We Asked Anna Bonshek 12 Interesting Questions About Herself.
What was the inspiration behind your piece for SWELL Sculpture Festival 2023?
The inspiration for “Jyoti” came when I visited a Vedic structure in New Zealand recently, where the site is devoted to the quality of silence and references time and position in space. When I came home I envisaged a minimal, large scale, yet organic, installation using local elements from our environment. The piece is an arrangement of diamond-sawn, finely finished, Helidon sandstone architectural blocks, with natural, smoothly-rounded, lava river rocks. The character of the materials are exposed to us, revealing layers of beautiful striations of vibrant colour established through the force of geology and time, mounted with the rounded presence of volcanic rock with their punctured dark surfaces.
As an artist, how do you manage a work-life balance?
The idea of work as antithetical to life is a curious dichotomy and definitions of what constitutes work have been, over the years, debated, researched and redefined. I would say that my “work”, as an artist, is a necessary activity, a practice for life. Work is an engagement in meaningful thought and action with the intention to enhance life. Having said this, in my daily routine I always make time for meditation, for me that’s Transcendental Meditation.
If you could travel back in time and do one thing, when would it be and what would you do?
For a start, I wouldn’t want to go back in time.
However, it would be incredible to sit with great teachers of ancient times, to witness this.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given? either professionally or socially
Follow your inner sense of what is right; focus on knowledge and not on what others think or do.
If you weren’t an artist, what would your profession be?
It is question which I find might have varying responses as I don’t know that having a particular profession is so critical. But I love architecture, design, teaching, writing, and teaching meditation.
Creativity is involved in all kinds of walks of life. Having a specific profession is not so important. What is important is engaging in creative activity for knowledge and fulfilment, to make a contribution, to enrich one’s own and others’ lives.
If you are having a ‘cuppa’ is it tea or coffee?
Herbal tea.
What was your most played song last year?
Chopin’s Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53 “Héroïque”
What is your easy-to-watch movie?
Michel Hazanavicious’ film The Artist
In your opinion, how can artists support each other?
Artists support each other by appreciating each other’s art.
Is sustainability important for you and your work?
Yes, sustainability is important to me, from a range of perspectives; I am a co-editor of the book Redefining Sustainability which looks at sustainability from the deep level of transforming awareness and applying creative intelligence.
Yes.
When is your favourite time of the day to create art?
I like to make art anytime that allows, but early morning is a beautiful time to get out into the studio.
If you could have lunch with any artist from any era, who would it be?
I would be happy to lunch with Sir David Nash, a British artist whose sculpture and approach to life I have admired for many decades. He works with trees, wood and nature, referencing fundamental universal geometry, in a way that reveals an innate and deep respect for the environment.
