We had the good fortune of connecting with Molly Brandenburg Performance artist/painter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Molly Brandenburg, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
I’m from Medford, Oregon, a small town in the Rogue Valley, which is semi-rural community. Despite being a smaller mountain town, the people there have a deep love of the arts and they always supported the young people there who wanted to pursue careers in that direction. I can’t ever say how valuable that was.

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.
When I was growing up my parents always liked to watch all the comedy variety shows that were on then, like The Carol Burnett Show, Ed Sullivan, Flip Wilson; so many great original performers were right there to learn from. When Carol Burnett would do one of her characters my dad would point to the tv and say, “you can do that.” I don’t know why he thought I could do it, but he saw something in me i didn’t know I was capable of . It amazes me to this day.

I think if you really want to work in an artistic vein you have to realize you will always have to be true to yourself. Some people will underestimate you. Jobs can come and go, but ultimately you have to be true to the vision of life you want to share, whether it’s being a great tragedian or an ultra fabulous lounge singer. Don’t let anyone ever take your dream away. Stay true to your vision and you will prevail.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d start with a wonderful breakfast at the original farmers market on Fairfax, then we’d head over to Griffith Park for a hike and a tour of the amazing observatory. We’d have lunch at the wonderful Fred 62 diner on Vermont, then drive to Point Dune in Malibu for an ocean walk and a hike overlooking the sea lion tide pools. We’d finish the day with a lovely French dinner at Mr. Marcel, back at the farmer’s market.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to give a shout-out to all my music and improvisation teachers, Gary Austin (founder of The Groundlings Theater) and my friends at The Turbine Arts Collective, which is continuing the teaching of improvisation so the work can live on.

Website: Www.mollybrandenburg.com

Instagram: @mollybrandenburg1

Linkedin: Www.LinkedIn.com/mollybrandenburg

Facebook: @miss_peggy_judy

Image Credits
Molly Brandenburg, Emma Benson, Audrey Moore, Peter Zakhary, Peter Nagy

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.