Why they do what they do

We asked some of the city’s leading artists and creatives to tell us about how they decided to pursue an artistic or creative career. We’ve shared some highlights below.
The camera for me has always been something I use to observe and try and make sense of the world around me. I have been behind a camera from a very young age taking visual notes and making pictures. Pursuing a creative career was never a conscientious decision for me, I simply did it. First expressing myself physically on a drama degree at University, photographing the student drama productions as a sideline, and documenting for the University student newspaper. Next, with photographic knowledge alongside the technical expertise I had acquired through lighting, staging and making sound for staged productions I joined an event production company and worked in their photographic department designing and creating slide/tape presentations for large staged commercial events. Read more>>
Becoming an artist wasn’t a conscious decision, as my creativity has been the driving force in my life since I was a child. I spent a lot of my childhood outside, drawing and painting the natural world, writing stories, and exploring in my own backyard. When it came time to apply to colleges and pick a major, I actually briefly studied journalism first. Writing has always been a passion of mine (and it still is – I’ve write and illustrate books), but I found myself painting during my free time, sketching when I should have been taking notes, and finding everything but the journalism classes I was taking to be inspiring. I ended up transferring to study illustration at another university. When I was younger I don’t think I understood that illustration could be a job, so writing seemed more practical. But, now I know it’s the only job I would be happy having. Read more>>
I had to. I was honestly going crazy and becoming more and more depressed the less I did the things I was called to do. I honestly had to hit rock bottom with my mental health to wake up and realize I was tired of making excuses and being afraid to make mistakes. Read more>>
I’ve been a visual person. I learn better visually, and absorb information better. I have always been into art. From sketching and drawing as a kid, to wanting to be an animator as a kid. From there I really got into culinary arts. I pursued a degree in culinary arts after I got out of the US Army. I still love to cook, just not professionally. I have always loved film and cinematography. So, now i”m about 5 months away from graduating with a bachelors in cinematography. I’ve tried other types of work, but they weren’t for me. We spend a third of our lives working and another third of it sleeping. I don’t want to be happy for just a third of my time, I want to be happy with my career too. Read more>>
I remember when I was in high school, I’d already narrowed down my career to be at least something pertaining to music, and a lot of people (academic advisors, math teachers…you name it) would tell me that to be a musician you had to either study music education or roll the dice and be a performer, hoping that you’d get lucky enough to support yourself that way. For a while, I went back and forth between those two options, wondering if I had what it’d take to make music for a living. One day, I asked my guitar instructor what he thought, and he looked me dead in the eyes and said “Luke, the world doesn’t need any more half-assed teachers. What do you actually want to do?” And that got me thinking. When I’m 80, reflecting on what I did with my life, would I feel like a wrinkled, deflated balloon, who never really went for it? Nah…I’d much rather live as deeply as I can, have as many experiences as I can, make ends meet however I can, and hope that somehow, at the end of all this, I’ll feel full and satisfied. Like I really did something. Read more>>
Like most children, I grew up loving to create and exercise that creative bug in me. I loved drawing my favorite cartoon characters and making Dragonball Z flip book animations out of sticky note pads. As I got older, I never got bored of making art or had it lost its spark. There has always been something about tapping into that creative energy and head space. I knew I had to choose something that involved creativity in a career. Coming from a family of Immigrants from Zacatecas, Mexico whose first jobs were picking fruits and vegetables in agriculture it was hard to see being an artist as a possibility for me. My parents, Tios, and Tias all worked factory labor jobs. Read more>>
To be very honest, I feel like the creative/artistic career chose ME. Being an Artist was something I enjoyed because it made me feel good, though I’d always considered it a hobby, opportunities to engage in the artistic world seemed to follow me in practically every stage of my life. I’ve always thought of myself to be a quirky type of creative, certainly not a ‘cool’ creative nor a mastermind behind innovative things that were captivating and by nature . My creativity was more in tune with the reaction “Oh..interesting.. I never looked at it that way before.” I don’t necessarily feel like my creativeness is particularly remarkable, just different, which I suppose is what makes it unique. Read more>>