50 Over 50: Your Viewpoint Is Needed - Carmen Dominguez's Woven Paper
- Kristine Schomaker
- 52 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Carmen Dominguez is working with gift tissue as transparencies. At 56, they're doing more woven paper art, experimenting with combining traditional home crafts with abstract imagery. They're exploring the themes of reconciling historical alienation with contemporary reality.
They're influenced by absurdist humor—DADA, found art, art brut, home crafting, and graffiti. They must call themselves "entry-level" but they have 20 years of creating art at home. Self-taught. Southern California, urban but desert. Artist and parent of one adult autistic person.
How's their work different now than it was before 50? They're doing more woven paper art.
What's actually hard about being an artist at this point? They want a career but not to have to sell.
Someone just turned 50 and wants to start making art—what do they tell them? Yes, you should. The world needs you.
Do they try to keep up with what matters in the art world? They follow lots of art online. Can't tell what matters.
What do artists their age bring to the table that younger artists don't? More life experience, and less insecurity about being authentic.
What are they working on next? They want to take on more public work but still maintain their own enjoyment.
What keeps them going when everything feels impossible? When they're down, they order themselves to clean and organize their art supplies. Just having the materials in their hands inspires them to work.
What do they wish they'd known when they were younger? That their viewpoint is needed. Maybe not always wanted, but needed, at the very least as a balance. You need community.
Your mind, your talent, your vision—these things never age.
Carmen Dominguez is a visual artist in San Bernardino. They've been weaving paper for 20 years at home. They work with gift tissue as transparencies, combining traditional home crafts with abstract imagery. They're reconciling historical alienation with contemporary reality.
When they're down, they clean their art supplies. Just having the materials in their hands inspires them to work. They want a career but not to have to sell. They want to take on more public work but still maintain their own enjoyment.
Someone just turned 50 and wants to start making art? Yes, you should. The world needs you.
Your viewpoint is needed. Maybe not always wanted, but needed, at the very least as a balance. You need community. Your mind, your talent, your vision—these things never age.
At 56, they're weaving paper in San Bernardino. Gift tissue as transparencies. Twenty years of creating art at home. More life experience now. Less insecurity about being authentic.
The world needs you.
Connect with Carmen: Facebook: davincisdonut Instagram: @davincisdonut
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