Spinderella Soap: Interview with Minaz Jantz

An interview with Minaz Jantz on methods for writing and illustrating an adult storybook, 'Spinderella Soap'.

1. What is the main message or theme running through Spinderella Soap?

Awakening the spiritual connection is a potential manifestation when our lives become incredibly chaotic. Self-empowerment evolves when we are enlightened with wisdom. Ultimately, when we discover joy and express joy, we are healthier in our everyday life, Spinderella Soap, as peace within our souls lightens the load.  Joy is contagious!

Spinderella Soap: Scene #16 
'The Miracle Maids'
illustration by Minaz Jantz

2. What is this imaginative story Spinderella Soap all about?

Spinderella Soap is where surreal artworks and the fantastical adventures of a freshly divorced woman named Spinderella, who has experienced a range of roles including musician, nightclub partner, actress, and lover, ultimately lead to a spiritual awakening. To achieve the 'magic' of joy, she accesses wisdom from other beings, such as 'The Miracle Maids' Soap Scene #16, who guide her through the initiations of life lessons.

3. How does Spinderella Soap communicate a unique challenge to the readers?

Spinderella Soap started as a visual art series using collage images to describe what I wanted to express about the disappointments in my life and how it did not turn out like Disney's Cinderella Story & the 'Live Happily Ever After'.  My inner growing voice named 'Spinderella' ( spin off of Cinderella) channeled her expressions utilizing collage art, rhythm, symbolism, humor, self-help, and a style of writing called metaphysical poetry. The creation of Spinderella Soap spanned a 10-year creative journey of entertainment and enlightenment. Which, by kismet connections, linked my real life with the surreal realities of Spinderella's adventures 

4. By reading Spinderella Soap, what benefits will the reader gain?

Indeed, there are lots of  playful tongue twisters & symbolic images to find within the collage art works to entertain the reader and could also provoke the inner mind to the insightful connections between words, pictures, realities, and the ethereal world. While being entertaining, it is also my wish that the reader might gain insightful inspirations to manifest a creative, joyful life through their own personal hardships and at least become the best actor in their movie.

Spinderella Soap: Scene #3 
'Missing More Than Her Shoe'
illustration by Minaz Jantz

 5. Why was Spinderella Soap created?

A creative burnout and some personal crisis gave birth to an expressive frustration that I could snip, clip, and vent my perceptions through collage artworks. It started with 'Missing More Than Her Shoe' Soap Scene #3, and then the creative ball began to roll into a series aptly termed Soap Scenes. Eventually, the symbolic collage artworks demanded to be heard through an inner voice named 'Spinderella'  who spoke in rhyme much like my favorite children's storyteller, Dr. Suess.  I have the most incredible fondness for his playful images and the stories that bring insightful humanistic messages of growth through mistakes, differences, & willingness to change for the better.

Spinderella Soap: Scene #11 
'Seek The Love Within'
illustration by Minaz Jantz

6. Are there any paranormal circumstances connected with Spinderella Soap?

Where do life and art meet?  I have experienced what I call artistic premonitions within the creation of Spinderella Soap.  There were incidentally only 11 images made and written initially, with the last one being 'Seek the Love Within' Soap Scene #11  . It is illustrated, including the aerial image of the Twin Towers and many other symbolic associations within the story relating to New York. It was created just a month before the tragedy of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, in the USA. Spinderella's advice from Bobby Blues' grave was to seek out a spiritual pathway, accessing wisdom to steer away from reacting with violence in retaliation, which would not be the best solution for spiritual peace.

Spinderella Soap: Scene #22 
'Lust In The Wind'
illustration by Minaz Jantz

Spinderella Soap: Scene #11 
'Seek The Love Within'
illustration by Minaz Jantz

A creative premonition came true when I was asked to present and perform the recently completed Spinderella Soap through a slideshow and reading before the cast and crew of the new TV series Showtime, "The L-Word," on September 28, 2003. In my studio loft sat a group of talented, sexy women actresses, crew & writers to watch the tales of Spinderella unfold.  What turned out to be an improbable manifestation is that my character Spinderella had also starred in a film style I called 'exotica spaghetti western' called  'Lust in the Wind' Soap Scene #22.  The real-world erotica series, 'The L-Word', was the first of its kind presented on television and ended with a massive following of fans.

Spinderella Soap: Scene #20 
'Galleria Symbiosis'
illustration by Minaz Jantz

A male character in Spinderella Soap, named Orbit Orange, comes from the artist's Paris. I called him the symbolic orange color of joy, and Orbit the surrealistic connotations relating to his style of painting. My confirmation of Orbit Orange as being the right character came as a surprise invitation to Paris, in October 2002, with all expenses paid, to which I took advantage. As we were entering the Paris area, we came across a sign boldly stating ORANGE, to which I later discovered the famous Orange royal family that brought art to Paris.                                      

 What is collage art?

Collage art has been associated with abstract & surreally expressed artworks that use found materials, such as magazine, scissor snipping, and newsprint, all creatively transformed into the artist's own interpretations. These collages are often mixed with other media, including paint, pens, and pastels. In creating the Spinderella Soap collage, I used various types of magazines, snipping them into pieces and gluing them onto drawing paper with oil pastel to fill in the background scenes. Here is an incredible website called www.collageart.org, full of today's artists who use collage in their artworks, as well as links to learn more about the different methods of creating a collage.

What is metaphysical poetry?

Using wit, abstract thoughts, and an edgy view of the truth, while influenced by philosophical insights, is the basis of the writing style in metaphysical poetry. This style of poetry came about during the 17th century with John Donne, who was a poet who broke out of a tradition of the Elizabethan lyric, and later his style would be termed by Samuel Johnson as metaphysical poetry.

What is a folk tale?

It is a tale of a legend that is told through storytelling, passed initially from one generation to another among ordinary people.

  

Spinderella Soap: Soap Scene #16
'The Miracle Maids'
illustration by Minaz Jantz

  Spinderella feels her life is still scattered,

All mixed up and slightly tattered!

She calls out for order!

Poof.. the Miracle Maids appear at the door.

They bring a selection of infinite jars,

Filled with wishes and even new cars.

Spinderella gazes upon the abundant shelves.

She questions, " Are you what is described as an Elf?"

They replied, 'No, we are the keepers of all the wishes."

"When you're willing to do your dishes,"

"Miracles will be made, the soul's food,"

"When your intentions are strong and true..."

NOTE: To view all the illustrations of 

'Spinderella Soap' 

Spinderella Soap illustrations

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     IN THE NEWS    

A34 The Peace Arch News     Saturday, November 19, 2005

Self-published Spinderella launched Sunday

by Alex Browne, the Arts Reporter

Fictional characters have an odd way of coming to life and determining their own directions, and that's the case with artist Minaz Jantz's whimsical, sometimes cynical - definitely satirical - Spinderella Soap. The book began as a series of 14' x 17" symbolic collages, free-form associations of images culled from fashion magazines and Jantz's life, melded with her own oil pastel backgrounds.  Then the photos became a slide show presented first for Jennifer Beals and other cast members of the Vancouver-shot TV series The L-Word.

As the series evolved, so did the character Spinderella, a woman emerging from the fairy tale cocoon that victimized her to make a sometimes scary journey through a multitude of female roles and a surreal contemporary landscape of music, fashion, film, art, and the cult celebrity. A playful, sometimes raw, rhyming text - with the influence of Jantz's child idol, Dr. Suess - followed, sketching Spinderella's convoluted progress through each scene.

For Jantz, now living and working in East Vancouver but known in White Rock-South Surrey for her many years there, the book represents a discovery of computer technology as a means of manipulating images, but also a continuation of surrealist, symbolic themes already present in her art and approach to life.

The launch of her book at the Crescent Heights home of her friend, writer, and actress Virginia Gilliespie, is also appropriate to say, "Spinderella was born here, so I felt it was good for her to come back here." Jantz said. Gillispie is happy to host the launch and promote the self-published book here.  “I feel like a fairy godmother, although a strange metamorphosed fairy godmother," Gillispie said. "I saw the first collage seven years ago, and I'd always ask Minaz where Spinderella is now?"  www.bardsroost.net 

Now it’s gone into a whole new phase, becoming a book.  It's been an evolution, and every time Minaz goes through an evolution, so does Spinderella. The name Spinderella comes from a young friend," Jantz explains. "I was describing the first collages to her as 'a spin-off of Cinderella,' and she said, 'What about calling it Spinderella?' Since the story is very much like a Soap opera, I decided to call it Spinderella Soap- I love the rolling of all the words together."

The finished work begs a few definitions (although it looks like a calendar, it isn't) - is it a novel, a poem, or a picture book?  It's art first and foremost, Jantz said - the images come first and helped shape the text.

Spinderella Soap book readings:

Opus Framing & Art Store (Granville Island, Vancouver, B.C.) Mar. 31, 2007 (Book & slide show reading)

Bards Roost Circle of Writers (Surrey) Nov. 13, 2005 (Book Launch reading)

The L Word movie cast (Vancouver) Sept. 2003 (slide show reading Spinderella Soap)

  

Copyright 2006 Minaz Jantz.   

Order Spinderella Soap online at 

www.trafford.com/05-0228