Katie Dorame

Katie Dorame is a visual artist born in Los Angeles, currently living and working in Oakland. Dorame’s work has been exhibited at Shulamit Nazarian in Los Angeles, Southern Exposure, Galería de la Raza, Guerrero Gallery, Incline Gallery, and the Thacher Gallery in San Francisco as well as the Handwerker Gallery at Ithaca College in New York. She received her MFA from the California College of the Arts and her BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is an Indigenous artist of mixed descent, and member of the Gabrielino/Tongva tribe of California.

Interview with Katie Dorame

Questions by Andreana Donahue

Can you tell us a bit about your background and where you grew up? In what ways have your early visual experiences and personal history led to art-making?
I grew up in West L.A. near all the plant nurseries in the Sawtelle district. This was also where my Dad grew up.  His father, and grandmother and on and on were all from L.A. We are Tongva (tribe of L.A.) My Dad would take me for walks in the neighborhood and I’d get layers of history, stories from random houses: the house where there was a pet monkey chained in a yard that would chase him and his friends when they walked by (poor monkey), the house (family house) that was torn down to build the freeway (the 405), the apartment where Marilyn Monroe lived (when she was Norma Jean), where there was a Tongva village site with a natural spring (Kuruvungna). Between the local history of when he grew up, when I grew up, and the sometimes harder to visualize history of what it was like to be Tongva before the Spanish Missions, those layers were constantly being brought back to life in my mind visually through storytelling.  

I also got supported in making art from the beginning. My parents both studied art and met in school. They owned a clothing store in Venice Beach when I was really young - my Dad hand dyed all the fabric, my Mom would sew the clothes and make the patterns. Even though this ended in divorce ha, ha (cries), solving problems with creative skills was instilled from day one. Also I realized some problems cannot be solved with art. My Mom also dragged all of us kids around to museums whenever she had a free day. I loved the stillness, emptiness, quiet and overwhelming visual experiences they brought me in the middle of living in such a crowded place. 

Where are you currently based and what initially attracted you to working in this community? Are there any aspects of this place that have surfaced in your work?
I moved up north for school (CCA) about a decade ago - and currently live in Oakland. (Ohlone land) Oakland felt the most like home to me - like a sister city. Having space from my history in L.A. allowed me to have a different relationship to California as a whole, and allowed me a birds eye view of the themes throughout the work. 

Can you tell us about your studio and what a typical day is like for you? Do you share space or ideas with other artists while working, or is it a more solitary routine?
I work in my studio/garage, or on my dining room table - wherever I can be most productive and feel mentally clear.  I work in bursts, sometimes I am photoshopping collages for a painting on my laptop, sometimes I work on paper collages and turn everything into disarray for 3 months before completing them, most days if I don’t have another project going I try to get a little bit of painting in while my baby naps.  A typical day for me is: baby, baby, art, baby, baby baby, art, baby.

In general I am oh so solitary. Even before the pandemic, I barely left the house and worried I was too antisocial. My husband is also an artist (photographer) so I have built in critique and technological (scanning, documentation) help when I need it. My sisters are also artists (parents were maybe too permissive) so I check in with them from time to time as well.  So my life are the following magazines: Family circle, Fine Arts & Leisure, Painting Now, Parenting Now, & of course News From Native California.  

What criteria do you follow for selecting materials? Do you prefer to maintain a narrow focus or work across diverse media? How do you navigate the limitations and possibilities that result from this path?
I can never stick to one medium for too long! For each project I either use ink, pastel, watercolor, oil paint, collage, or who knows. I work one of two ways. I either come up with a specific narrative and gather materials that work best for the idea. (Like my Alien Apostles series where I referenced historic drawings and paintings so I replicated them with watercolor and ink) Or I play around with specific materials and see what narrative evolves from them (this current series of collages). Working with something like oil paint takes so much longer than I’d like it to, by the time I’ve finished prepping the canvases and making the source images the idea is in danger of becoming stale to me. I currently have an ongoing gothic horror drawing and painting saga I would love to finish! I am battling to finish them before I start doubting the idea. With this current body of collages I could rapidly change them and recompose them, swap backgrounds, paint swiftly with watercolor and they stayed fresh with me until the end. I didn’t have time to doubt until after they were out in the world. 

Can you walk us through your overall process? How would you describe your approach to manipulating materials? What about decision-making and editing?
So for this project I gathered magazines, books, and culled out the things I needed. I made more stacks of different groupings: shells native to the pacific coast, tile work from Catalina island, artifacts, etc. I made piles of corresponding colors, sizes, and sorted like an archeologist. Then I let go of any scientific process, and started working intuitively until they fit like a puzzle and locked into a place that felt “right” to me. I think that process is a form of conjuring and outside of being able to be articulated. The paintings around the collage were done afterwards - and finally I stacked them together, had them photographed and then worked on turning them into prints - matching the colors and feel of the original and turning them into one seamless final print. 

Can you talk about some of the ongoing interests, imagery, and concepts that have informed your process and body of work over time? How do you anticipate your work progressing in the future?
I think campy horror, old Hollywood, the pacific ocean, California history, 50’s & 60’s junk, Native California, and art history have been prominent in all of my bodies of work. I work hard to solve unsolvable mysteries and sometimes find humor along the way. A lot of my interests are trying to solve something and in doing so I always raise a lot more questions, so it's regenerative. In the work I often pretend to work in Hollywood, by being a director, or a background scene painter, casting agent, concept artist, or location scout to make work for films that haven’t been made that I’d like to see. If I make work with that mindset I never run out of ideas. I think I’ll continue to try to make work for these films. 

Do you pursue any collaborations, projects, or careers in addition to your studio practice? If so, are there connections between the two?
At the moment - having an almost 1 year old is the main focus outside of the studio. I’ve been drawing with him with huge crayons but that’s just for us.

As a result of the pandemic, many artists have experienced limited access to their studios or loss of exhibitions, income, or other opportunities. Has your way of working (or not working) shifted significantly during this time? Are there unexpected insights or particular challenges you’ve experienced?
I’ve definitely lost out on exhibitions, some have been cancelled or postponed. I’ve found other ways of hustling but honestly, mental health for me has to come first right now. Taking a break from making and not feeling guilty about it or making like crazy and not worrying about if it's going to be shown or not are two ways I’ve gone about it. (I also talk to a therapist and realize that’s a luxury but if you can, do it.)  

From the pandemic I gained clarification for what was truly important to me - family and making (not art world success) & the challenge for me has been how much stress I put myself under for things completely outside of my control. Our system here in the U.S. is broken, our country is a mess, our pandemic response a nightmare and I can only take things a day at a time in my own family unit and in my studio. 

In a time that seems to be marked by uncertainty, collective anxiety, and increasing social unrest, why do you think the perspectives and contributions of artists remain meaningful? Do you feel a natural relationship exists between your work (or the role artists play more broadly) and confronting established systems - of power, cultural institutions, or otherwise?
Well, on the positive side of everything being so overwhelming, I’m glad that collectively we are all feeling anxiety instead of just the marginalized. It shares the burden. There’s never a time when artists shouldn’t confront established systems of power and show the flip side of expectations. I hope the days of artists responding to their own perspectives getting labeled dismissively by white curators as “identity” artists are over. I can’t tell you how much white is considered a neutral color/experience. I sincerely hope that will change permanently. Artists are going to keep making, it’s up to gatekeepers and institutions to support us even if we are calling them out. 

Can you share some of your recent influences? Are there specific works - from visual art, literature, film, or music - that are important to you?
I’ve been revisiting my old record collection from high school since I had a baby (not cool - it is a fun activity with a kid) This includes a lot of Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (so many in thrift stores when I was growing up), Brasil 66, Henry Mancini, Dirty Dancing and Pretty in Pink soundtracks, The Ventures, the Beach Boys, the Hondells, and Link Wray! Speaking of which for films check out the documentary “Rumble: the Indians who Rocked the World”, I’ve been looking at a lot of all the old haunted paintings of Europe’s bloody yesteryears and ghostly gorgeous fabric online through the Louvre’s archives and random museums that are taking advantage of “google arts & culture”: really getting into Gainsborough. Oh and I really liked the recent tv show Stumptown but I think it just got cancelled. 

Who are some contemporary artists you’re excited about? What are the best exhibitions you’ve seen in recent memory?
These are some artists who make me excited about making work: Jaime Okuma, Mercedes Dorame, Ryan Heshka, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Jeff Gibson, Gonzalo García.

Best Exhibitions: IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts: Tamara Ann Burgh and Luanne Redeye: FRAMED, I think it’s open to the public now and still up but you can also see it in 3D online, just need some 3D glasses. 

Also not recent memory, but the Mike Kelly and Kerry James Marshall retrospectives both at MOCA LA were indelibly printed in my brain forever. LOVED them. 

What are you working on in the studio right now? What’s coming up next for you?
On I go with working on my paintings in the series: “I’m not Rebecca” where I spin a yarn of gothic horror based on the story of Pocahontas mixed with the novel Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, starring a full cast of Native Actors and Vincent Price. Oh if only that film could be made. I also currently have some prints available through @accessionprojects . Some shows are in the works - To be continued.