We were lucky to catch up with Caro Nilsson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Caro, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
Starting on this journey of being a full-time artist has been terrifying and full of joy the entire time. I think the biggest part of making it work is waking up every day, even if you are full of doubt, and continuing anyway. A big part of my art practice’s success, I think, is that I have remained authentic and true to myself even when I was full of fear. I have learned that the ‘starving artist’ stereotype is only as true as you believe it to be. I have found an abundant niche that exists for me- the act of comparing to another artists’ path is entirely futile because the path is made by walking forth. Every artists’ way will be unique to them, and the freedom from comparison is incredibly beautiful to me.
Caro, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I have been making art for as long as I can remember, and the process of being a real life ‘Artist’ with a capital A has been all about returning to myself. Painting is something that helps me to communicate, helps the world make sense, helps me return to the moment that I am in instead of letting my thoughts run me ragged. I often paint from memory, and have been enamored with landscapes for the past several years. I focus more on the way a moment felt than the facts of how it looked- without reference photos my brain remembers the parts that mattered the most, and I don’t get as lost in insignificant details.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I don’t think there is any such thing as a ‘saturated market’. Each artist and creator has a specific and unique set of skills and gifts to share, and the beauty and life of this whole creative process is in the sharing. The best support, to me, comes in the form of validation – reminding artists of their worth and importance in our culture and society at large. Capitalism as a whole sometimes convinces small creatives that they don’t matter, that what they’re doing is meaningless. We need artists. They start conversations, they open up portals for emotional healing. They create stages for important and fraught dialogue to occur.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Now that I am leaning wholly into art as a real and valid career path, I feel the closest to myself that I have ever been. I don’t find myself twisting to fit into a place I am not meant to, contorting the way I feel in order to continue in that unfit place. Every choice I make, I ask myself how I really feel about it, what I am after, what I am working towards. The answer is always greater connection with those around me. My art has allowed me to connect with so many, in “the truth place” – the vulnerable and squishy and often scary place to connect from. Vulnerability is an intense and worthwhile pursuit, and in vulnerability I have found transformation – people feel heard, people feel seen, people feel part of something greater despite any broken or imperfect bits. This is what I am here to do, I think- to help people to feel whole in spite of the imperfect parts, to help people feel their feelings and say their words and listen deeply to who they really are.
Contact Info:
- Website: carozobservations.com
- Instagram: @caroznilsson
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caro-nilsson14/
Image Credits
Jeri Gravlin