We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pia Pownall. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pia below.
Alright, Pia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Still, on some days, it’s way easier said than done.
Pia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Of course I love when people connect to my artwork, and I am grateful to my clients and patrons; but it is not what drives me to paint. I paint for the self-discovery and the self-expression.
For this reason, painting is a very intimate experience for me; Each painting is a record of my psyche at a specific time and place in my life, turning my inner struggles and joys into visuals that reflect my point of view on my self and on the world I exist in. I literally pour my heart and soul into my work.Because I personally struggle so much with Duality it has become a very crucial theme in my artwork. Elements that might be construed as “flaws” are really integral to the beauty and complexity of my paintings, just as they are in Nature and in all of us. I will intentionally add jarring, aggressive and downright ugly elements to disrupt a painting that I think is too pretty. So in this my art practice mirrors my daily personal practice of trying to integrate and love every aspect of who I am; the good, the bad and the ugly. Not everyone will connect to my work. Or to me. And that’s okay. I don’t need the validation. I appreciate it, but I don’t need it. And that is incredibly freeing.
When I first started painting I was really into doing commissioned artworks but in the last couple of years I’ve nearly completely gravitated away from taking on commissions. I personally find that when I am painting for someone else the final work is constrained and lacks the life and energy that comes from unbridled creativity. It becomes about pleasing the client and that can’t yield a pure result. So I would advise my clients and potential clients, to follow my work (or the work of any artist you admire) and to wait until I make a painting that you fall in love with. That’s the work you should buy. The painting should capture a part of your soul; it should have an intangible essence that attracts you to look at it every day. I have works of art that I’ve painted that I haven’t been able to part with because there is too much of myself in the work, like a child you want to keep close… I’ve also collected works from other artists that I will not part with because I am so connected to them. That’s the incredible power of Art.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Now if we are using the word “creatives” to denote those who are seeking out a career in a more traditional artistic medium, then I think “non-creatives” might struggle to understand that inherent character traits and abilities could hinder a creatives success, just as they could hider (or help) a non-creatives’ success. Imagine making Tiger Woods take over for NFL defensive player of the year Myles Garrett and vice versa. Both are incredible athletes but their skill sets and gifts, both learnt and god-given are very different and might not crossover into another sport. Their success is dependent on being in a medium (or career) that plays to their individual strengths and abilities.
I also think the formula or path to success (i.e financial independence and measurable career growth) for non-creatives can be more easily laid out and followed than the path to success for creatives. For example non-creatives are usually working in a system that delivers a paycheck for the time put into the work. It’s an immediate payoff with a guaranteed result for input. Creatives do not have that guarantee.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
At first I hated NFT’s. I thought this is the most absurd concept I’d heard of; the mere idea of them angered me. I thought everyone was being swindled and that NFT’s should be banned from the art world. But then I realized my resistance was partly due to my ignorance of the technology and the creativity behind NFT’s. I think we always resit what we don’t understand, especially if we feel that new thing is threatening to change what we know and love. So understanding and working through my own limitations has shifted my opinion on NFT’s. I’m still not jumping on the craze but I’m definitely open and curious to learning more. And I’ve wisened enough to withhold a strong opinion until I am better versed on the subject.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.piapownall.com
- Instagram: @piapownall
Image Credits
Personal portrait by Nicolette Jackson-Pownall, NJP Photography