We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eduardo Valadez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Eduardo, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

The Journey between Full Time Artist and Financial stability is one with many turns and round about’s that require moment to moment navigation. for me the definition for “Full Time Artist”changes constantly. I have learned ways to navigate my own practice to gain stability by diversifying my skill sets and being open to take risks and try new things. I began my creative practice in Mixed Media Painting . For a very long time i made work with two goals in mind: sell in galleries and to paint public murals. This was a wonderful journey with great successes really early in my career. I prefer much more what i do now though! Printmaking is a great art form that allows me to maintain a good balance of public interaction and focused studio time. this work is more accessible for folks in my immediate community and of all economic backgrounds. Creating accessible work creates a more symbiotic stream of cashflow to my craft allowing me to continue making affordable work over a longer period of time as opposed to working towards one single show or mural .Most of what i sell in person is priced on a sliding scale to keep true to this philosophy.

In hopes of creating a more sustainable and creative lifestyle for myself learned carpentry, this has given me a larger creative toolbox for my practice. Carpentry requires deep focus and precision this is in contrast to how i paint, However these are skills that are crucial for printmaking.

Through working a few woodworking projects a year, art sales and workshops i can live a simple andcomfortable life i can be proud of .

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

Unlike many artist stories i have heard ,Art was not always been a part of my life . My upbringing was in a traditional Immigrant Mexican family where values of hard work and family mattered above creativity .
Art became my refuge after my family dynamic crumbled from my parents divorce in my adolescence.
I have been constantly creating for over two decades. Currently my focus has been largely directed towards Taller Graficante ; a community focused printmaking studio. This Projects is about creating space by offering workshops and pop up printing events for individuals and groups in the community. The second service that we offer is collaborative Artist editions. a Collaborative process that aims to invite artist to reproduce their work through screen printing media. Artist with no experience working in print can come to us and learn the process of creating small run editions.

I hope to continue to grow this project by collaborating with Artists from all over the world. Fine Art Printmaking is a not a dying art and im proud to push back on digital media flood through this craft . Tactile art is of upmost importance in the day in age where hand made products are competing with things made by with through digital tools or worse yet AI.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is accepting that i have a gift and that this gift is one that can transcend my own self and helps me to serve others. My greatest source of wealth is being of service to my community. I think over time our values have changed and that shift has caused a distancing of people from on another through fear driven bundaries. Art does the opposite and brings people together from all walks of life.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I am constantly pushing myself to unlearn that everyone has a singular role or place in society and that we were innately destined to do that one thing only.
Our ability to pivot is much more fluid than we let ourselves believe . in my life i have changed my trajectory many times and sometimes with great hesitation or feelings of overwhelming fear. That being said the more i have allowed myself to move through these things the more i realize a change of course often leads to great learning . Being open has allowed me to learn from many amazing people i would have otherwise never met staying in the circles i know . I am humbled and greatful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://taller-graficante.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lacocinaloca/
• Other: https://linktr.ee/lacocinaloca?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaa3PAyshGujpiaKb-M8cEXov6DgBgk7oMWGRCvcI5UK_vaKHtNl3NmKX7M_aem_lp1TwTxU70I4S6axR7YqwA

Image Credits

action shots by Francisco de Sana