Today we’d like to introduce you to Summer Hughes

Hi Summer, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I have been a creative person my whole life. I often complain that I have more ideas than time to execute them. Creativity and artistic expression are where I find I am most fulfilled. I am always finding new ways to express myself and what I am a witness to. My inspiration comes mostly from my connections to nature and the connections I have with the people I love. How I express my creativity is forever evolving, as am I. I began with the basics of drawing and painting, which will always be my first love, but within the past 10 years, I have fallen in love with sculptural ceramics. I find that there is just a special way that clay can be manipulated and shaped. And in this discovery, I can have nearly infinite possibilities for expression. As a person who is constantly overflowing with new ideas, it’s refreshing to have a medium that can be an equally constant outlet.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

I think one of the hardest parts of being an artist is coming to terms with the reality of it all. No matter what social media may portray, the “starving artist” life is not always romantic. Artists aren’t valued for how much we provide to the world with our creativity and skills. But I believe the world is working towards that ideal, where artists can freely express themselves without being forced into adhering to the fleeting marketable trends, and still sustain their own lives. There is no list of criteria for what makes you an artist. You don’t have to be successful and sustain yourself off your art to be validated in your craft. Simply because you create art, you are an artist. I’ve found that in times when I have had to rely on my art to be my main source of income, I have lost the joy and excitement that comes with the creative process. It just becomes work. And work is important. Putting the time, energy, and effort into honing your skills is the necessary work to provide the space to relax in your expressions. But to have the rest of my life be reliant on that can be draining to my creativity.

Another challenge I have found throughout the years is when my work directly inspires other artists. I have had a hard time coming to terms with feeling ownership over my ideas and how I express them. I put my heart and soul into my work, no matter the medium, so when I find that I have inspired others to express their art in similar ways, I have a hard time letting go of the idea that a part of my heart and soul has been taken from me. But I am also a firm believer that ideas can be shared. I am learning to hold space for these feelings and look at the situations as more flattering rather than frustrating. Do we really own any of our ideas? Or are we all just tapping into the same ethereal consciousness?

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I am an interdisciplinary artist so I dance between a lot of different mediums. I always want to learn a new creative or crafty skill in hopes of better expressing myself and what I witness. But what has fueled my soul most in recent years, is ceramic sculptures, especially big ones. I love working with large shapes. When I first began, I would create human forms. As time has gone on, my shapes have become abstract but with the same familiar curves and shapes that I adored in the human forms. I dream of a day when my sculptures can exist in a garden where they can not only be witnessed in their habitat but also touched. I want my shapes to be lovingly caressed, as you would a lover. I pull inspiration for these shapes, not only from the human form but from things I see and feel in nature. The way my body can fold over a warm lava large rock down by the seashore, or the delicious arches of tree trunks sticking out of a thick swamp, covered in moss. I want people to feel immersed in my sculptural shapes in the same way we can immerse ourselves in the natural world.

What does success mean to you?

I think success is a personal thing. For me, what makes me feel most successful is when I have been able to reach that finish line where my ideas have fully entered the three-dimensional world in front of me. When I can finally touch the things I have dreamt up in my mind or sketched in my notebook, that is how I define success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.summergraceart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summrhues/