Santorini Insider: Hi Bruce! Thank you for taking the time to talk to Santorini Insider. We are excited that you agreed to this interview. A bit surprisingly, however, we catch up with you in the United States and not on Santorini, having recently moved back after almost 10 years on Santorini.
We think a lot of people secretly wish that they could do what you have done. You know, move to a beautiful Greek island and just do what you love. It would be interesting to hear how it came to be that you went ahead and did what many people just dream of.
Bruce Salter: Actually, I didn’t go to Santorini with the idea of “following my dream” or of becoming another Gauguin, escaping the stress and pressures of modern society to pursue my art on an idyllic island paradise. Like most foreign travelers to Greece, I initially came as a tourist, enjoying an extended holiday to recharge my creative batteries after going through some turbulent times in the U.S.
I’ve had a lifelong fascination with Greece, particularly its classic art, literature and history, and I was ready to bask in Hellenic culture for a summer of sightseeing and, hopefully, adventure.
I’ve had a lifelong fascination with Greece, particularly its classic art, literature and history, and I was ready to bask in Hellenic culture for a summer of sightseeing and, hopefully, adventure.
But, like so many others, I fell under the island’s spell. I found Santorini to be a perfect place for me to work and write. I took an immediate liking to the Greek people, despite some of their idiosyncrasies, relished the slower pace of island life and was captivated by the remarkable beauty of the place. After living in primarily restrictive urbanized areas for so long, the islands anarchistic chaos was like a breath of fresh air.
After my initial visit I returned to Santorini the following year, this time bringing along my three cats in expectation of a longer stay, but I never dreamt I would make it my home for the next eight years. I quickly put down roots, made many good friends drawn to the island from all over the world and began producing new work which I was luckily able to sell to existing clients in the U.S. and Europe.
Eventually I was able to open my own art gallery/printing factory in Fira, offering original artwork and designs to the thousands of tourists visiting the island every year.
Eventually I was able to open my own art gallery/printing factory in Fira, offering original artwork and designs to the thousands of tourists visiting the island every year.
I had no grand plan when I first went to Santorini, no blueprint or itinerary. It seemed like an interesting place to visit and explore. But, like most things in life, circumstances often dictate direction. Doors open and close, offering opportunities or sealing escapes, and my ten year adventure on Santorini, an adventure encompassing some of the best and worst of times, is an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything.
SI: How did you discover Santorini in the first place and what inspired you to settle down and stay so long on the island?
BS: I had a good friend from California, my home state, who had moved to Santorini several years earlier and started a family. She had urged me for years to come for a visit but business and family concerns always got in the way. Finally, in 2001, I had the opportunity to take a few months off so I got on a plane and headed for Greece.
After returning to the States that fall I spent a terrible winter in Michigan, buried in the snow and dreaming of warm beaches and sunny Santorini skies. Determined to return and try my luck in a completely new world, I put my things in storage, packed up my cats and relocated to Santorini the following spring. Like so many others, I found that once you are there for a while and settle in, Santorini can be a very hard place to leave or stay away from for long.
Despite the hardships, especially for foreigners trying to make their way there, the island can exert an almost magnetic hold, and many people, despite their intentions to leave for good, end up returning again and again.
After returning to the States that fall I spent a terrible winter in Michigan, buried in the snow and dreaming of warm beaches and sunny Santorini skies. Determined to return and try my luck in a completely new world, I put my things in storage, packed up my cats and relocated to Santorini the following spring. Like so many others, I found that once you are there for a while and settle in, Santorini can be a very hard place to leave or stay away from for long.
Despite the hardships, especially for foreigners trying to make their way there, the island can exert an almost magnetic hold, and many people, despite their intentions to leave for good, end up returning again and again.
As I said earlier, I stayed longer than I ever intended, often against my better judgment, and thinking back now I’m still not completely sure why. There is a certain “mystique” about some places that draws the spirit, and Santorini, at least for me, is one of those places.
BS: Creativity is a very difficult thing to define. I believe true creativity comes from within the individual. It is an offshoot of one’s imagination, of the inner world of the mind. I don’t think Santorini itself, or any specific place, necessarily “sparks creativity”, at least not for me personally. Because my work is more an expression of my subconscious I wouldn’t say that Santorini acted as a creative catalyst in any way. I never looked at the caldera, as breathtaking as it is, and rushed to my canvas feeling inspired to paint it.
What Santorini offered me artistically was a space, a slower pace of life, a bubble where I was, in a sense, removed from the rest of the world (especially in the winter when the island is all but empty). It was a place where I was able to establish a quiet routine of thought and work.
But this is a personal view. Art is, or should be, the most personal of expressions, and I know that every artist has their own source of creative stimulus. For many Santorini obviously does provide an external “spark”, but for me it offered a milieu where my own inner “spark” could more easily be realized.
SI: Would you say that living on Santorini has had a significant influence on your art? If so, in what way?
BS: It’s hard to quantify the influence Santorini has had on my work. Stylistically it’s influence has been negligible. I never painted or drew the caldera, the whitewashed buildings against the blue sky, the countless churches or any of the other “signature” Santorini images reproduced ad nauseum on every wall of every hotel, taverna and souvenir shop on the island.
I try not to analyze the specifics of what I do too much, so I’m probably the worst judge of the effect Santorini has had on the direction of my imagery. Had I spent the last ten years in Alaska or the Hindu Kush I would have obviously gone in different directions with my art, but as my visual vocabulary does not reflect the outside world so much as my inner psyche it’s impossible to say what those different directions would have been. Santorini’s influence has been more enigmatic than concrete.
SI: You lived on Santorini all year round, isn’t that right? We would love to hear your insight into the every day life on Santorini and how it changes with the seasons.
BS: Santorini in summer, during the high season, and Santorini in winter are two completely different worlds. Starting in early spring the island begins to come to life with Greeks returning from the mainland and beyond to get their businesses ready to open. Hundreds of workers arrive to run the shops, hotels, restaurants, clubs and tourist agencies, and charter flights and cruise ships unload thousands of vacationers daily, flooding the island with people from almost everywhere.
During the summer months the beaches are full, the roads congested, the busses packed to bursting and the streets of Fira, Oia, Kamari and Perissa crowded with tourists. The clubs and discos in Fira blast away until sunrise and there is a whirlwind of activity everywhere. It can be claustrophobic at times. Most islanders work 8…10…14 hours a day, seven days a week during these months and life can be exhausting.
After September tourism dries up and all but the permanent island residents (no more than a few thousand) leave for the winter. The majority of businesses, especially anything tourist-oriented, close and most of the island resembles a ghost town with empty streets, deserted beaches and wind-blown silence.
When I first came to Santorini I loved the summers with their constant activity and spectacle, but that soon changed. The novelty wore off and I came to appreciate the winters much more. Without tourists the natural beauty of the island was easier to enjoy. The atmosphere was much ore relaxed and people had time to catch their breath and savor the peace and quiet after a hectic six months of non-stop work.
Island life is not for everyone and the isolation of a Santorini winter is psychologically hard on some, but I found it to be the perfect time to work and enjoy the company of friends.
SI: You were living on Santorini through a decade of significant changes. For example, in this period the island experienced a rapid growth in tourism. What is your personal perspective on the difference between Santorini of the late 1990’s and today?
BS: Santorini changed a lot in the years I lived there. The tremendous influx of tourists triggered a building boom that saw new hotels, tavernas, restaurants, supermarkets and even shopping centers spring up everywhere. I would guess the number of new businesses, homes and hotels increased by 30-40% between 2001 – 2010, with additional roads and ancillary structures keeping pace.
As a result, the island is, in my view, quickly losing its charm and in danger of becoming a mini-Athens of derelict buildings, dirty streets and spoiled landscapes. With no long term planning and many Greeks driven by greed there has been overkill in new construction.
If one shop or hotel is seen to do well, the thinking goes, then ten just like it will do better, and within the blink of an eye the tourist market is over-saturated. Add to that the terrible world economy creating a sharp decline in tourist spending and you have an island overbuilt to the point of destroying its own beauty with businesses that are becoming less and less viable.
I have been saddened watching Santorini drift into over-commercialization during the years I spent there. Remembering how it was when I arrived, I wonder how recognizable it will ten years from now.
SI: Now that you are back in the United States. What do you miss the most about Santorini?
BS: Of course I miss the beautiful vistas, the thousand shades of blue reflecting off of the sea and sky, the warm summer beaches and the thundering winter storms, but the thing I miss most are the friends I left behind.
Santorini is a kind of magnet – people from all over the world find their way there, some to work, some looking for change, adventure or a new place to settle down, others come to escape their demons, or themselves. But there is a camaraderie that develops among these travelers, expatriates, drifters, outcasts and dreamers. Being foreigners in a strange country far from home creates bonds that are strong and lasting.
The Greek people, while sometimes too proud and over-emotional, are genuinely kind, unpretentious, honest (sometimes painstakingly so) and always ready for a good laugh, and I have to say I was always treated well and accepted as “one of the family” – even when my terrible Greek made communication an adventure – during my years there.
Santorini is a kind of magnet – people from all over the world find their way there, some to work, some looking for change, adventure or a new place to settle down, others come to escape their demons, or themselves. But there is a camaraderie that develops among these travelers, expatriates, drifters, outcasts and dreamers. Being foreigners in a strange country far from home creates bonds that are strong and lasting.
The Greek people, while sometimes too proud and over-emotional, are genuinely kind, unpretentious, honest (sometimes painstakingly so) and always ready for a good laugh, and I have to say I was always treated well and accepted as “one of the family” – even when my terrible Greek made communication an adventure – during my years there.
I have to say that the human element, the smiles, laughs, pats on the back and honest emotion are the things I miss the most since I left.
SI: We are definitely curious, what are you up to now? We hope your creativity is alive and kicking even after Santorini.
BS: Well, I’m back in the U.S. now after an absence of five years and I must admit it’s a drastic change, not to mention a major culture shock, after living so long on Santorini. I will be returning to California very shortly hoping to start up fresh and strong in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve got loads of new work to show and I’m hopeful of eventually opening a new business similar to the one I had on Santorini.
I also have several books awaiting publication, including an illustrated children’s book, “How The Hippas Got Their Heads,” and I continue to write a regular column for www.weeklyhubris.com.
I also have several books awaiting publication, including an illustrated children’s book, “How The Hippas Got Their Heads,” and I continue to write a regular column for www.weeklyhubris.com.
I don’t know what the future holds, but I expect the coming challenge to be, if nothing else, interesting!
SI: Finally, there may be artists reading this article who are thinking of doing what you have done. Do you have any ‘words of wisdom’ for them?
BS: There is no magic recipe for doing what I did. I was just swept along by the vagaries of life and deposited on a remote rock in the Aegean with no real plan other than enjoying the experience and trying to build on whatever was available.
While unquestionably beautiful, Santorini is also a hard and unforgiving place to live. It can tax your ingenuity and drain your energy like no other place I’ve ever experienced, but it also has unique rewards for those equipped to appreciate them.
While unquestionably beautiful, Santorini is also a hard and unforgiving place to live. It can tax your ingenuity and drain your energy like no other place I’ve ever experienced, but it also has unique rewards for those equipped to appreciate them.
As for “words of wisdom”, I think the only thing I would say to fellow artists (or anyone else, for that matter) is to never stop believing in yourself. I know it’s a cliché but it is true. Circumstances in life can lift you up or push you down. There are always critics, those who find fault or don’t understand what you do, but you can’t take it to heart.
Art is communication, the most personal of human expressions. There is no right or wrong, good or bad, if it is honest to you. If you believe in yourself and are true to your vision it doesn’t matter what anyone else says or thinks.
Art is communication, the most personal of human expressions. There is no right or wrong, good or bad, if it is honest to you. If you believe in yourself and are true to your vision it doesn’t matter what anyone else says or thinks.
I’ve been tested many times in my life, non harder than some of the dark days on Santorini, and my art was my affirmation…the thing that got me through. I believe you are your own best anchor. Trust yourself and there is nothing you can’t do!
SI: Thank you, Bruce! We wish you continued success with your art and everything else in your life.
BS: Thanks so much. It’s been a lot of fun!
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Santorini Insider suggests that you do yourself a favor and experience the visionary art of Bruce Salter. Visit his surrealism art website and enjoy the hypnotic creations of a man that is no stranger to that important part of ourselves called imagination. You can also read his regular column that he writes for weeklyhubris.com.
