We recently connected with Divine Ikpe and have shared our conversation below.

Divine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I have been creative ever since I was a small child. I was drawing and painting any chance I could. And when I got a little bit older, I would do creative writing and somg writing as well. So art has always been a part of my life. Yet in middle school, I espressed to my parents that I wanted to be an artist and they immediately shot it down. It wasn’t until 2020 when I considered doing art more seriously. Due to the encouragement of my therapist at the time, I applied to both a regular masters of psychology program and a masters in art therapy program. I figured whichever one I got into would help determine my future. And, I got into the art therapy program! I didn’t start grad school until last year, but regardless, from my point of admission, I regained confidence in my artistic abilities and began to take it more seriously as something that could not only benefit me, but other people as well! I started exploring more artistic mediums, writing professionally, doing professional photography and performing my music much more often. It has been great for both my mental health and my artistic career. I believe pursuing a degree in art therapy will also further both my desire to help people through art and help increase my artistic abilities.

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?

As mentioned previously, I do creative writing (poetry, short stories), I interview people and write articles, I do photography, painting (oil, acrylic, and now gouache) drawing (mostly charcoal), collage (paper and fabric), some sculpture and music! In regards to music, I write classical scores on occasion, but mostly produce electronic alternative pop music and sing over the tracks. My visual and performing artistic mediums are all very DIY. Doing things in an affordable and efficient manner (with the exception of oil painting…oil painting is neither affordable nor efficient haha). I love using found materials and real plant life in my art as well.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I believe that society, especially American society…as that’s all I can personally speak on, should be doing more to support artists (and truly, people in general). A life without art is sad, bleak and frankly boring. Art, much like other jobs, requires a lot of skill that is often overlooked by people outside of artistic communities. Artists are important to society! They make spaces beautiful, make space for cathartic experiences, bring joy into the world. Art as a profession should be more respected and likewise supported due to the strong impact it has on the well being of the populous.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I knew about all of the possible job opportunities that are creative work. People always talk about graphic design and advertising, which are all important work! But no one ever talks about the artistic qualities of architecture or the existence of Prop Styling, which is a fun creative job to have! The various types of photography outside of weddings and family photography. Things like that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://diviamici1688.myportfolio.com/divine-ikpes-art-portfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divi.jpg?igsh=MTdwb3U4ZmZobGkzbg==
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diviamici?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=android_app

Image Credits
All images were taken & edited by me