We were lucky to catch up with Hayley Labrum Morrison recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hayley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

My primary artistic proficiency is painting. I began painting in high school, taking as many classes as I could in public school as well as private watercolor lessons senior year. I wanted to dive deeper into art, so I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from BYU Provo. I worked part time as a mural painter my senior year and after graduation in 2008, but put a full-time practice on hold. In 2018 I felt financially stable enough to leave my corporate career and fully focus on art. Since then I have been painting A LOT and have seen a dramatic improvement in my skill. If you want to become good at painting you have to clock some real hours. And patience is key. The best painters I know are some of the most patient people in the world. The level of focus and commitment it takes to make an incredible painting is underestimated. I encourage folks to find time in their schedules to hone their skills. Maybe it’s an hour every night before bed or every Sunday afternoon, but consistency is key and will accumulate into something magical.

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

A seventh-generation Mormon and the youngest of five children in a suburb of Salt Lake City, faith was at the focal point of my growing up and informed most, if not all, of my activities and behaviors. I’m now looking back on a life filled with devotion and piety and seek to understand the impact a legacy of religious patriarchal authority can have on one’s self-image, relationships, and life experience. I’ve been able to explore these concepts in my own work and the work of others over the last few years as I have been practicing art full-time.

My recent solo exhibitions at Dougherty Art Center and Martha’s Contemporary demonstrated concepts and processes related to the female body that I have been formulating for the last couple of years. 2022 has also seen me in group shows at GoodLuckHaveFun in Austin and I Like Your Work online, as well as Women & Their Work’s Fresh From the Studio. Separate from my own practice, I’m the co-founder of concept animals, an artist-run platform and publication for contemporary artists, and co-creator of Crit Nites, a local critique group program for working artists. Curation is also an interest of mine, with “Howdy, Stranger”, a 40-artist exhibition at FOUNDRY for Big Medium’s 2021 Austin Studio Tours, “Video Picnic” 1 (2020) + 2 (2021) at Martha’s Contemporary, and “In the House” (2020) on conceptanimals.com under my belt.

I’m proud of the community I’ve been able to cultivate in the midst of these opportunities and I’m grateful to connect with so many folks that are creators themselves, sympathizers, or even just passers-by.

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

I believe the best thing society can do to support artists is invest in art education and the day-to-day practices of living artists, specifically through government-funded programming and opportunities. What if living artists were paid the amount of support and respect many dead ones are? If you approached an average American in Anytown, USA, could they name five living artists? Living artists produce a public good that everyone benefits from, whether they know it or not, but the artist typically bears all of the cost. An avenue toward changing public opinion toward funding artists is education about the value of art itself, a subject that is increasingly viewed as non-essential curriculum in the U.S.

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?

I have encountered quite a few folks that wonder why visual artists continue to do what they do even when it turns out there isn’t a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The answer to that is certainly not the same for every artist, but for me, it’s straightforward – there is literally nothing else I want to do more. I seriously considered becoming a veterinarian or a pediatrician while I was in college and had a career as a campus recruiter, and while I could have been and was good at those things, none of them brought me the fulfillment that creating does. I literally wake up YEARNING to create, it’s a wild feeling, and one I’m lucky to experience. It drives me to do all that I do, even though there is no guarantee of a monetary payoff at the end of the day. And beyond my own self-satisfaction, I have had countless viewers express gratitude for my work. How can you beat that?

Contact Info:

• Website: hayley.co
• Instagram: @hayleylabrummorrison

Image Credits
All images of artwork are by me, Hayley Labrum Morrison. The headshot is by Breanna McKendrick.