Meandering Goddess

Mallory Sprunk

Interview by L. Valena

December 2, 2021

Can you start by describing the prompt that you responded to?

The prompt that I got was a two-sided quilt. They both had really interesting patterns. One was a zig-zag with greens, and lots of colors that I wouldn’t normally put together. And then the other size was more of a checkered pattern. It had a silhouette of a woman. At first I thought it was two separate pieces, but then I realized it was the front and the back of the same piece.

What was your first reaction?

When I saw the colors at first, I really liked the teal and pink on the one side, and the silhouette of the woman was a big catch for me. I usually draw and paint a lot of women with different silhouettes. It’s one of my favorite things to do. So instantly I knew I wanted to focus on that. But as I looked closer, I could see little swirls in the fabric. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the Disney movie Hercules, but when they drop things and clouds of smoke would come up, there would be these little Greek swirls. I googled it, and it’s called ‘Meandering’. It’s a Greek pattern.

It’s called ‘Meandering’? That’s lovely.

Yes. That’s why I called this piece ‘Meandering Goddess’.

What happened next?

I saw that, and thought about what I could incorporate in it to make it seem relevant to what was prompting me. So obviously I kept the woman, because I love to do it. I added a border around it, and tried to make it more Greek. I went with this Greek theme, and looked up all of these different things that are very distinct about Greek art. The flowers I added to the top are bougainvillea, which is a Mediterranean flower. It grows here in California too, so I have it here in my yard. I added the Greek column, because they have that swirl deep within in. I tried to keep the colors -- teal, and there’s a bunch of yellow. I tried to add a little bit of the patterns into parts of the painting. The border has the Meander swirls. In the column there are also some zigzags.

Is Greek imagery something you’re drawn to generally? Is it something you’ve explored in the past?

Not really. I went to Greece when I was like 20, so it’s been a really long time. But I’ve always been really intrigued by it. Seeing the little swirls instantly took me there, and I let it free-flow to different things. If I think too hard about something, it creates analysis paralysis. I’ll get all of this information, and then not allow myself to create anything from it. I was trying to just have fun with it. When y’all said it doesn’t have to be your magnum opus, it was a better feeling.

Does the idea of the Goddess come into your work often?

Yes. I think we’re all goddesses. I like to paint a lot of female forms. I’ve always been told that I have a really pretty face, but if I was just thinner, I would be much more attractive. I started painting myself, and added flowers for my face, because I wanted people to look at my body and not my face. So that was kind of something I did in my earlier work. I thought this was a great opportunity to add that in here.

In the prompt, you don’t see the face of the woman, it’s focused on her body. So I just took a reference in my mind of a natural body. To focus on the beautiful curves of who she is, I added that yellow flower, which is a kind of Greek jasmine flower. I tried to find different flowers native to Greece that I liked. I like to paint women of all different shapes. They’re all beautiful. I try to paint men, but they’re just so angular. It’s harsh to look at sometimes. They’re no fun.

Does this piece fit more with work you’ve made in the past, or with what you’re pursuing now?

It does reference a lot of my old work. I’ve stopped doing flower heads on my paintings, because I’ve gotten a little better at painting faces, which is hard to do. It’s taken me a long time. The flower part was just a beginning for me. I’ve started doing commissioned works, and a client was asking me about Degas’ drawings of women in the bathroom. She wanted me to recreate something like that for her bathroom. I was looking at it, and they’re really basic everyday things. They’re wiping themselves, or washing their hair. It’s just a very private, intimate act. So I thought I would explore that theme, but make it more modern. You’ve got your bath bombs, and your candles, and your 15 thousand products.

We’re all shaving our crotches and waxing our mustaches. The most unglamorous things -- they’re not meant for the male gaze. These are things we see that are everyday. So I painted a woman sitting on a counter shaving her pubic area, and I painted her face for the first time. It came out really great, so I’m starting to try to do that. I think I’m going to continue to paint women in the bathroom doing mundane stuff. The one I’m going to do next is of a woman waxing her underarms. I feel like sticking with the female form, and reveling in her beauty as is, is kind of where my work tends to focus.

Is there anything else about this process that we haven’t talked about?

I could talk about the textural appeal of the quilt. When I looked at it, I thought it was so appropriate. We’re soft. It was nice to focus on the suppleness of the body, it made me think of a soft quilt. I liked how jagged the quilt was too, it kind of juxtaposed the softness of the feature that it was focused on. I like how it was a clishmaclavel of a bunch of different things. It made sense in a chaotic kind of way.

What was that word you used?

A clishmaclavel. I think it’s an Irish term, it’s something my mom always says. I don’t know where she got it, I’ve never asked her. My mom has a lot of random things like that. I’m from Baton Rouge, LA, and we just moved to California seven months ago. My mom says a lot of silly Southern phrases that are actually really embarrassing. Like ‘tough titty’. That just sounds terrible. Nobody wants that.

A friend of mine told me about Bait/Switch. She’s a big inspiration for a lot of my work, and she keeps pushing me. I know that she did this too, and I can’t wait to see what her prompt was and what she came up with. It’s pretty cool.

That’s awesome. I love when friends turn each other on to this project -- it adds an element of warmth that’s really lovely. Who’s your friend?

Charleston Ducote. I’ve known her since we were eleven. When we were eleven, we were drawing, and she was way better than me. And I let my art skills go from quite a while, and came back to it in my twenties. She stayed with it this whole time. So she’s technically very good. She can draw a face so well. I love that about art -- the progress you can see over small periods of time. It’s my favorite thing. It’s satisfying because I can visibly see improvement in my life and in myself. Sometimes you don’t get that with certain things.

Absolutely. I can see my progress technically with practice, but when I’m actively making art I’m also just a healthier person. I am a more grounded and reasonable individual when I’m making art, and that trickles down to everything. Do you have any advice for another artist who is approaching this project for the first time?

Definitely have fun with it. That was the best part about it. I wasn’t trying to create something that was going to wow, or get people to follow me. Have fun with the prompt. Just have fun, let that free-flow happen, and then step back and look at your own progress. I tend to do the same thing over and over again, so it’s a great project to do if you want to get to know yourself as an artist.

Call Number: Y66VA | Y70VA.spMe

Mallory Sprunk is a self-taught painter, badass mother, and wife. Originally hailing from South Louisiana, she is currently calling the San Francisco Bay area home. Her paintings boast bold colors and promote body positivity through showcasing all shapes and sizes. She enjoys hiking with her family, exercising her demons out at OrangeTheory fitness, and a good laugh; whether it be at her or with her.