Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Rowan
Hi Sarah, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Growing up I wanted to be an Olympian. I never thought about being an artist. I just wanted to compete for my country and look like a Gladiator, or at least Hollywoods’ 2001 Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. Then before starting university in SC, I went to Brazil and was teaching kids how to play basketball for a couple weeks. My Portuguese skills could help me locate a toilet or thank someone for a fried banana, with no deep conversations to be had.
One day I took a sheet of paper and had a beautiful “conversation” with half a dozen children by drawing stick figures and using a little bit of charades. In that moment, I experienced how creativity can break all barriers to communication. Age, gender, race, beliefs, etc. At that moment, I wanted to be an artist.
I graduated with a BFA in Studio Art, started an art business in 2004, and in 2005 moved to Sydney, Australia. I have now become Australia’s First Keynote Speaker + Speed Painter, performing at over 500 events and raising almost 350K for charities to date. I now have the honour of speaking to thousands of people every year about the power of creativity and curiosity…all thanks to that simple moment of stick figures and charades. And talk about full circle, recently, I was on national television in Australia to over a million people during the Olympic showcase for a mural I created in 3 days of a local hero in my suburb who won gold, Saya Sakakibara! When I told my mother that I was going to be on tv during the Olympics, she said, “Baby, you have been training for this your whole life!”
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Hahaha, smooth is the last way I would describe the road of being an artist! Adventurous, off-roading-full-of-potholes-not-for-the-faint-of-heart is a better description. When I began my career as a “live speed painter”, I barely knew what it was because I had never seen anyone do it before! I had never seen a clip on YouTube and most socials didn’t even exist at the time. I didn’t even own a smartphone until several years later…wow, just saying that I feel old lol.
It took years…and I am talking SEVEN years of live speed painting for free at cafes, street corners, festivals for FREE, before I had the confidence and words to approach companies with the skills to ask for money for my creativity. Granted, during that time I also became a mother of two and in a country with zero family around to support, so I didn’t have much time or energy to invest into the process…but still. SEVEN years.
Then it wasn’t until 2017 when I left my mixed-orientated relationship and came out of the closet, did I begin to make it as an artist. My struggles with self-identity and barely surviving 20 years of conversion therapy made my career very difficult to say the least. I started my art business in 2004…so that’s 13 years before it funded life in a big city. So many lessons along the way…but that is the joy of creating something that didn’t exist at the time. You learn as you go…every single day is a journey and a process in growing confidence and language for what you do and why you do it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialise in speaking to corporations on creativity whilst creating a work of art in real-time. This looks like creating a painting in 3 minutes and then speaking for 57 minutes on creativity and curiosity to businesses and NFPs. It is a unique niche, and I don’t know of any other artists doing this sort of work in the way that I do it…which is a great niche.
At some events, I simply paint live…such as weddings, sporting events, fundraisers, private parties and product launches.
Earlier this year I had the honour of painting Scottie Pippen in 8 minutes while he was interviewed in Melbourne at the NBL MVP Awards! Having played basketball throughout university, and being raised in that era of the Chicago Bulls, it was one of the crazy surreal life moments. Other unique career highlights have been painting LIVE at the Sydney Opera House, Parliament House, the Art Gallery of New South Wales and across Europe for a tour with tourism for Australia.
Each day is different. Each event is a new brief and a unique painting…so grateful and never bored!
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
If I made a list of everything that made me happy, we would be here all day. I think it is because, for the first two decades of my adult life, I was a mess. Depression and suicidal ideations were never far away, as I struggled conversion therapy and the dehumanisation of gay people in a religious upbringing. My moods were a roller coaster and I never felt authentic or whole until 2021. At the age of 40, I found myself free from every voice that silenced my own and began to feel truly alive for the first time.
For the past three years, being free to be me has been BLISS! No matter what I am going through as a human surviving a pandemic, followed by inflation (in one of the most expensive cities in the world)…I am happy. I find gratitude, joy and laughter in the simplest of things because each day I choose authenticity. I choose curiosity. I choose me.
Some of the things that make me crazy super extra happy: quality time with the love of my life, Liz. Martial arts with my teen daughters. Ocean swims and bush walks. The sounds of kookaburras laughing. Eating veggies from my garden that I have watched and watered for months.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artistsarahrowan.com
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/artistsarahrowan
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/artistsarahrowan
- Twitter: sarahrowanart
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ArtistSarahRowan
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/artistsarahrowan
Image Credits
Sophie B Photography, Melinda Hird, Liam from Evolving Love, and Liz Sullivan