We were lucky to catch up with Alec Norris recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Alec thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
Through non stop studying and practicing 18 hours a day, everyday, for years. The thing about this day and age is everyone wants to find a way to speed up the process; to get to the end result as soon as possible. No one wants to take the time to develop the craft properly so they can have the unshakeable foundation that would be able to create and sustain careers similar to our predecessors we hold in such high regard. This requires a very strong patience and hunger to want to work yourself to the bone to get a fraction of a bit better everyday.
The biggest obstacle is the grind and redundancy required to get to that place. It can mess with you, especially when there are long stretches of time where you don’t see any visible progression.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Came out to LA when I was eighteen. Got a job in the restaurant industry to stay afloat and pay the bills, and went to work on learning my craft. I wear a couple of different hats. I’m a actor, director, writer and musician. I currently spearhead a band called The Juliennes that will be playing shows all around Los Angeles to promote our debut album coming out at the end of the year. I’m also directing a play called “The Greek Viper” that will be premiering at the Hollywood Fringe Festival June 19th, 21st and 22nd. One of my goals is to bring back a standard of artist that has been lacking for a very long time. Reason, attitude and depth have all been contaminated in way that has shifted the focus of making great art that speak to the soul and reflects humanities great story, to pursuing shallow endeavors centered around gaining unearned attention and money. Hopefully, I can be a part of a counterculture that carries the rich lineage of being an artist properly into the next decade.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Never lose the desire of wanting to answer the question: What does it mean to be human?
Our job is to fail gracefully at answering it for you.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
There is an obsession that I can never turn off. To be an artist is a 24 hour a day ordeal with no vacations and no sick days. That the difference between a artist and an appreciator of art is this: An aprreciator of art will do it when they feel like it. It’s a hobby. An artist does it sick, does it tired, and does it especially when they don’t feel like doing it.