Are artists born or made? To help answer this question, we asked some of the most artistic folks we know to tell us about how they knew they were going to pursue an artistic or creative path. We’ve shared highlights below.

Sihle Vilakazi

The day I realized I wanted to take the artistic and creative path professionally was when I was at the age of four, and I was performing as a little dog at the school play, to my remembrance. My mom definitely told me that I was the only child that did not cry for their parents on stage. And my mom believed that I was a natural performer since then and then forward to four years later when I was eight years old, we were asked what we wanted to become when we grow up, and I said I wanted to become a doctor like my mom. Read more>>

Chloie P.

I think when I was four or five. I was staying at my grandparents and my grandpa had a band rehearsal one night at the house. They were in a bar band. All of their friends came over. Just watching his his band play and have so much fun, and their friends(who weren’t even in the band) just grabbing whatever they could find to make noise and join in. Read more>>

Daniel Jacob Horine

There’s never been a time when I didn’t aspire to be an artist. As a kid drawing is all I would do, all I would think about doing, and all I wanted to do. I’d been blessed at a young age with an artistic eye and a hand that somehow knew what to do with a pencil. When I drew, I found so much joy in that. It was natural, centering, and…me. I drew all the time. Read more>>

Kailyn Andrewsv

I’ve done acting in plays when I was around 6-7 years old but I never really toke it seriously until I was 13 years old and I decided that I wanted to become an Actress and Model. I started taking acting classes and started practicing my modeling walks. Read more>>

Marquis Chandler

I knew I wanted to professionally get into the music game after playing around with it for some time. I saw that my time is more valuable coverting the art into a monetary way of living. Learning the business side of music helped keep me grounded. Most artists see the fame but not really the work. There is a lot to be done but your have to be motivated to do it constantly and consistently. Read more>>

Jupiter Nordstrom

I’ve always dreamed of having a creative job so I became a hairstylist. I’ve been interested in hair since I was 5 years old and would braid my mom’s hair and give her fun updos. Read more>>

Nora Tirrell

Since I was little, I’ve always known I wanted to pursue a creative path. I’ve loved music my whole life and it has always been my primary interest. When I was young, I gravitated towards listening to music on my CD player, singing to myself and making up songs constantly. I was never interested in other subjects in school – except for English and Language. Read more>>

Cassie Lasco

I knew I wanted to be an artist from the moment I was capable of thinking seriously about my future, but I wasn’t set on what type of art until college. I found ceramics in my fifth semester and I loved how calm the environment was but I especially I adored the ceramic process. Read more>>

Ainara Calahorra Romillo

I have been involved in creative activities my whole life, like in school being part of a newspaper featuring short stories, during high school in the cultural association (founded by me and one of my best friends) organizing excursions to go to musicals or expos with the other classmates, during the university acting in the theater company, and in my adulthood using watercolors as coping skills in difficult times, so being creative is too broad. Read more>>

Kaitlyn Phillips

Having believed the lie that art “doesn’t matter as much” as, say, being a doctor or a teacher or other such occupations, I tried teaching for years. Working on my lead-teacher certification(s), I substitute-, student- and/or assistant-taught practically every age-group and subject from Pre-K through 12th grade. Although I enjoyed the work, no age group or subject was the perfect fit, and I felt like I had to change my personality to be an effective educator. Read more>>

Kip $mithers

During the summer of 2016, I had nothing but time to think about my future and what I wanted to do with my life before starting my first year at university college. Art had been the most consistent thing in my life up until that point and I knew that I had to make a decision on whether or not I wanted to pursue it as a career. I never told anybody I wanted to be an artist, I just created. Read more>>

Danielle M. Orsino

My patient who inspired my novel pushed me to pursue this, the universe threw many boulders at me to help with convincing me this was my path. Read more>>

Quamay George

I think I always wanted to be a creator. Growing up being surrounded by people who judged you for being different I immediately isolated myself and took a liking to writing poetry and it turned into a venting experience. Later in life I would distress pants and draw on shoes at the same time still get critique for being different. It made me depressed but I found myself exploring this creative side effortlessly, it was my getaway. Read more>>

Eugene Moon

I first truly knew that I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was when I started working at a special ed school. I have dreamed of doing a visual arts career when I was younger but I was shook from it after graduating. There were various mental, financial, and existential reasons that made me doubt my creative path until I began to work at that school. It changed or rather reawaken my creativity. Read more>>

Kellie Peach

When I was 21 years old, I ended up in the Mission District of San Francisco. I ended up living in a mixed use building that was purchased by a wild woman. The bottom of the building was empty at the time. She approached me and said “Would you like to help me open a cafe” to which I said yes. Read more>>

Trevor Toney

In early 2021 I started making little wooden colorful barriers for our vision impaired dachshund Hannah. We wanted to keep her out of rooms that were difficult for her to navigate with her declining eyesight. I’ve been a furniture maker for about 25 years as well as a museum preparator and while I occasionally made furniture for fun as well as the odd commission, I always limited myself to making functional work. Read more>>

Willie Jackson

I started writing my own music when i was 13, growing up as a kid I always was into music heavily. It started off as an outlet. My parents realized how much time I was spending working on music, starting with my mother investing in me buying an laptop and keyboard set, my dad introduced me into making beats. Read more>>

Linda Storm

When the lightning bolt of a goddess struck me as a child while I was drawing her likeness. In reality it was nothing so striking. Although something magical did awaken in me as a child. I remember the scent of the oil paint, the feel of the brush in my hand, the delight of seeing the colors smeared onto the canvas. Every part of my 3-year-old body was immersed in the experience. Read more>>

Octavius Luke

I first knew that I wanted to pursue something with my creativity when I was working at Lids and I used to make custom hats to wear and people would offer to buy them off my head. That moment made me feel appreciated in a different way since my creative ideas were being seen and valued. Read more>>

Jonathan Ege

I was always drawing as a child up until mid-way through high school. I come from a blue-collar household and it was made clear to me I needed to find something that would make money and artist only did well after they had died. So I started to do electronics and joined the Navy after high school to find a career that would make money. Read more>>

Shelley Heffler

From an early age, I felt an innate desire to pursue a creative path. As a child, I spent much of my time crafting and drawing, often opting to create murals or paintings for school assignments rather than writing book reports. Growing up in New York City provided me with the unique opportunity to explore and learn from the city’s museums and galleries, which I eagerly took advantage of. Read more>>

Samantha Lose

I have always been interested in a variety of arts and crafts, from sketching to knitting to painting. I remember when I was younger I would wake up early in the morning and go to the basement in my family’s house and color pictures of the dreams that I had. I was in knitting club in high school, but could never finish a project so I dropped the hobby. Read more>>

Albert Espona

For many years I have worked as a freelance graphic designer for companies and institutions. About ten years ago, after the global economic crisis, I was looking for a way to reorient my profession and offer new services to my clients. I began to be interested in creative programming as one more tool to use in my designs, but in the end I realized that it had great expressive possibilities and I began to experiment with more personal works. Read more>>

Ta’Nyah Richard

Since I was young, I always had a passion for art. I had always gotten paint, easels or some kind of makeup to express myself with. Of course at that age I just considered it something I liked to do My older sister was into beauty and since I was the younger sibling I got used as a model often, however I didn’t know how much it would shape my love for makeup today. Read more>>