Meet Carmel Mercado | Artist+Illustrator & Eye Surgeon

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

Hi Carmel, how do you think about risk?
“Fortune favors the bold.”

This piece of advice has stuck with me since I first heard it as a child.

As a small town brown girl growing up on the edge of the Everglades, I long struggled with this sense of feeling small, out of place, and wondering what was out there in the world. Growing up, I relished reading about the hero’s journey through works like the Odyssey and watching movies with variations of this story. I dreamed of going off on my own adventure beyond the meandering river of sawgrass of my backyard. At the age of 12, I decided I was going to diligently apply myself to getting educated in the hopes of finding opportunities to see the world. “Fortune favors the bold.” I remember thinking this as I submitted my college application to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was one of the first students from my high school to try to do so. I was pleasantly surprised when months later that thick acceptance package came for me in the mail. When it came to applying to medical school, I again struggled with that self image of being small, not being enough, and being out of place. I made some last minute changes to where I was applying and decided to submit my application to more “reach” schools like Johns Hopkins. Would there be others that looked like me in the schools I apply to? I don’t think I necessarily thought I was good enough to get into these top schools, but again, how would I know if I did not try? “Fortune favors the bold.” I got into Hopkins and successfully got my medical degree there. The same discordant pattern of wondering whether I was good enough and then pleasantly being surprised came again when I got into my top choice for residency at Stanford and later when I was invited to join the ophthalmology faculty at the University of Washington. Lo and behold, decades later this small town girl who once watched the sun rise and set over the flat horizon of the Everglades had become a successful eye surgeon with a full time clinic, surgery schedule, and with far-reaching opportunities to travel to places like Myanmar, the Philippines, Japan, and Belize for medical work. You just don’t know where you will land until you make that leap.

Calculated risks continues to be a part of my ethos. More recently I found myself feeling lackluster about my career. A conversation with one of my trainees about what it meant to live a fulfilled life made me realize that I was still not living my dream life. I had reached this level of success far beyond what I could have ever imagined for myself when I was a little girl with big dreams looking out over the swampy landscape of the Everglades. I began to question whether success and happiness were the same thing. I thought I would feel fulfilled and “enough” reaching the pinnacle of success and having gone to the different places around the world that I have had the chance to already visit through my life as a doctor. Was I not living up to my purpose in life? What I didn’t mention previously was that aside from getting myself an education, I had a long running parallel interest and love for art and the creative process. The harder I tried to make my identity just that of a doctor, the louder this creative side of me was screaming to be released. Again, I felt the change in the air and the internal whisperings reminding me that “fortune favors the bold.” I decided that I needed to rebalance the different elements of my life to get closer to feeling like I was living up to my true purpose. I walked away from my life as a full-time doctor to go into art. Some would say this is beyond risky and just plain crazy. The transition was rough, but I have never been happier and more comfortable being me. My career is now a delightfully quirky smattering of public art installations and whimsical characters created for walls, paintings, illustrations, and educational materials for both kids and adults. I tie my medical knowledge into some of the art collaborations I have. I also now get to travel locally and abroad on my own time to still help on medical missions and serve those in the community who might not have access to care in a clinic or hospital setting. This individually crafted life would not have been possible if I had not decided to take the chance to see what was possible.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My moment of self-reckoning was in the operating room a few years ago. In between performing my surgical cases, my fellow, who was my assistant helping me for the day, casually mentioned to me that I looked like I was living my best life. She was deciding what job to pursue after her fellowship year and was curious what life looked like after graduation. She told me that I looked so happy and so full of energy day-in and day-out of the clinic and the operating room. She was trying to imagine if she could be happy in my shoes. Hearing her perception of my life made me pause. I couldn’t help but notice an uncomfortable emotion emerging from deep within. For years I had been resisting this truth: the life I was portraying to others and the life I truly wanted for myself were so far off.

Art was my first love. In first grade when I first began to read “Where the Wild Things Are?” by Maurice Sendak, “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales” by Jon Sciezska/Lane Smith, and “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss, I loved meeting the characters in these stories through the illustrations. I used to tell all the grown ups that I wanted to become an artist who created characters and made people laugh. Unsurprisingly, I was dissuaded from this career choice by the adults. Instead I was told that I should choose a career like becoming a doctor because it would provide security and a good living. Eventually I came to accept this perspective since this seemed to be the societal consensus that you could not make a living through art. I began to see art as a hobby and not a career option. Yet, throughout my life, I still found myself constantly gravitating towards art regardless of this. I would volunteer to do the graphic design work for shirts and posters for the clubs I was a part of throughout college and medical school. I volunteered to help out with website designs and even film and direct my class videos for my residency program, without truly grasping how much I craved the creative process.

Following these conversations in the operating room, I had to sit with myself and accept that I wanted a big change in my life. For 20 some years I had worked towards this goal to become a surgeon and I had reached my goal. Since I was a kid I was told that I would be happy if I was a successful doctor. I was helping patients and doing a lot of surgery. On top of this, I was teaching medical students, residents, and fellows, participating in the academic arena, and this all left me feeling like I was living someone else’s dream. I knew then that I needed to make some major changes to my day-to-day and incorporate more art into my life for it to feel more like MY life. I cannot even begin to tell you how many people tried to shame me when I decided to make this change. “Think of all the people you could be helping.” “It is a shame that you are wasting all that schooling and training.” “There are so many people out there who wish they could be in your position and doing what you are doing.” “How could you walk away from a doctor’s salary to do art?” I was getting a lot of criticism from various people in my communities. It was a difficult transition to let go of a decades-long identity and decide to rebuild my career. It was certainly not made any easier with these negative comments. At the end of the day, I continued to listen to my inner light and to the few who did support my choice to be happy.

Fast forward to today and I am excited to say that I am staying true to the wishes of my inner child (and to my seven-year old self). I am so grateful for how my life has blossomed and shaped to be the way it is now. I now use art as a way for me to celebrate life and joy. Through bright, bold lines, colors, patterns, speckled backgrounds, and whimsical storybook-style characters, I strive to evoke childhood nostalgia, happy bemusement, laughter, and a sense of gratitude in the viewers of my art. You will also notice a lot of my characters wear glasses. This is a homage to my time spent in the clinic and a shout-out to all my kid patients with physical/mental impairments who taught me resilience and what it means to live life to the fullest with what life has given you. I share a lot of my art in public spaces, such as through utility boxes. If a stranger in the community happens to come across my art and smiles, I have done my job in adding a little bit of joy to their life. My life in medicine, too, has helped create a niche space for me within art. I collaborate with various medical establishments and national associations and get to use my medical knowledge and art skills to work on projects such as creating eye health-related educational materials for kids and designing more kid-friendly waiting room spaces for clinics. For those who are curious, I have not completely given up the doctor work. There were so many elements of being a doctor that I enjoyed and still incorporate into my life. I continue to volunteer my services both locally and abroad to individuals in underserved communities. Next year I am traveling to the Philippines as part of a medical mission and am on the short list to go to Belize to help with vision screenings. I am so grateful that I decided to take a leap from the norm and create this interesting life for myself that sits at the intersection of art and medicine. I am excited to see what the future brings.

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 have lived in multiple cities around the globe, and here I am, finding my home in Sunny Seattle 🙂 There is SO much to do here, rain or shine.

– Take a ferry across the Puget Sound to one of the nearby islands. Bainbridge Island is a popular one. You may spot a pod of orcas, see a humpback or minke whale, or otters on the ferry ride. The views of the city and the mountain backdrop from the water are also unparalleled. You can grab some amazing Neapolitan style pizza at Bruciato, poke bowls at Hi-Life, and ice cream at Mora’s Creamery on the island.

– Downtown Seattle is brimming with places to eat/drink/hang. Pike Place Market is a popular place to visit. You can take a stroll through the market and take in the frenzied energy while walking around here. Grab lunch at Matt’s in the Market and enjoy the views while having a meal. Just around the corner from Matt’s, you can grab a coffee at Storyville Coffee and some desserts to-go from Piroshky Piroshky. The Waterfront Park and the Elliot Bay Trail are not too far of a walk from Pike Place. If you walk along Elliot Bay Trail, which is by the water, it will take you to the Olympic Sculpture Park. There is an array of interesting and thought-provoking art installations and sculptures here. Just on the other side of I-5 is Capitol Hill where you can shop and eat. Try some oysters at Taylor Shellfish and drop by Starbucks Reserve (this location has a bar inside of it that has coffee-inspired cocktails) along the same street. If you really like to eat, you can head on over to the Chinatown-International District for more great eats. The Loco Moco Scotch Egg and Andagi (Okinawan fried donut dessert) at Itsumono are delicious. Depending on the evening, an impromptu karaoke session with cosplay might just happen here. Grab some Ube Cheesecake and other Filipino-inspired baked goods at Hood Famous Cafe+Bar. Try out all the little food stalls within the Uwajimaya store complex. There are also tons of dimsum places just around every corner. They’re all good.

– North of downtown, enjoy the Puget Sounds views around Discovery Park and cross one of the many bridges to visit downtown Ballard to check out the cool stores and art around the neighborhood. Cafe Con Todo has fun flavored lattes. I personally like the tres leches latte they serve and enjoy sipping on it while sitting in one of their cafe hammocks. Gas Works Park has nice views of the Seattle city landscape especially at night. If you love watching people and their dogs, the off-leash dog park area in Magnuson Park is huge and is a nice hike to the water’s edge.

– On the Eastside, I am just putting it out there: the original Costco is there. I’ve been surprised by the number of people who want to see the original Costco when they come to visit me so it’s on my list of places to see. Kirkland Signature gets its name from Kirkland, Washington.

– If you want to see some of my public art pieces, you can head on over to Downtown Bellevue (108th Ave x 10th St), to Tukwila (Sperry Drive S x S 180th St), or very soon to Downtown Kirkland (Central Way x 4th St at the entrance of Kirkland Urban).

Since it is the Pacific Northwest, this list would not be a proper list without some mention of nature. Just outside of the city is a haven for nature lovers:
– Along I-90 there are a bunch of very doable hikes for all skills levels — Rattlesnake Ridge, Tiger Mountain, Mount Xi, Little Xi, Twin Falls, Franklin Falls, etc.
– Go up to the San Juan Islands by car/ferry or seaplane and experience the magic out there.
– Take a drive down to Mt Rainier National Park.
– Plan a weekend hiking trip in the Olympic Peninsula.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would not be where I am today if not for my family. If not for my parents’ courage to take the deep dive to immigrate across continents and oceans to the United States, I would not be here. They inspired me throughout my life with their work ethic, their dogged sense of responsibility, their humor, and their jaw-dropping dance moves. My two sisters also deserve recognition in my story. They were my cheerleaders who pushed me to excel in school and career, my soundboards when navigating family and friend relationships, and my enablers for spontaneous happy life moments. My sisters are both ice cream entrepreneurs and in the business of making people happy. My mission in life is to bring joy to others through my craft so there is a lot that I learn from the path they have forged for themselves. A big shout-out as well to my partner in mischief and merry-making, who goes by many names, including the initials HK. This guy – let me tell you. I am sure I push his buttons sometimes with all my wild ideas and ventures. Yet, he continues to calmly stay by my side as my number one cheerleader in every pursuit. I could not ask for a better partner. I also have so much gratitude for my division chief and colleagues from my previous workplace. Mimi, Laura, and Lashel, in particular, my heart goes out to these three. It was one of the hardest decisions for me to leave my previous workplace and they were so open and supportive of the change. Finally, I want to give a shout-out to all my patients who taught me so much about life. I had the chance to deeply experience the full breadth of human emotion- from pain and suffering to triumph and joy. Thank you for helping me grow as a fellow human being and individual.

Website: www.CarmelArtLab.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/carmelartlab

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/carmelmercado/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/carmelartlab

Image Credits
Shane Bang, Hokuto Ueda