California Dreamin Artist Roxanne Jackson has taken an unconventional approach to her life as an artist. Before going to grad school to study art she worked as a river guide in California, got a degree in botany and spent winters teaching snowboarding in Colorado. Today Roxanne makes sculptures and installations from materials like ceramics and paper mache. Roxanne takes these crafty materials, and combines them with imagery drawn from everything from mythical monsters and pop culture to black metal and folk art. The result are sculptures depicting strange grotesque mermaids, a chain of giant snakes eating themselves, and a coffe table sized ceramic rendering of the alien monster from John Carpenter's film The Thing. When I met up with Roxanne recently in a studio we talked about making art at a young age, how she becoming a botanist, the role of craft materials in her work, and a giant party Roxanne throws every summer called Heather Metal Parking Lot. The Thing-Thing, 2015; Media: Ceramic, glaze; 21 x 12 x 13" Heartbreaker, 2015; Media: Ceramic, glaze, cobalt underglaze decals; 26 x 17 x 12" Snakes on a Chain, , 2015. Media: Papier-Mache, wire, marbled paper, Sculpty, Mylar; 144 x 10 x 33 inches Playlist 00:00 - Intro 01:39 - Art as a Kid 03:00 - Art School 05:41 - Critique 07:47 - Ceramics 11:18 - Snakes on a Chain 17:24 - Mermaids 23:22 - The Thing Thing 27:32 - Ceramics and Fine Art 30:47 - Heather Metal Parking Lot 34:36 - Finish