conversations: Serpent & Bow as worn by
EMMA NIKOLA CASTLEBERRY
Emma and I went to High School together; we are a couple years apart, but each of us commuted from our suburbs to a public arts magnet high school in Santa Rosa. She creates drawings that seem to move in all of their rough and dynamic little marks, and she makes booklets to share information that has helped nurture and heal her own weight-of-the-world wounds. Her booklets have helped me a lot and they are the main reason I now share artwork and zines by other artists through my online shop. We are currently working on a SECRET project which will be revealed in the coming month.... but until then, I will leave you with the clue that we meet up every Sunday, specifically.
She lives in the woods now, in a little home near the river, in an area surrounded by redwoods, with her dog, Siri. Emma has been a part of Serpent & Bow for the past year, coming in from time to time to help with sewing and dyeing, but I have always felt like we have other work to do, too. She has a way of cutting through crap, an ability to speak of darkness and intricacies that are often left in the shadows, and I have witnessed her pull this quality out from others, as well. Also, she's a skateboarder, and she's always trying to get me to start a band with her. She doesn't really drink (but she does make dandelion mead). She is a student of Ayurvedic medicine and a practitioner of yoga.
I tried to interview Emma on a whim, while she was assembling some of her zines in my studio, but our conversation didn't really unfold in a cohesive/concise/ linear way. People are full of eccentricities and contradictions, fluid and all braided together. And so some of what she had to share came in the form of text messages, after careful consideration, probably as she was driving from my studio out to her hut. I'm proud to share some of her gems here, no matter their form. Emma is wearing a limited edition Loquat and Madder-dyed baby thermal bra and brief set, and sometimes the daisy lace bra, which is her favorite.
She lives in the woods now, in a little home near the river, in an area surrounded by redwoods, with her dog, Siri. Emma has been a part of Serpent & Bow for the past year, coming in from time to time to help with sewing and dyeing, but I have always felt like we have other work to do, too. She has a way of cutting through crap, an ability to speak of darkness and intricacies that are often left in the shadows, and I have witnessed her pull this quality out from others, as well. Also, she's a skateboarder, and she's always trying to get me to start a band with her. She doesn't really drink (but she does make dandelion mead). She is a student of Ayurvedic medicine and a practitioner of yoga.
I tried to interview Emma on a whim, while she was assembling some of her zines in my studio, but our conversation didn't really unfold in a cohesive/concise/ linear way. People are full of eccentricities and contradictions, fluid and all braided together. And so some of what she had to share came in the form of text messages, after careful consideration, probably as she was driving from my studio out to her hut. I'm proud to share some of her gems here, no matter their form. Emma is wearing a limited edition Loquat and Madder-dyed baby thermal bra and brief set, and sometimes the daisy lace bra, which is her favorite.
-photos by Zohn Mandel-
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