AW: Maya Frank, of Maya Frank Art, welcome to Long Island Portfolio, thank you for sharing your work with us.

MF: Thank you, thank you for coming during these crazy times.

AW: Your art is really beautiful. When did you start? what else do you do besides the art?

MF: I started from childhood in Turkmenistan, I was doing little pieces of art everywhere, but formally on the canvas and other mediums, this started I would say ten years ago. Being a mother, is the major thing for me. I also act, do stunts and own and drive several antique period cars for film projects. I really like my cars, and name all of them.The Boat , which is a 1962 Imperial. Which I believe was the longest car that was made that year. It’s my baby. My cars are featured in various films and photo shoots.

AW: I saw Boat, it’s a beautiful car, and we should do a photoshoot with it soon. Tell us about that dress you’re wearing.

MF: Well, we are preparing a clothing collection based on my paintings so I ordered a couple of pieces. They recreate my paintings on the clothing, on the bags, on the different items, coasters, etc.. Let me turn around and show you the back.

AW: Nice, like a ballerina, because you –

MF: Yes! Like a ballerina because I was a ballerina, I would say – most of my life? So hopefully this will integrate my ideas and people will see not only my art on walls, but fashion as well.

AW: I think that’s really, really nice and that’s a beautiful dress.

MF: Thank you. It was produced in London, and the fabric is really, really cool. It is actually one of my paintings, it is somewhere around here.

AW: Your house is full of canvases, they’re on the walls, they’re on the floors, they’re on the easels. How have you found so much time to paint?

MF: For me, during the night mostly, that’s when I paint. Or now with COVID, sitting home doing nothing, can’t go anywhere, so, it’s a great way to occupy myself.  When I work as an actress there is lots of down time so I do some drawing & painting at work.

We have to mandatory test for COVID, working on set. They test us often. I didn’t have any symptoms, nothing, and they tested and, they found I was positive so now here I am, past my quarantine alive and well! (Laughs)

AW: Well congratulations, it’s a good place to be.

MF: (Laughs) Yes!

AW: And I’m seeing something over there on the chair (referring to Maya’s paint pallet)

MF: Yeah, it is my, one of my tools. So I mix and match my paints and millions of brushes that I have – I draw, I paint, with anything that I see next to me. So, that could be an art piece as well –

AW: Yes, I was thinking that we’d photograph it and use that as part of the article.

MF: They actually have that in the city. They have like a big, I forgot what it’s called, they have a collection of… from the different artists –

AW: The palettes –

MF: The palettes from different artists, from, centuries, and they’re selling them as art pieces.

AW: I think they are. You want to hear a funny story, I went to Jackson Pollock’s house, are you familiar with Jackson Pollock? He does, he’s passed away quite a few years, but he did drip and splatter paintings. He lays canvas on the floor, and would spread his paint, and move it all over the place, and a lot of his paint would miss the canvas. So around the edges of the canvas, you’d have all this paint splatter. I made artwork by photographing his paint splatter.

MF: Oh, well that’s, that’s very interesting.

AW: It was awesome to see. What pieces are you working on now?

MF: Well, this I just finished. And I’m working on the piece ‘Medusa’ for past three years’ I believe. I wanted to bring character to it and thoughts. It’s still in my head.

AW: And I’ve noticed you have lots of black and white pieces as well as the color pieces.

MF: Yes, I have Minerva –

AW: Can you show us Minerva?

MF: Yes. And this represents wisdom. It’s a lot of work. Those works I actually do while I’m on set, waiting for the camera, and, or director, or PAs telling us what to do, so I have plenty of time to be with myself and my thoughts, and the black and white paint, the white paint, and the black canvases.

AW: And you have another black and white there, that doesn’t use the dots. Can you show us that?

MF: Yeah, this is, this was actually a different idea when I sketched it. I wanted to have matches, all over, and then to light it up and the flame will bring the, the facial expressions and the shape. But then, one day I just was starting to go over this image, and it became this. So –

AW: So when you paint you have a starting point, but you don’t know where you’re going to finish necessarily.

MF: Absolutely, absolutely, that’s always the case, and I don’t think any of us knows until they finish, what it’s going to be.

AW: And what’s happening with you now? What are your next steps in the upcoming year?

MF: Well, before COVID started even, I was planning to do art shows to show the pieces, and other artists as well. Create the clothing collection, art collection, to bring it to the people in the stores and just, you know, sell it in a museum store. I wanted to continue to do charity events, charity events to show that art, it can help in different ways. And besides my pieces I wanted to bring other designers, other artists to that and show all of the world. But after the pandemic came, I decided just to focus on my clothing collection; it’s beach wear. I have a couple of designs coming out soon and I’m working with artisans in Mexico. They’re trying to put it the correct way, on the fabric. My images.

AW: That’s pretty awesome, and do they have a timeline? Is that six months or a year before we might start seeing those pieces?

MF: I was hoping you would start seeing them this winter, and I’m working on a perfume as well.

AW: If you don’t have people in place. I can put you in touch with scent consultants.

MF: Oh I would love that because I contacted in Paris the woman who created the perfume that’s not producing anymore, and, my favorite. (Laughs) And I actually created the bottle I want it, that it will be in, from Bismuth crystal, and Bismuth is a crystal that creates its own shapes while it’s growing. So my idea was that each person will have a bottle, unique, like completely unique, because that’s one of the kind of bottles could be created, depends how Bismuth grows.

AW: That’s pretty cool, so you have a lot, a lot of plans.

MF: (Laughs) Yes, hopefully they will come to bear fruit soon.

AW: How can people see your work?

MF: I have a website, www.mayafrankart.com. I have a page on Instagram, maya_frank_. I have my page on Facebook, Maya Frank Art, and hopefully through the magazine www.longislandportfolio.com . And I am, just, out there, I’m everywhere. (Laughs)

AW: Well cool, well thank you very much for spending some time with me today. And it’s really been a pleasure to see your art.

MF: Thank you very much for coming.

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