The Highs and Lows of Daily Life: Artist Interview with Sarah E. Swist and Kevin R. Mercer

Artists Sarah E. Swist and Kevin R. Mercer collaborate on the mixed-media project Bubblegum & Whiskey, featuring fragments from their lives and skills they’ve picked up throughout moves through different rural American communities. The slices of life collected in Bubblegum & Whiskey are always fresh and eye-catching. An interview with the artists follows.

Check out Bubblegum & Whiskey in the current issue of Newfound.

Laura Eppinger: First of all, I am enchanted and impressed by the range of materials and objects you incorporate. Woodwork! Embroidery! Metal! Paint! How do you decide what materials to use? Which artist brings which expertise to a piece?

Sarah E. Swist and Kevin R. Mercer: We’re glad you enjoy the wide variety of materials!  We definitely want to explore as many methods of creation as possible.  Our formal art studies were technically in the areas of drawing and painting.  We created this project knowing it would be based in mixed-media.