We recently connected with Mason Gehring and have shared our conversation below.

Mason, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

In my profession, as an artist in healthcare, it is my mission to offer art opportunities for healing, recovery, and wellbeing. I am not a therapist and art therapy gets confused with what I do very easily. The difference is that art therapists are clinically trained therapists who usually develop a diagnosis and treatment that includes art making for a patient. As an artist in healthcare, doing art for wellness, I am encouraging people to use artistic practices (mine are visual) to allow the art making process to create relaxation, allow for reflection, or a space for positive distraction from pain. The art practices or processes I facilitate are for people to experience and enjoy the process and the end result is less important. And that’s the most important part, using a creative process for self care and not about making art for aesthetic reasons. This allows people to just create and express themselves and I think that’s one of the most essential human characteristics that we have forgotten in modern times.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in a very creative house and family so it was no surprise that I ended up going to art school and getting a bachelors in fine art. In 2006, I was really burnt out right after my undergrad at The School of Visual Arts in NYC so I just took any job to try to figure out life and how I could live and work as an artist in NYC. Several years later doing all sorts of jobs and never figuring out the artist life in NYC I moved back home to Dunedin, FL. I was not in a great place mentally after this move and it took me a few more years to start believing I could be a working artist again. By 2017 I was looking into going back to school for a masters in art therapy. I talked with art therapists and found that this was not my path but did find an arts in medicine program through the University of Florida.
THESE WERE MY PEOPLE.
The journey had felt like forever but I finally found my career community and it felt like home. I graduated in Dec 2019 (which was hard for many reasons including starting a new career right as COVD hit.) Since then I have worked with many people and organizations making art for the wellness of our communities. I am currently an artist in residence at Moffiitt Cancer Center in Tampa and an adjunct fine art faculty at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater. Both jobs let me flex both sides of what I love to do, share my love for making art for wellness and share my love for making art to create new artists.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

First, I’d like to say, we are all creatives. Every. ONE. Creativity is what makes us human and we have been doing creative things for millions of years. We just recently as a whole decided that there are some people who should be designated a “creative” and the rest of us should do less creative things to make a living.

We all need creative outlets that let us express ourselves and tap into our spirit. Whether it’s visual arts or performing arts like singing or dancing, it’s all part of our human experience.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

In November of 2019 I had a tonic clonic seizure that sent me to the emergency room. I had just submitted my final review of my thesis research paper for grad school and was about to graduate a month later. Because of the seizure I had to be on anti-seizure medication and unable to drive a car for 6 months until I was seizure free. All of these new restrictions were right as I was supposed to graduate and start a new career as an artist in healthcare. It was very difficult. Despite this new reality I still taught 2 teen drawing classes at a local art center and sometimes had to walk 4 miles to work. And then COVID shut everyone down.
And with THIS new reality to everyone’s daily life it was actually a big relief to me. It felt like everyone was in the same boat as me because there was so much uncertainty and now everyone was supposed to stay home (just like me!). 2020 gave me permission to slow down (which my brain greatly needed) and take stock in what was important in life and where to put my energy. I am forever grateful.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.MasonGehring.com
• Instagram: @masongehring
• Facebook: @masongehringcreative
• Linkedin: @masongehring

Image Credits
All images are of paintings by Mason Gehring. Photos by Mason Gehring