We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kacey Parrales a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kacey, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I might have stuck to ballpoint pens and copy paper had I never taken art classes while in school. I usually refer to myself as a self-taught artist since I hadn’t taken formal art classes outside of the ones offered in most public schools. The reality, I suppose, is that I’ve observed and learned from most everything and everyone around me albeit mostly subconsciously. I think that is what makes an artist: just being a bit more perceptive- staring a bit too long at trees and branches to understand their direction, form, and aura- and translating that into a new story. Learning how to see things is the hardest thing about drawing, the art form I practice. And that’s what it requires (non-surprisingly), lots of practice. Practicing isn’t only about filling up a page in your sketchbook everyday, elaborate studies on how cloth drapes the human figure, multi-angle studies of an object, etc. Practice can be still, motionless. It’s simply looking. On the surface it appears as just that, but the eyes are dashing around the subject and the mind is racing. Understanding the color and temperature, even if you intend to draw the subject in black ink. It’s learning to see things as they are, as they appear, and equally about what they aren’t. I think you can go a year without picking up a pencil, go a year with intentional observation, and return to the paper as a newly transformed artist – though a combination of both visual and physical practice will go a long way too.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m an artist by practice and landscape architect by formal education. I only recently realized it, but both disciplines stem from an interest in environments. Not simply as habitats and trees, but as the spaces, people, and auras that can surround you. I’ve always felt observant of them and my observations have usually been accompanied by pencil and paper. Drawing comes natural to many, but the practice may be viewed as childish and immature. I felt that was the case for many who abandoned the skill once they got to middle school or beyond. My hand itched to draw and so I never let the practice go. It’s all at once a creative outlet, therapy, means for problem solving, a fun activity, and much more. For those who follow my work I believe it’s my consistency in my practice that I am known for. Not consistency in style, medium, or subject – actually I am far from consistent in that regard. I am consistent in my discipline. Through hectic weeks in grad school getting my masters in Landscape Architecture to transitioning into 40+ hour work weeks, I drew. I drew to take a break, to battle artist block, to pass the time between lectures, to scratch the itch. Along with the discipline, which I think is derived from years of simply enjoying the activity, I consistently share my work. I share the rough sketches I do in 5 minutes and I share the illustrations that take me hours to complete. I pursue the things that interest me despite the things that might be expected of me. It comes easy to be selfish in this solitary practice, lonely sometimes too, and I have found much joy in inviting people into my practice through social media. What you can expect to find on there now is studies of different plants, animals, and brolic women, but that’s hardly why people seek me. Most people reach out to me about how I find the time to practice and the new mediums I am always trying out. I am a fairly shy person and this craft usually involves only me and my medium, but through Instagram I have been able to meet people and connect with them through a common interest and that’s perhaps my greatest achievement.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect about being a creative is being able to share something you’re proud of with others. The sense of accomplishment is always there whether there is an audience or not. And sharing isn’t about necessarily seeking praise or criticism, though there’s no control on whether that happens or not. Finding a way to share my work, something done probably in complete isolation, and sharing it with even one person feels incredibly rewarding. It makes the creative practice social. Finding new ways to increase that engagement through sharing my physical work through zines, prints, or stickers is the chapter in which I find myself in and I’m excited to expand on that in the future.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My mission in my creative journey is to stay true to myself. I think making things is inherent to being alive and there are many ways to go about that, but having an active sketchbook (or a few) is how I feel the most attune with myself. I feel I would be quite happy to find myself sketching in my old age wherever I may be in life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kaceysstore.bigcartel.com/
- Instagram: @kasaparaba