Daily Inspiration: Meet Rebecca Norton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Norton.

Hi Rebecca, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.

Louisville’s vibrant, underground art and music scene largely influenced my decision to pursue a career in the arts. I was in my early 20’s, a student at University of Louisville pursuing my BFA with a concentration in painting, when I first stepped into the city’s alternative culture. Warehouse parties with rock shows and wild installation art at the LAVA house, founded by Aron Conaway and Bart Herre. Gallery shows at Swanson Reed. Punk/hardcore art & music shows in artist studios, like the space run by artists John King and Mike Ratterman. I can still recall seeing a LEO publication with the heading “953 Clay ” and a picture of King on the cover, standing with arms crossed, hair loose and unapologetically untamed. It was before I had gone to one of their events, and the cover image hit me as the kind of spectacle you see and think “I gotta go there and experience it for myself.” I exhibited works and experimental installations in Louisville’s alternative settings for several years, enjoying the people and energy of the culture we were a part of.

Shortly after undergrad, in 2004, I came across a picture of Frank Gehry’s Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles in an architecture magazine. Just as with the LEO story about 953 Clay, my thought was that I had to go to LA to truly experience and understand Gehry’s architecture. I left Louisville on January 8, 2005, the day I turned 24, driving solo in my Toyota red pickup truck south to New Orleans and west to Los Angeles, CA. By that summer I had settled in Sherman Oaks, CA, and was painting wherever I could find space. I would exhibit at The Hive, in downtown LA, and put work up in coffee shops to make a little extra money. For a short while I lived life rather haphazardly, taking what jobs I could, showing work wherever I could, and making friends along the way. Life was fun and unserious. I took in the pleasures of being a young adult in the city of angels

In 2006 I decided to pursue studies via higher education. I was accepted to The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA in 2007. Not all my professors found my work interesting. But the few that did challenged my critical thinking and material explorations in ways that continue to shape my practice. Lita Albuquerque, for example, initiated several seminal experiences that impacted the course of my creative pursuits, including one that made me realize how deeply connected I was to my community in Kentucky. In the interest of my studio practice, she had me stand alone for over 12 hours watching the sun move across the Pacific Ocean from a private location in Malibu, owned by a collective of artists since the 1970s. On other occasions, Lita invited me as her plus one to artist events and openings, a chance to mingle and extend my social network. One such outing involved a gathering of artists at the Circus Gallery, a gallery started in the 70’s and I believe one of the first galleries in Los Angeles. Along the community table sat many artists who had been a part of the Circus community including some who were there from the beginning. As I sat and watched their interactions I got the sense of what LA’s established scene of artists might have looked like back in the day. Older friends, like mine back home, who knew one another over the years, helped create the dynamics of what today is one of the central places for international contemporary art. At moments like this I recalled people with whom I shared a similar history, and considered the possibility of my future with peers back in Louisville.

I think my work ethic and aesthetic decisions, along with my mental acuity for logic and philosophy, intrigued the chair of the MFA program. In the summer of 2010, Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe hired me for part-time work in his studio. It wasn’t long before we began collaborating on paintings together. Jeremy and I began working as Awkward x 2 in 2010, the summer after my graduation. As usual, I jumped right into a new opportunity without too much consideration of what others thought or with an end objective in mind. In Jeremy, I found not only a friend and collaborator but also someone whose technical skills and grasp of painting awes me to no end, and under whose tutelage I was able to continue to explore a range of topics and ideas pertinent to art.

For two years after graduation, I worked nearly every day in one of two studios – working either as Awkward x 2 or on my solo practice. I was also juggling several jobs at the time, and barely keeping the lights on. Eventually, I ran out of steam in Los Angeles. In the spring of 2012, I moved cross country to Brooklyn, NY.

Brooklyn was a three-and-a-half-year whirlwind. Coming into a new city a second time, I realized the best thing I could do was find a local scene and get involved. Within a year I was renting a studio in Bushwick and creating audio content for Arts in Bushwick. I met a great deal of artists and young curators and found myself in conversation with people whose interests overlapped with mine. My contacts in LA introduced me to people in NYC, leading again to opportunities to work with individuals of incredible talent and insight. Things moved fast, and I liked the pace. I think I’m still trying to catch up to all the ideas that I absorbed during my Brooklyn years.

My return to Kentucky was in large part due to my becoming pregnant with my first child. Returning to Louisville and having kids was an abrupt change and very hard to grapple with. It’s taken me nearly eight years to decide what I would like to do now that I am here. It’s basically come down to taking all I’ve learned and applying the lessons to something that involves me, my family, and my community, including those individuals I’ve met in LA, NY, and elsewhere. These days, I’m maintaining a studio practice, working as a curator and director at ARTPORTAL, a creative complex in Louisville, and co-founding a social club and exhibition space set to open later this year.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Yes and no. I think I’ve been lucky to meet people who believe in my talent and who’ve supported me through the years. But it’s not been easy.

I think one of the biggest difficulties for me has been trying to stay financially afloat while maintaining an active studio practice. Being poor or strapped for money is really hard – physically, emotionally and spiritually. I’ve thought many times about quitting because of financial stress. Sometimes I cannot make what I want, which is really frustrating. At other times I’ve become exhausted from living paycheck to paycheck, laying awake at night crunching numbers and counting pennies, worried if I’d make rent or if I could afford to see a doctor for medical care. Art is an entrepreneurial pursuit. People invest a lot in their craft, not only money and time, but emotion and spirit as well. It’s mentally and physically taxing. I think we need to remember this, for ourselves and others.

Then there’s the challenge of parenthood, which has often felt like an obstacle. I embrace motherhood wholeheartedly and would never discourage any artist from deciding to have kids. My son and daughter bring boundless joy and depth to my life, and being a parent has taught me some of life’s most profound lessons. But there’s a stigma surrounding artists, especially mothers, who dare to juggle parenthood alongside their creative pursuits.

Just the other day, I stumbled upon an article in the New York Times titled “When Women Artists Choose Mothering Over Making Work.” The very notion of pitting motherhood against art-making is ludicrous and only serves to perpetuate harmful stereotypes. It’s not having kids that’s the issue; it’s contending with the problematic societal expectations and judgments that come with it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

I am an artist, curator, educator, and co-founder of MaybeItsFate, an upcoming member-owned social club and exhibition space located in Louisville, KY.

My studio practice is built upon an intrigue with color, curiosity for geometry, and a distinct interest in how we perceive things. I’m interested in depicting progressive movement through the elaboration of color, pattern, and geometric figuration. On a deeper level, my work questions processes that underlie human knowledge construction. To this end, my work actively participates in discourses surrounding perceptual studies and sensory experience.

These days, I spend time working with artists in my community rather than in university settings. After losing my full-time job teaching higher ed in 2020 (thanks to COVID), I decided to pivot from academia and apply my skills in a more alternative setting. This led me to ARTPORTAL, where I have been working as director and curator of exhibitions for over two years.

I’m most proud of the community and culture I’ve been able to build with the team at ARTPORTAL. It’s a really special place for me. It’s also led me to venture out to co-found MaybeItsFate with my husband, Charley Miller, and local artist Clare Hirn. MaybeItsFate identifies itself as a place for artists and creatives to gain equity and foster the dialogue that attracts bright minds, where creatives gather to exchange ideas, foster community, and support each other. MaybeItsFate will support Louisville’s first artist LCA (Limited Cooperative Association), a new cooperative business structure that aims to prove a financial model for a community-driven equitable, and sustainable operation of a business. An artist LCA like this has not been formed before, not to our knowledge. The building we are occupying has been under construction since last year. We will be opening the doors mid 2024. Be on the lookout for that!

What makes me happy?

stand-up comedy, french fries dipped in curry ketchup, road trips with the family, post-punk, literary criticism, and evenings spent with friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rebeccajnorton.com
• Instagram: @rebeccajnortonstudios
• Other: www.maybeitsfate.com, www.portal-louisville.com/artportal