S.A: Hi Ione, first of all, we would like know more about you. Tell us who is Ione Citrin, tell us something about your life and your childhood in your country
I.C: Ione Citrin is whoever she wants to be. Born in Chicago, IL. I went to Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, CA. to learn about acting. I wanted desperately to be an actress, and after school I performed in various TV shows/movies and life theatre in the L.A., CA. area.
I married and moved back to Chicago and began performing in radio and TV commercials and became the leading voice-over artist throughout the Midwest with many national commercials running. I also had a live TV show for two hours d day, five days a week on WLS-ABC TV called "The Prize Movie With Ione". it lasted 7 years and was the top rated show in that area.
My young husband died, and I decided to start a new life back in L.A., CA. Which I have. I've discovered I can paint/sculpt and create whatever visions I have in my head. What a pleasure! What a release! This is what I've been doing for approximately 20 years here in Southern California. I exhibit my work in galleries, museums, art shows and all over the internet.

S.A: What is art for you?
I.C: Something wonderful to look at and appreciate for an endless period of time.

S.A: Could you share some of your philosophy about art and artistic creation?
I.C: It's 1% talent and 99% perspiration. If you have the desire, work at it and you will become the artist you wish for.


S.A: Have you always been interested in art? When did you discover that art would be an important part of your life?
I.C: Yes. When I quit my acting career I searched and found I had a strong desire to realize my ideas and dreams and visualizations through painting and sculpture.

S.A: How did you get started in the art world?
I.C: I bought supplies, starting taking workshops, started entering art shows and began selling my work. A slow process, very time consuming.

S.A: The majority of your artworks on Meseon are paintings. Why do you choose paintings as a means of expression?
I.C: Please visit my website, www.artbyione.com. There you will see sculpture, assemblage and paintings and mixed media in many different genres and styles. No, I do not "specialize" in painting. I create in whatever discipline I want to express myself and my ideas in.


S.A: What concept would you like to show to your viewers?
I.C: Beauty, interesting beauty.

S.A: What would you like to say with your artworks?
I.C: I express beauty and fantasy.

S.A: How has society influenced your art? What are the social implications of your art?
I.C: Society has affected my psyche, so everything I create is from a direct result of being alive and living in two centuries in the USA with a particular familial situation, etc.
The social implications of my art are my perceptions and reactions to daily life. I have, however, created specific works on art on 9/11/01 and the Iraq war. You will find these under World Catastrophes on my website, www.artbyione.com


S.A: Discuss one of your pieces. What were you thinking when you created it?
I.C: Before beginning a piece I think about what genre I’d like to work in next. I prepare my tools for whatever discipline I’m going to create in. I sit, think and proceed with an idea/vision. I work with great patience until it finally develops and reveals itself. Some projects are harder than others. Some take longer than others. It’s like anything in life. When you try something new, it either happens easily and quickly or achingly long with many setbacks and turns in the road.

S.A: What was your most important exhibition? Could you share that experience?
I.C: All my exhibitions are the most important at that time. The site of my work exhibited in a gallery setting is most exhilarating, and, of course, the reactions of the people viewing my work are fabulous. I stand to the side of my piece, and overhear the comments. Like being invisible in a room where people are talking about you.

S.A: Could you talk about the procedures that you use in your artworks? Preparation, development and finishing?
I.C: First I decide what medium I want to create in. I work in oil/acrylic/watercolor/pastel and sculpt in bronze and assemblage. Then I pull out everything I think I’ll need to begin, support, mediums, rags, etc., or if it’s a bronze sculpture, then I begin with the armature. If it’s an assemblage, it’s the support if it a wall piece, or I select the base and start constructing the piece on the base. Then the frustration begins. I always want to throw the piece out the first few days. Every morning when I come into my studio and take a fresh look at the evolving piece, it looks a little better to me. I just continue working until satisfied that the piece is as good as it’s going to get.


S.A: What do you feel when you are finished with an artwork?
I.C: Sheer joy and a desire to show the world.

S.A: Do you have some challenge or goal which you are pursuing?
I.C: To be the best artist I can be.

S.A: Could you tell us something about what you are currently working on?
I.C: I am finishing up a sculpture which I will then take to the mold maker and then take it to the foundry to be case in bronze. It will fit on a table top. It is a surreal piece of a man and a woman standing on a branch of a tree and embracing, however, instead of arms, they have huge feathered wings which they wrap around each other.

S.A: For the finish, why do you create art?
I.C: Because I must.

Thanks a lot for your time Ione. Has been a pleasure know more about you and your work.