A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being a guest on my friend Adina’s podcast, Blue Hour. This podcast beautifully explores the intersection of art, spirituality, and psychology, delving deep into the human experience. It was truly an honor to be invited to discuss my work in tattooing and my drawings. Before our conversation, Adina thoughtfully reached out to share some potential questions, which I’ll be including here to provide further insight into our discussion. Speaking off the cuff can be a challenge for me, as I tend to be naturally shy and somewhat introverted, especially when it comes to discussing my own experiences. However, Adina’s warmth and calm demeanor made me feel at ease, allowing me to forget we were even recording a podcast.
Blue Hour is available to listen on most listening platforms. https://firebirdcreative.me/podcast/
I’ll share the Spotify link here - https://open.spotify.com/episode/1eDnc1HJiK4h0wID2X3FlK?si=hz9pYC5OQqGKv-QVo5GG_A
The following are the questions I answered.
Share a bit about what you do and how you came to do it.
- I’ve been an artist for most of my life. I was encouraged by my parents and grandparents when they could see I liked to draw as a very young child. My parents tried to set me up for art school but I hated it because it required me to be there on weekend mornings and I wanted to play with my friends and watch cartoons. I did it for a year and then they pulled me out of it and I just drew on my own time using Crayola markers to draw animals and monsters.
I didn’t really focus on making art in high school because the art program wasn’t very good. The teacher at that time taught it like an elementary school art class so there wasn’t any real opportunity for growth. I pursued music instead and learned to play the violin.
When I graduated and went to NKU they lacked any music training for classical string instruments. I would have had to switch schools or seek private lessons and I couldn’t afford either. I went back to art then and started out majoring in Graphic Design.
I didn’t even really get that far into the major, I was taking the introductory art classes and decided then that I wanted to do fine art with my emphasis on drawing and printmaking.
Did you always plan to be an artist? Did you experience external messaging that you'd need to find a "real" job?
I wouldn’t say I planned but I felt when I started college I had to find something that would get me a job which is why I started out majoring in Graphic Design. My heart wasn’t into it. I wanted to be in the art studio getting my hands dirty, not cutting acetate and using rulers and exacto knives. The computer was yet to take over design programs when I was there. Photoshop was just starting to make waves but back then graphic design was done by hand.
I switched majors and in my mind I just assumed I would have two careers, one that paid my bills but had nothing to do with art and the other would be making commissioned art and showing art. Tattooing did not come into my life until I graduated college.
Tattooing has become a lot more ubiquitous since you started. Has that affected the art or industry in any significant way? (seems like it used to be a boys club, although now there are a lot more women tattooers--curious what this was like for you)
Tattooing has changed in a big way. I’m not sure if it’s fair to say it was a boys club, maybe a bikers club in a sense but there were always plenty of women tattooing in the field as well as getting tattoos. What’s changed is that tattooing is moving away from the typical street shop when you could walk-in and pick designs off a wall of flash aka premade tattoo designs. Now, shops look like boutiques with minimal design that would indicate they are a tattoo shop. Most artists run their schedules by appointments, focusing on a specific style of tattooing that they feel most skilled at. When I began tattooing you were expected to learn how to master everything that walked into the shop. You built your way up, starting with easy designs and gaining confidence. Now people can enter the field very quickly and just start tattooing one way and stay that way without ever trying to grow. Sometimes it works for them but it can also backfire and trap an artist making it hard for them to find enough work to stay successful.
Looking at tattooing now verses how it was when I started I feel it’s easier to get into and start making tattoos. You have IG, YouTube and TikTok sharing tutorials where when I started it was difficult to learn without a good teacher helping you, showing you things. I was required to hover over my teacher watching them and when it came to be my time- doing my first tattoo I felt like a deer in headlights. You were just expected to go for it based on what you saw. I sat with my teacher and he and I did a small tattoo together and after that one he was pretty much like, okay just keep trying. What you realize is how different every body and every body part can be and feel. One tattoo might go in really well but the very next one you’ll struggle with.
At least back then the designs were easier. I feel the standards for a new artist are set very high now. The best thing a new artist has going for them is the plethora of resources online and the technology, the machinery of tattooing is so much better. It makes the intricate designs easier to approach.
What inspires you as an artist?
Oh, for me it feels cold to say it but Death. I have come to embrace it, not in a way that I want it or want it for others but the idea of death helps me appreciate the beauty of life and love for the now. It’s so final and being an atheist I feel that we- the living have to stop looking at life in the linear sense because this right here and right now is what we have. It’s what is true and real because nobody truly knows if there is anything beyond our death. We can speculate and we can hope but nothing is certain except that we all have to go through it. We all will die.
So, I use different things some religious ideologies come into play in my art and sometimes it’s just simple things that occur in nature.
What mediums do you enjoy working with?
Drawing with pen and ink is my most favorite but in an effort to make multiple and more affordable artwork I have really loved digitally drawing with an ipencil and iPad. Even though I draw in much of the same way as I would with paper and pen I have struggled to embrace digital art as a valid artwork. It has its perks - like the ability to undo problems very easily which some traditionalist might call cheating the process. I can reshape my canvas midway through a drawing which would be impossible with traditional methods, but I have learned how to achieve the same mark making techniques that I’ve used working on paper to translate the same if not better digitally. I see a vast amount of digital art and it’s very rare that I can look at it and not see right away that it’s digital. My artworks do not look digital and when I print them using a method called giclee it’s even more difficult to tell.
Digital has been lovely and I’m currently trying to bridge digital drawing with some printmaking. I have missed getting my hands dirty when it comes to making art. I started purchasing items for printmaking, linoprinting and etching. I’m a bit rusty and haven’t totally fallen in love with the printmaking creations but I’m trying. I feel my mark making best translates with etching so 2025 will be strictly focused on etching.
How do you see the role of artists in regards to social justice or collective discourse?
Art has been used in this way throughout history so I see it as a cohesive relationship that only changes with the time period. One of my favorite artists is Kathe Kollwitz, a German Expressionist who used her art to give voice of the effects of war and poverty on the working class.
For me, I tend to go after theistic religions like Christianity and how it’s trying to dominate all areas of our lives in this particular country. I use the arrogance of humanity to show the damage the strain it causes for us and our relationship with the other creatures of this earth.
What do you think is important to keep in mind as an artist?
Let yourself be bored sometimes. It’s so hard to do these days because everything is so readily available to us now. I don’t think you need to shun all of those things but a little self control so that you can let go and let your mind go to those dark places - or bright places can really stir the drive to create.
Do you have any advice for people who want to pursue careers in the arts or monetize their work?
As an artist, making art should be a love, a deep and personal love that makes you feel good. Don’t do it because you want to be famous or need that instant gratification that is craved on social platforms. If you can make a living or even part of a living selling your art then you are very lucky but don’t push yourself so much that it exhausts you or brings resentment. There are no mistakes or failures in art.
