Meet Arabella Vida | Artist

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

Hi Arabella, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
I dream to be both a gallery artist and tattoo artist. I would like to have my own private studio where I can tattoo, as well as devote a space for my paintings, illustrations, and ceramics. And I would love to travel around the world for gallery showings, tattoo studio guest spots, or other artistic endeavors.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I have a rather non-traditional educational background in art, and my career path has been anything but linear. I always struggled with picking just one medium to focus on in art. I left college after finishing my associates degree in studio art to go to a special effects makeup school, thinking that career path might be a better fit. Once completing my program there, I decided against pursuing the film industry and worked as a curator for a short while before eventually taking on a job at a pottery studio.

While I was discovering a love for ceramics, I also had been curious about tattooing for a few years at that point. The more I got for myself, the more I could see myself as a tattoo artist. I began preparing a portfolio of my paintings and illustrations to apply for a tattoo apprenticeship. I spent my evenings after work taking online drawing courses to further my skills. I finally landed an apprenticeship last year, and now I’m graduating in May!

It’s amazing getting to see the same design go on both a vase I made and a human body. While I used to think of my desire to be multimedia as a bad thing, now it’s one of the things I love most! It keeps art interesting, and keeps me curious. I think that even if your journey with art is slow or scattered, what matters is to keep digging at whatever it is that sparks a light from inside you.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love so many of those cute little stores and restaurants over in Highland Park. You can easily spend a whole day on Fig just checking out the coffee shops and thrift stores. Then head over to Highland Park Bowl for a round of bowling and drinks, and end the night with a live show over at the Lodge Room.

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?
Definitely a big shoutout to my parents for patiently supporting my artistic curiosity from day one, and to so many of my friends for coming out to my sales and for offering to let me practice my first tattoos on them!

Website: www.arabellavida.com

Instagram: @arabella_vida

Image Credits
All images belong to me.