While imaginary friends usually vanish around the age of 6, Vanessa Monfreda said imaginary friends can actually be for anyone.
More specifically, she said her art collection “Imaginary Friends” can be for anyone.
“Imaginary Friends” consist of paper mache sculptures made by Monfreda. Her collection is showing at Gather Handmade Shoppe & Co. until Saturday.
However, Monfreda said her art didn’t start with the goal of displaying it to others. It began with a piñata.
“It’s kind of still odd to me to be called a sculptor, because it kind of just sort of happened that I did a piñata for the birthday party of my son and my daughter, and I started exploring with paper mache, and later I started to make sculptures out of discarded materials and paper mache,” Monfreda said.
Although her artistic endeavors began with a piñata, Monfreda said she grew up with art having a huge presence in her early life.
Growing up in Germany, she said there was a lot of emphasis on art, and that’s where her interest began.
Lori Leaumont, a friend of Monfreda’s and a fellow artist in Indianapolis, said she can see how important art is in Monfreda’s life.
“You walk into her house and everything is colorful, there’s art everywhere, and I feel like she’s not herself if she’s not making (art),” she said.
Monfreda’s collection, “Imaginary Friends,” is similar to her house — everything is colorful. The collection is a mixture of animals, a single person and robots in vibrant colors and unconventional shapes.
Her pieces include everything from a pink cat with white spots to a green two-faced caterpillar.
She said the inspiration for this collection came to her as she read a children’s book called “Frida” to her daughter before bed one evening. It was inspirational, she said.
In addition to Monfreda’s love for color, cats and robots, she said it’s important to her she is always using recyclable material in her work.
From newspaper and tissue boxes to bottle caps and cartons, Monfreda is continuously using everyday items in her art rather than throwing them away.
“I just really like using recycled stuff, and just instead of throwing it in the trash, you can make something beautiful about it,” Monfreda said. “I enjoy that. I just get happy when I work. I wish I could do that all day long, but it doesn’t exactly bring food to the table, so I have two jobs. When it’s my time off, artwork is very therapeutic.”
Leaumont said that she would like to see Monfreda’s work recognized even further in the future.
“I just think her work is unique like she is,” Leaumont said. “She puts herself and her life experiences and her culture and her children and all these things into the work she makes, and it’s just beautiful.”
