An interview with 2025 Artist Resident Skyler Simpson ahead of her group show opening on July 10, 2026 at Chicago Artists Coalition. This spotlight series aims to serve as an intimate introduction to our residents and their work through a Q&A-style interview. Interview originally conducted on March 31, 2026 by Dana Randall, Communications and Alumni Relations Manager at Chicago Artists Coalition.
Q: Do you have any common themes running through your most recent works in progress?
A: Yeah. I’ve been thinking a lot about animism and everything being alive and sort of imbuing everything with energy and a consciousness. A lot of the unseen but felt parts of our experience. And I’m thinking about portals and intuition and extreme sensitivity. All sorts of things. I’ve been thinking about consciousness as a constellation full of ideas and experiences that are disparate but all connected inside this one, well, constellation.
Q: How has your work evolved since being in the CAC residency?
A: It’s changed a lot. I used to make representational paintings, and this year, I kind of totally switched to abstract, intuitive, organic work. I think of these paintings as the unseen side of the world I painted in earlier work. Having a studio at CAC is a big part of that because I have the space to experiment. And I don’t set any expectations when I begin a piece. I used to plan out my work pretty meticulously, and now I don’t plan anything. Everything is a surprise. It’s a completely different process… there’s a lot more trust involved and surrender to chance.
Q: What are some of your biggest artistic influences? Where do you find inspiration?
A: I’ve been thinking a lot about Hilma af Klint and her spiritual approach to channeling works. I kind of went down a metaphysical rabbit hole this year. I’ve listened to a lot of Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast. The way that they talk about the mystical nature of creating art has really resonated with me. Visually, the Chicago Imagists are always with me, and painters from the Northern Renaissance. And a bunch of contemporary painters. It’s all over the place.
Q: Tell me about your favorite mediums. What about them speaks to you?
A: I mean, other things fade in, but for some reason, I just keep coming back to painting and drawing. It’s easy for me to do automatically. I don’t need special equipment to make things. Just, you know, very basic materials. Also, paint is infinitely versatile. So that keeps exciting me over and over. Drawing has been, like, a weird portal this past year. I can let go of my expectations. Over the past ten years, it’s like my hands absorbed the memory of painting so many representational things and so many details that it’s a lot easier to just riff now.
Q: Do you have a favorite time of day to create? How does the time you find or choose to make influence your practice?
A: If I could, I would be in the studio all the time. Well, during the daytime at least. I’m a real studio hermit. It’s my favorite place to be. I prefer to spend at least 4 hours at a time because that allows me to ease into things. It takes me a while to get into the headspace of the studio, I can’t rush it. I try to keep pretty regular working hours. If I go too long without making things, I start to unravel a bit.
Q: In keeping with our values, one thing we want to do is cultivate a community of knowledge-sharing. What is something you would encourage other artists to learn about? What is something that made a difference in your career?
A: The most important thing for me has been in every place that I’ve lived, finding a community of artists. Other things just sort of grow from there. But, like, as far as concrete things to learn, just being familiar with all that goes into the admin side of things. It’s super helpful to understand how to deal with taxes and find grants and funding sources. I really dislike doing admin but adding things to my CV and website as they happen makes it less daunting.
Q: Do you have a personal philosophy relating to your practice or your life?
A: It’s probably changed a bit throughout the years, but the constant has always been that I follow my intuition. I let my curiosities and interests guide the way and try to focus only on that. Everything else is less important. I would say more recently, though, it’s just to trust the process.
Website: skysimpson.com
Instagram: @skylersimpsonart
You can view Skyler’s work at her group show opening on Friday, July 10, 2026 from 5-8pm at Chicago Artists Coalition alongside Herman Aguirre and Diana Noh, curated by Rachel Dukes.