Meet Aaron Obenza | Working Professional, Ceramist, Sculptor, Doodler, and Bicycle Rider

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

Hi Aaron, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
While I currently do not rely on my art to sustain me financially, I sincerely believe that maintaining a creative practice has been detrimental to my mental well being.

I left my full time artistic practice and have since shifted my work into a sort of social activism.

I create pieces specifically around fundraising targets for individuals and/or organizations.

This has given me a sense of creative freedom and motivation that I felt I lost.
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I feel as if I have complete artistic license again.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art involves an amalgamation of many different things. I use it as a sort of repository for distant/current memories and events as I experience them.

I rarely ever plan the things I make, and when I do I leave the plans loose and fluid. This helps me keep engaged in the project and maintain focus.

I like to expand tiny memories into large objects. I tend to work with large/monumental scale pieces that are often interactive.

The portrait and figure are the sole focus of my practice. I utilize these both in two and three dimensional forms. I consistently combine drawing and sculpture within one body of work.

By combining the two I believe it adds layers to the composition of the overall piece(s).

It has been a fairly tough journey trying to maintain a full-time practice.

For me relying on my work to generate revenue was not sustainable.

Solely from the fact that my work required a ton of resources both in materials and physical space.

Navigating all of this eventually lead me to understand that this approach actually killed my motivation to create.

Fortunately for me a lot of my experiences working within the arts were transferable to different industries.

Ceramics in particular requires you to be a subject matter expert in an array of different fields. (Operations – Facilities – Project Management – Quality Control – Chemistry etc)

I have since been able to (slowly) create a life for myself where I am able to make a living outside of art, but maintain my creative practice.

I may very well labeled a quitter for this, but if you are currently pursuing your arts career and are having difficulty working in the industry and maintaining your arts practice. I encourage you to take a step back and re-evaluate what is most important to you.

These are the questions I asked myself:

– How long has it been since I sat down and truly made something I liked or wanted to make?
– Is the compromise I am making now – affecting my motivations to create?
– If I choose a different career path – can I still maintain my practice?
– Are there local resources I can tap into if I choose to pursue a different path but still create on my free time? (Studio, co-ops etc)
– Are you simply just trying to avoid judgment from your peers?

It is certainly a tough decision to make, but I sincerely believe the starving artist ideology is antiquated and toxic.

Create what you want, how you want.

That is literally the only thing that matters.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Funny enough a close childhood friend of mine just visited not to long ago. We’re both fairly busy people and he lives in Santa Barbara so we don’t see each other often.

This was our itinerary (I live in Costa Mesa) Heavy on the food!

Coffee at Work In Progress (Best Matcha Latte in the area)

Chocolate Almond Croissants at Black Market Bakery (Crispy – fluffy delicious)

Bike ride around Back Bay. (Waking or running this is nice as well)

Lunch in Mitsuwa Market Place at Miyabei – Tei (Try their #12 combo or any curry rice dish. You wont regret it)

Mid afternoon beverage stop at Boba Guys at the camp.

Dinner at Mogu Mogu for their Mazemen noodles. (IYKYK)

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to shout out my friends and family. They have been the foundation of my support structure. Most importantly I’d like to shout out my wife Teresa for her support and unrelenting desire to see the both of us succeed.

Website: https://aaronobenza.wixsite.com/work

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronobenza/?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-obenza-01906a123/