DARIA SCHNEIDERMAN: ARTIST HIGHLIGHT

DARIA SCHNEIDERMAN

(they/she/he)

Instagram: @daria_archives

INFLUENCES

Who/What inspired you to get into art, more specifically collage art?

“My biggest inspiration comes from childhood—my parents are artists, and they introduced me to it very early on. My mom is the one to thank for collage art in particular, as we used to do fashion collages together!"

What is your biggest challenge as an artist?

"My biggest challenge is my inner sense of urgency to accomplish all my goals. I find inspiration everywhere, so my list of ideas is never-ending. I tend to overload myself with projects and can become burnt out as a result. I intend to get back into simply creating and doing instead of overthinking it—just making art for fun, without the expectation that it needs to be “good” or “career-worthy.”

Is there a medium you would like to try that you haven’t used before? Is there a medium you tried that just didn’t work for you?

"I would love to work within the fiber arts medium, i.e., experimenting with imagery on fabric and creating collages with that. A medium that I adore seeing but am not so great with would be ceramics. There are so many circumstances where things can go wrong, and that lack of control kind of stresses me out.”

ART & ADVOCACY

What motivates you to keep creating art during a time where anti-gay/anti-trans ideologies are becoming more prevalent again?

"One of the most revolutionary things you can do is to be yourself. Suppression, fear-mongering, and misinformation are key tactics that the proponents of these ideologies use to further division and ignorance. Creating my art challenges the narrative they are trying to push. Artists are storytellers and communicators of the time in which they live. My art, my existence, is history, and though many try, you cannot erase history. The more people that see my art and feel emboldened to be themselves is one of the ways that I can use my skills for good."

CLEVELAND ART/MUSIC SCENE

What is something good you’ve noticed in the Cleveland art/music scene? What is something this scene needs to work on?

"I love the Cleveland creative scene for its level of cross-over. I’ve seen people with different aesthetics, personalities, art forms, etc., collaborate and create amazing things. Cleveland is a big city, but we are also tight-knit—everyone is connected somehow. What I would love to see change is the elitism that exists within certain spaces.

In my experience, there can be a sense of superiority from experienced music fans or classically trained artists that makes it uncomfortable and intimidating to enter a new space and interact with people."