has been a way for me to ground the conversations or ground the messages and even ground my intuition in that with such the process of having to trust myself in my artistic practice and what's happening in that time, it has forced me to ground.
“And so meaning that the clarity is now clear between me and the divine. And I look at it as whenever people come look at my work, it's simply a portal. I am simply just a tool and a vessel, and so however one interacts with my work, I've done my part. After that, it is totally up to the viewer how you decide to commune with God and the divine.
“Absolutely, yes. I'm always in my quotes. There's this quote that says, the burden of survival is not meant to be carried alone. And so it has been community that has loved on me, supported me, and has gotten me here. I believe you thrive and you heal in community. And so RedLine has always been that. And it's been an honor and I'm so grateful to be a part of this community.
“And I get to be loved on and supported and poured into and vice versa. And so my work is all about that, right? So I'm talking about, I work with my dad, yo. It's a community. The spirit team is a whole squad. It takes a village to raise a human. It really does. Internally and externally. I think my relationship with my dad and my spirit team and the divine has reflected outwards to how my community is now and the support and the love and all the things I get to be a part of now reflects that.
“One of my biggest goals I really want to play in is, or achieve, I don't know, it's weird. I want to play with flowers, like actual real flowers, like floral work, floral design. I already play with flowers already in my works. I want to play with actual flowers. I like the concept of the dying process of flowers and how it does its part and it trusts its own process and it can go from fresh to dead to just dried. And so I really love that process of also not holding on.
“Especially I think as artists, we're always trying to hold on to our works and our art. We're so sensitive about it. And a lot of times, our art is just meant to be simply shared. And I feel like the art, whether it's floral work, whether it is collage work or whatever the medium is, it is meant for it to have its own experience.
“And you've done your part. Now allow the world. I feel like we're all responsible for sharing our gifts and then it'll go from there. And so I'm really excited to play with flowers more in that process. And I just like playing flowers.
“And it's like collaging to me too in a way. You're looking at the levels and you're cutting this and you're cutting that, but it's so peaceful. I got to take a class and I was the youngest one in there. Everybody was like 60 plus. And it was the best thing ever. I was like, is this what people do when they retire? I love this.
“But there's even a spiritual act, especially within. There is even a spiritual flow and intuition and intuitive process of the levels and why we cut, how we cut. Why is it like this is this way or this is this way? And so I'm really excited to incorporate all of this into my work. My art is already really trippy. I want to bring people more into it now, where it's really a lot more interactive where you're touching and you're experiencing in these kinds of different ways.
“Women We Call Home series is a series that helped me through the grieving process when my grandmother died. So the first woman in the series is my grandmother. And the funny thing is the last woman in the series, so my grandmother's middle name was Irene, my middle name is Irene. And the last woman in the series, which is exactly 10—numerology is completion and beginnings—her name is Irene, which means peace.
“So that series allowed me to grieve and accept the process of when my grandmother died and there was a piece that happened. And so through the series, I was able to interview just different friends who wanted to honor dope Black women in their life, whether they call them ancestor, friend, mother, cousin, whatever, whoever they wanted to honor. I just wanted to honor those Black women and the vastness and the complexity of our journeys and our stories.
“And so that's how I chose it. And again, the same process. They gave me a picture. I would interview the person, they would give me a photo, and I would turn it into black and white, and then I would turn it into a collage. And that is one of my favorite series. It is never for sale.
“People have asked, are pieces for sale? I was like, no. But it does travel a lot. It's one of those series where these are women where you typically don't hear our stories. And so even if it's in a small cafe, these women's stories get to be heard. And so that series, I love that series.
“Contemporary art...That's a really good question. In my opinion, it’s community. That's what it is. And I know that sounds wild, but it is. I think even when we look at the art of community and to be able to be in community and to do what you love, that is a blessing that a lot of us don't have.
“That's how I look at it. Also, too, from maybe more of a actual physical standpoint, honestly, it's just you having a good ass time and having fun. We literally live on a flying rock in the middle of space. None of this makes sense. There's no rules for this. And so contemporary art is whatever you want it to be at the time or however it needs to be at the time based off who the artist is and the viewer.”
Watch RedLine Resident Artist Yazz Atmore in her Studio
"All of my practice is rooted in my spiritual practice. And so all of my art is simply just conversations with the divine. And so each piece represents a conversation, a message that just came through and I'm like, 'All right. Let me figure out what it is.' And then throughout, I just decipher those conversations. But yeah, just conversations that I have with my spirit team.”
