How Visual Artist and Designer Aimie Blends Inner and Outer Worlds in her Art

Aimie is a talented visual artist and designer from Honolulu, Hawaii. In this interview, Aimie talks about her journey through art, interior design, and architecture and how these experiences shaped her art. She shares her creative process, thoughts on aging in society, and the influence of her beautiful Hawaiian surroundings. Aimie also discusses her views on perfectionism in art, her collaborations, and how her work has been showcased in various exhibitions and magazines. This interview gives us a peek into Aimie’s vibrant world and the stories she tells through her diverse art forms.

Aimie, a visual artist and designer based in Honolulu, Hawaii, studied visual art and interior design and has spent parts of her career working in contemporary art and architecture. This mixed background lends itself to a multidisciplinary approach to her art, leading her to work across various media and genres. However, regardless of the form, she consistently uses assemblage and often uses her work to examine or reflect on how our inner and outer worlds affect our sense of self.

1. Aimie, you work with so many different types of art, from sculptures to jewelry. What made you want to explore so many other areas, and how do you switch between them so smoothly?

I often joke I’m a slave to my creative self because the ideas present themselves to me, including the medium. And it’s not always a smooth process. I’m often working with materials for the first time or in new ways, which means there’s a lot of embracing unexpected outcomes. But I also believe pursuing perfectionism has no place in creative expression, so I’ve learned how to sit with that vulnerability.

I believe pursuing perfectionism has no place in creative expression, so I’ve learned how to sit with that vulnerability.

Aimie Dukes

2. Your “Sanctified Hag” series discusses how society views older women. What inspired you to address this topic, and how did you decide on these pieces’ playful yet serious style and materials?

I literally woke up in the middle of the night with the works “dictated” to me. However, I think the topic was in my subconscious as a middle-aged woman living in a society that prizes youth. The style and materials – which yet again were not typical of my work or even of particular interest to me – were part of the vision and turned out to be quite fitting as I started to research mate selection theories and statistics behind male-perceived female attractiveness, which unsurprisingly is youthful and sexy. That translated into using elements we tend to think of as juvenile, such as glitter and the colour pink, juxtaposed with lingerie.

3. You spent time working at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. How did working at such a big art center influence your art and ideas?

The only way that it directly influenced my work is that I find myself considering the difficulty level for shipping or exhibiting work in ways I hadn’t before. Transporting and installing large or complicated works is a task for the registrars and crew. Observing those processes provided a lot of insight I didn’t have before working at a museum. With that said, working at the Walker or visiting as a patron is an education in top-level contemporary art. It can’t help but inspire you. The opportunity to meet iconic artists like the late William Pope. L and Claes Oldenburg was aspirational.

4. Your work has been featured in magazines like Women’s Health and Time Out New York, and you’ve collaborated with organizations like ImpactART. How have these opportunities helped people understand and appreciate your art more?

These opportunities are great for introducing your work to new audiences and making connections, hopefully leading to more people being interested in what you do and why you do it. An understanding and valuing of the work can then be cultivated through resources such as artist statements, online portfolios, and developing one-on-one relationships.

My environment is so full of natural beauty that it can’t help but seep into my work.

Aimie Dukes

5.  You often explore how our inner thoughts and outer world affect our sense of self. How does living in Honolulu influence your art and the stories you tell through it?

My environment is so full of natural beauty that it can’t help but seep into my work. Sometimes it influences subject matter or material and color palette selection. Currently, I’m working on a photography-based collection incorporating the flowers, palm trees, and beaches I’m surrounded by that explores the reversion of stylized 3D digital aesthetics to analog as a means of examining who is augmenting who in reality-informed generative design and how the greater role technology plays in our lives the further removed from nature we become.

6. You use assemblage extensively in your art. What draws you to this technique, and how does it help you discuss themes like societal biases and personal identity?

My affinity for assemblage stems from an intrinsic aptitude. I have always gravitated towards combining varied elements into a cohesive whole, which is what eliminating societal biases and accepting oneself is all about—integrating disparate parts and accepting the “good” with the “bad” so that the beauty of diversity can be experienced, embraced, and transformed into something meaningful.

Aimie’s art shows the beauty of combining different influences and materials. Her boldness in trying new things and her thoughtful look at societal norms and personal identity make her a standout in today’s art scene. Living and working in Honolulu, Aimie continues to create pieces that make us think about our inner lives and the world around us. To learn more about Aimie, click the following links to visit her profile.