Ask a New Yorker: Let’s see… I met Edie on the train, we had a quick conversation and here we are two weeks later. That day, where were you off to?
Edie: I was off to the Plaza Hotel. I’m going to be exhibiting my work there a few times a month in the salon, and I’ll show paintings. My work is paintings. I was off to a meeting with the woman who organizes those things. http://edieart.com
Ask a New Yorker: Who the hell are you?
Edie: (laughter) I was not prepared for that question. I always start by saying I’m an artist, because it is very much what I do in my daily life and what drives me. A woman would also come high up on the list, obviously a person, and a human being. It’s so broad but it does narrow it down, so artist and woman.
Ask a New Yorker: Describe your art.
Edie: My art is colorful, that would be the first thing that comes to mind. A bit fantastical, dreamlike, whimsical as well. I like to touch on light subjects and happy, bright things within my paintings. I’m experimenting always. I go through phases where I’ll be doing a certain theme and then change to another theme. I like to explore the more dualistic sides of humanity as well, dark and light and play with that.
Ask a New Yorker: Describe the current painting you’re working on?
Edie: I’m working on a painting in which the center piece, even though it’ll be small in a large space, will be a bridge. It’s a bridge between the two hemphisheres of the brain which are called the corpus callosum. It’s not a real bridge. It’s a connection where all the activity, neurons fire from left to right.
Ask a New Yorker: When was the last time you walked across the Brooklyn Bridge?
Edie: I’ve cycled over it but I’ve never walked over it.
Ask a New Yorker: I’m feeling a tad overwhelmed today, high anxiety day. Do you get those days and how do you handle it?
Edie: Of course. How do I handle it? I try to handle it through art, through creating, through directing whatever anxiety or overwhelming feelings or emotions through art. And find a way to paint it out. I do this with music and writing too.
Ask a New Yorker: Do you make a living through art?
Edie: Now I make a living through it.
Ask a New Yorker: That’s very cool. Do have advice to people who are trying to make their passions their career?
Edie: Just to do it…a lot, to do it a lot. As far as making money I’m probably not in a great position on giving advice, but doing it a lot is really good because then you become more and more of it.
Ask a New Yorker: I get that. So what do you think of the concept Ask a New Yorker?
Edie: I think it is a really good concept. New Yorks are generally quite savvy people. This is of course generally speaking, right? I find it hard to describe people. I have lived in a few places. People ask what the Dutch are like. You can definitely give a generalization but it is always a generalization which everybody knows. Generally speaking, New Yorkers are savvy. I find New Yorkers to be very friendly, contrary to what I would have thought before I got here. Outside of New York, people tend to think of us as very harsh. It has that edge just by force by being a place that is fast. You have to be sort of a bit more aware of your time, in a sort of linear way. What comes with that may be certain crassness in a way, but I find people very friendly. If you ask a New Yorker on the streets, people don’t even have to ask. If a New Yorker sees some body with a map they’ll be so likely to go up and be like, “Oh, are you lost? Do you know where you’re going?” In Holland this would never happen, or generally speaking again it would not. People in Holland are like,” I don’t know you”, standoffish. New Yorkers are quite warm. It’s fleeting as well a lot of the time. Contact in New York can be quickly made and quickly forgotten.
Ask a New Yorker: You have lived in Los Angles. How would you describe the Angelino?
Edie: I think the big difference between L.A and New York is that New York is a lot more grounded, more solid. L.A is a bit more airy-fairy. But I love L.A. I do. People want to write it off as completely superficial. It’s definitely part of the culture, the celebrity culture, the whole entertainment industry. I like the life style there, the land, the desert, the ocean, the flowers, the hummingbirds. There’s a lot of beauty in L.A.
Ask a New Yorker: What or who inspires you?
Edie: People. Again it goes through different stages. Some dreams can aspire me colors just by themselves. A color can be an inspiration to start something. Lately I’ve been reading about the brain. So now the brain is inspiring me. Or it could be a landscape. The sky, the clouds inspire me, ideas as well. Often I think the simple visual can inspire me.
Ask a New Yorker: Where do you live in the city?
Edie: East Village by Thompson Square Park.
Ask a New Yorker: By the dog run?
Edie: Yea, but I don’t have a dog, probably never will. (Laughter) I’ve never had one and I’ve never have had a cat, never had a pet. I’m not a pet person.
Ask a New Yorker: Plants?
Edie: I’m a plants person and a people person I think… dogs and cats, no.
Ask a New Yorker: Thank you Edie. It was great meeting you!
Shop at Edie’s Etsy shop!
