Interview: Things With Wings

Tell us a bit about yourself, location, present job, personal stuff. 

My name is Laura McCarragher. I live in Iowa City, Iowa. I'm a stay at home Mom/artist. This is my first year having all three children (14, 9, and 5)  in school every day. So, I'm beginning to feel a new found freedom! Hopefully, it will give me more time to commit to my artwork. But, my commitment is to my family and my children first! I've been married to a wonderful man for 13 years. He is my better half and is my complete opposite in almost every way!

What inspired you to become an artist and how old were you then? 

I grew up in a very artistic family. My Mom is an artist and my father who passed away 13 years ago was a professional photographer. I always 'felt' creative on the inside but didn't really tap into it until the last 5 years. My mother, Connie and my sister, Jill, are the three artists that make up the group Things With Wings. We create together, separately, and collaborate. We do shows together and have a LOT of fun!

Please describe your materials and medium you use in your pieces.

We like to recycle and reuse things. We thrift for old frames, wood pieces, and paint on recycled wood. Our greatest pleasure is taking something really ugly and making it beautiful! We use lots of paper and acrylic paint in our pieces and have created our own unique style and finishing touch.

Who are your favorite artists? Why?

Right now, my favorite artist is my daughter, Lily. She is 5 and she goes through LOTS of paper! Right now her favorite thing to paint is unicorns and rainbows. Her use of color is amazing and limitless!

What’s been your favourite project so far?

I love the projects that the three of us girls can work on together. It's so much fun. I also like to do custom orders. It's so cool to hear stories of why someone wants this or that and what it means to them and why. I realize what an honor it is to be asked to do something that means so much to someone else.

What is a constant challenge for you and most rewarding part of having a creative profession?

My number one challenge is balancing being a mother first and foremost and keeping things is perspective. I can easily think of times I've isolated myself in my own little artworld, but God always gives me the grace I need to step back and try again.

What do you do when you are not working?

I love to read, I love to listen to music. I love to shop.

How do you use your blog for your art? 

We post a lot of our art on our blog.Just random thoughts, funny stories. It's more of a journal than everything else. It's another way to stay connected to the other members of Things With Wings (even though we only live 20 minutes apart from each other!) It's also a good way to keep people updated on where we'll be show-wise, etc. We've also been know to do a random giveaway here and there!

I noticed that the many of your pieces have owls in it and was wanting to ask you about that. 

I love making owls. They're just cool. I feel like they represent wisdom, knowledge, unique-ness. All good qualities to have and work on!

Describe your work on which you are currently working?

We've got a few shows coming up, so we are ramping up our art making. I'm making lots of things with messages of family, faith, unique-ness, integrity, true character, and courage to just name a few! And yes, there are lots of owls and birds in there as well!

What are your future plans and dreams?

I feel like artwise, everything that has happened already has been beyond my wildest dreams. In January of 2011,  we have a new line of art coming out being manufactured by DEMDACO. We are SUPER excited about this!!! The line will be called, "This Thing Called Family" and we hope and pray that it will encourage and lift up anyone that comes across it.

Blog: http://thingswithwingsartjournal.blogspot.com/

Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/greengirldesign