A Conversation with Xochi Solis, Part One.
a candid conversation about building a sustainable, multidisciplinary art practice and the creative destruction that imbues her work.
I have known our next conversation partner, Xochi Solis, for some time now, meeting her first through her incredible painting and collage work not long after my return to Austin in 2013. Sometime in 2015 (I believe), we traded plant-dyed clothing from my namesake collection for a custom commissioned collage by Xochi that I still have in my home. Later, I had the privilege and joy of having Xochi on my team at the storefront my collection occupied in East Austin, a few years after she had created several bespoke vinyl mixes for us to play in the shop and coordinated the DJ crew that serenaded my wedding reception with 45s one early September night five years ago.
In this way, Xochi and her diverse body of work have been informing many of the spaces of my life for close to ten years now. A longtime working creative who fosters a career in the fine arts space, Xochi is also an incredible vinyl DJ, community organizer, and arts advocate through her work with Future Front Texas. She truly occupies the title of multidisciplinary artist in rich and meaningful ways.
This line from her artist statement beautifully captures the thread that connects all of these endeavors, and the essence of her creative pursuits: She continues to grapple with the question of how to represent an environment where her heritage, her body, and dreams of the future can co-exist. I recently sat down with her at her gorgeous and intimate home studio to discuss how she navigates a creative career in the capitalist context. I especially appreciated her candor in discussing her relationship to money, her holistic perspective of what constitutes her creative practice, and her stance on seeking supplementary income. I think that many creatives will relate to this aspect of our conversation in particular.
A note on formatting: going forward with our conversations, I will be releasing them in two parts to lighten the readerly lift on your part. I know that there is likely a lot coming into your inboxes everyday, and I hope that making this amendment and delivering to you in this way will lend some ease to your reading experience. Part two will arrive in next week’s dispatch. If you have strong feelings about this, for or against, I would also love to hear from you—let me know in the comments section.
Now, I welcome you to part one of my conversation with Xochi Solis.