A Conversation with Sol Proaño
1. Tell us a bit about yourself!
My name is Soledad, but I let people call me Sol, and I don’t mind at all. I make my Prismas out of my home studio in Ridgewood, New York. I share my life and home with my husband and 8 year old son. I lived in three different Latin American countries before we settled in Chile when I was 12. I migrated to the US at age 28, just for love. My teenage years hitchhiking through Chile were pivotal to me becoming who I am, and greatly informs the inspiration for my work.
2. How did you come to pursue art via prisms? How did your work come about, and how has that journey evolved?
Making things has always been a way of expressing myself, and started selling things while traveling as a teenager. When I moved to the US I spent all my time making things and started an online shop. Many years later, still selling jewelry, I decided to experiment with designs on a slightly larger scale and make wall decorations. One day I saw the work of an artist that occasionally used prisms, and decided to adopt those as a core element in my collection. This was right before the pandemic and when that happened, my Prismas started selling so well that I stopped making jewelry. Just recently I introduced a small jewelry line based on the same design elements as my main décor collection: clean lines and crystals.
3. What do you love most about prisms?
Prisms are science and magic together! The shape of the crystal determines the shape of the rainbow! There’s always something new to see in and through them, if you look carefully.
4. I find your wall hangings to be mesmerizing - almost meditative! Is there a well-being component to your pieces that we should keep in mind?
I didn’t come to prisms with a plan to make anything related to well-being. But as I started to be surrounded by them, I realized that they do facilitate a connection with the moment, right here. Whatever you’re doing, thinking, or maybe rushing through, if you walk by a room full of rainbows, it will make you stop and look and appreciate the moment. They are a great opportunity to practice taking a breath and being in the moment.
5. If someone is new to the idea of prism art, do you have any thoughts on where they should start? I find prisms to be much like crystals - sometimes folks need a warm invitation to enjoy them. How would you invite someone to start engaging with your art?
As seasons change, the Sun moves differently in the sky and that will, in turn, change how your Prisma behaves. Start noticing when a prism activates: what time of day is it? Where are the rainbows being cast? For how long? Is it the same two or four weeks later? Being connected with the passage of time and asking myself how that also affects me is something I have come to appreciate about having prisms in several spots in my house.
6. Do you have a favorite prisma hanging and if so, why?
#15 is the one that hangs on my living room window. It’s just been there since I designed it first and was never taken down. Because it has an arm that swings, when there is a breeze it dances around slowly, which adds another level of enjoyment and meditative element even if there’s no sun around to make rainbows.