Meet Sophie Pace | International Artist & Alternative Musical Instrument Healer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sophie Pace and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sophie, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I think my artistic career chose me. And then, it gave me time to catch up!

My earliest recollection of loving color was at 2years old when my Mom and I were making clay shapes. and painting them while I stood on a chair at our kitchen table in our home on the near west side of Cleveland, Ohio.

Now I know it was by setting a tiny curved shape in the window and watching it dry and change color, that the first bit of Magic got created in front of my very eyes. I wanted more ! I was hooked!

I had colored pencils and a Venus Paradise Kit as an adolescent. I can still smell that aqua pencil as it filled in the background around a butterfly.

I also remember pestering my Dad to tell me how good my copying of his house drawing was. I found my drawing as an adult. I know why he was ignoring me.

He painted a bicycle-built-for-two from a drinking glass on our pink basement wall. My painting, oil drips and all, was on the wall right next to his.

I was relentless.

If I wasn’t painting, I was designing with fabric, tape and pins. by cutting holes in my Mom’s stored sofa covers for a May altar for my Virgin Mary’s statue.

I was greatly influenced by art in Catholic grade school where I drew a
Muskellunge fish that I now know to be a Muskie. I thought that was such a great word. Doesn’t Muskellunge just roll off your lips?

As an adult, I spent an excessive amount of time thinking I wasn’t an artist because I didn’t like to draw people like my Dad who was amazing with a #2 pencil.

Not until I took a drawing class and really hated every bit of it did I realize that acrylic paint and metal were to become two of my best friends!

To this day, the glide of fast drying and easily mixable red, yellow, blue, white and black acrylic paints take me where I’ve never been before.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a person who wants folks to spend time with and connecting to others, I began VILLA JOY. It’s in Alderson, WV, where all ages can visit and experience my art studio, gallery and gathering space. Stop by for a chat, a beverage, a look-see or a spot to hangout and practice an instrument. How about a Friday evening drumming circle to end the week and get you ready for the weekend?…It’s all here.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
After my best friend and I spent time creating and experiencing VILLA JOY, I’d take them on a walking tour of this historic town of Alderson. We’d spend time next to the Greenbrier River. Maybe swim, fish or kayak. The area has caverns, places to hike, and even a spot to bungee jump nearby at The New River Gorge National Park.

I live in the midst of an area noted for recreational activities including golf, skiing, hunting, great restaurants and fines places to spend the night.

The famous Greenbrier Resort that hosts presidents, celebrities and regular folk each day is close by.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Well, I’ve already mentioned my Mom, Mary Sophie Vacca, and Dad, Carl Albert Vacca, Sr. So, how about a BIG thanks and hugs of gratitude to my Grampa Domenic Patricelli for loaning me $500.00 to finish my last year of college at Bowling Green State University and my Gramma Rose Patricelli for her lemon drops, her caring ways and for allowing me a week’s vacation at their home every summer when I was a teen.

Website: sophiepace.co (not .com—-that’s a different Sophie Pace)

Facebook: VILLA JOY and Sophie Pace both have FB pages

Image Credits
Sophie Pace