We were lucky to catch up with Luke Haynes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Luke, 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?

I have been a full-time quilt artist for 15 years. The critical thing to know is that there are a LOT of ways to understand “Full-time”. I have lived in 10 states in those years and in places such as a bus and a garage and on a llama ranch all the while making quilts as the way to feed and house myself. BUT there was also the work on the farm or the help on a home renovation project that filled in the gaps for rent and creature comforts. The point for me was that each day I was spending building a skillset and a career based on my interests and goals. I am very fortunate in that I was able to build that into owning a home and having groceries in my fridge, but that ebbs and flows still. Being an artist as a career can be tumultuous since the job is based on opportunities and sales afforded by outside forces which are all at the whim of the economy and prevailing tastes in aesthetics. For me, I did speed up the process by allowing living expenses to be as low as possible in favor of free time and opportunities. I am not sure I would do it again in the same way, but It was what got me to now, and that is important.

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

I often say that I am a recovering architect as a way to start the conversation about how I got into quilting as a medium. I have had quilts in museums, exhibitions, and galleries worldwide. It often comes as a surprise to folks when I tell them what I do, so I often couch it in terms of my education: architecture, and the business model: painting. I make pop art quilts that cover the intersection of art and craft and sculpture [which is where I also feel architecture lies]. I have works in many major institutions like the Brooklyn Museum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Norton Collection to name a few and continue to exhibit pieces and shows around the globe.

The thing I am the MOST proud of is supporting myself and allowing my days to be full of learning and growth and as many naps as is needed to run a quilt empire, as well as the work I have done to change the notions of quilting from just that old grandma hobby to a proper art medium. I am of course not alone in this, but I have had some successes that have allowed me to get works in front of a vast number of people under “art” auspices thereby helping to change the preconceptions about the richness of the craft and its possibilities. I love to work with specific clients to create lobby art or token art pieces for their brand or just private clients to create one of a kind pieces of art for their homes or collections.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

The BEST way to support creatives and the ecosystem involved is to take for granted that it is a necessary part of a healthy society. AND to stop thinking it’s a job or nothing, There are SO many ways to incorporate creativity into all avocations rather than decide its binary. One ought to have artistic ways to think about problem-solving rather than just put that all on artists and then when not needed pull it back.

I think the hardest part is that art and artist and designers etc etc all are seen as the top dressing for “the real work” when instead it’s integral to all parts of a connected and healthy society. So both support artists AND support artistic ideas for self-declared non-artists.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My biggest goal is to invite more presence of experience into the lives of humans. I make quilts that ought to change the way people see and understand quilts, but though that lense, other aspects of their life can be examined too. What is your favorite mug? why is it a favorite? can you bring that to other things in life and grant them power and preciousness?

Contact Info:

• Website: LUKE.art
• Instagram: @entropies
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/LUKEQuilts

Image Credits
Nate Watters