IMAGES COURTESY OF CAMMY DAVIS
Art
Maralyn: What has been the
biggest “Wow” moment in your
career as an artist?
Cammy: I think my biggest “wow”
moment was the opening for the
Connections exhibit. The exhibit was
a concept that had been in my mind
for a year or two before I started
the project, and then we worked on
the exhibit for a year. It was this
question I had about what makes
connections/relationships work.
I wanted to show answers in the
art, and thought the play of an
abstract painter with black and
white photography would generate
conversations about what we found.
I interviewed each of the couples/
singles with a series of questions
that I audio-taped, and then the
photographer would take pictures
at the same time. We had the audio
over mini-speaker by each of the
vignettes in the exhibit. The space
was this huge, empty historic
building. We built temporary walls
shaped in vs, so people would step
into them and be able to listen to
the audio if they chose. The “wow”
moment was watching a crowd,
that was not an art crowd view
the pieces. It worked! We had a
board where they could write their
thoughts at the end, and reading
them afterwards was amazing.
Having people come up to me and
talk about the different couples and
what they learned about the couples
from the art...it was just amazing;
very inspiring as an artist.
Maralyn: Tell us an interesting
story about yourself that you
have not already covered.
Cammy: When I got divorced 17 years
ago, I took an office job, moved to the
suburbs and tried to create this
middle-class life I always longed
for, as the child growing up in the
Airstream trailer. I worked 60-hour
weeks, rarely spent time with my
children and was stressed all the
time. I combated this by spending my
weekends painting, making things for
the expensive town home I had bought
for us. I made so much myself: a
concrete brick fireplace, checkerboard
birch plywood floor, metal wall,
concrete and reclaimed lumber table
in the hot pink dining room. I escaped
to a creative life on the weekend,
inside of my boring home that looked
like every other boring home on the
outside. One day, I looked out my
window at the neighborhood I wanted
to belong to and realized how empty
it felt. I longed for a tiny home in the
woods, where I grew vegetables and
painted. In 2008, about this same
time, the economy collapsed. I was laid
off my job in escrow. I sold my car and
bought a Vespa that was our only form
of transportation. I tried desperately
to hang on to this life I had created.
I’m glad I wasn’t able to. I got rid of
all of our belongings and went back
to school. When I graduated, I moved
to Oregon to caretake my Grandma,
which gave me a chance to build my
art business. I’m glad I found the
simple life again. I work harder
now than I did then, but it’s doing
something I love. I no longer escape
on the weekends. I have nothing to
escape from. My life is finally what
it should have been all along.
You can reach Cammy Davis at art@
cammydavis.com, cammydavis.com.
Check out her website for her
jewelry line as well.
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