Q&A with Lisa Bulawsky

What is your favorite tool, material, and/or process?
Repurposing things to make other things

What is the best advice you’ve ever received about your work?
Stop listening to the news

What is the best advice you’ve ever given to someone about their work?
You’re like a cat up a telephone poll right now. You need to install some pegs using all the tools you have at your disposal. Once you’ve got a way to get down, you can go back up anytime.

Where do you make work?
Usually in my studio which is behind my house

What do you listen to/watch while you work?
Spotify Discover Weekly, my old mix tapes, Stuff You Should Know podcast, and many other things…

Best studio hack OR the skill you’d be most lost without? I’m prone to going down rabbit holes with absolutely no plan, and discovering new lines of research or new methods for making along the way. I’d be lost without the impulse to improvise and fly by the seat of my pants.

What food can be used to bribe you?
Arugula and chocolate chip cookies.

Do you have a studio uniform? Please describe.
I have a summer apron and a winter apron. The summer apron is navy blue, lightweight, and was a freebie from the old Stephen Kinsella paper supplier. The winter apron is dark blue denim, hardened and shiny in spots from ink buildup since I first started wearing it in the 1990s.

A book you’ve read more than twice is __________________.
The Bone People by Keri Hulme

Early Bird or Night Owl?
Early bird (this is new-ish, I used to be be a night owl but something changed)

Do you have pets? If so, what are their species and names?
There’s Ozzie (Oswald, Waldo, Big Guy, Osgood), the 11 year old yellow lab who we adopted at 7 years old from an older family member; Biskit (Monkey, Peebag, Little Flippy), a 16 year old tortoise shell cat who we adopted from my son ages ago when her name was Lil Bitches; and Konrad (Raddy, Radboo, Little Guy), a 4 year gray and white tuxedo cat who we adopted as a rescue when he was too young and probably should have still been with his mother.

Biggest pet peeve?
Richard Dreyfus. And paper towel dispensers that are mounted high on the wall so the water drips down your arm and inside your sleeve when you’re reaching for a towel to dry off.

What is your favorite thing about St. Louis?
Allergy season

Epoxy, mineral spirits, or Command-Z?
Mineral spirits