Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Aery Briggs. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Aery, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

Corporate America gets it wrong when it comes to hiring creatives. Art, design, & color create our world from technology, to adverting , writers to movies, yet some corporate companies will continue to hire these creatives and put them into a box that make since to the business (fair). But creativity can not always be but in a pretty box and presented. In a perfect world yes, this is how creatives get the job they present a concept within a deck to make it easier to understand . They want that same result every time , treating design and ideas as a factory that constantly needs to producing. But getting to that stage as an artist or designer sometimes is messy.

Creatives need fluidity, a chance to see and dream about ideas, flexible hours, outside time, unscheduled moments, and spontaneity, that is when it comes together. It is not like punching numbers, it is living ,experiencing, doing, & failing. Some corporate companies don’t allow this because one they don’t understand it and they can not control it. The facts are true innovation can not be boxed.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My Name is Aery, (Air-E) I am based in Los Angeles and I have worked as an apparel designer in the industry for 10 years. I attended and graduated from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Sewing, pattern-making and sketching are the fundamentals in my artist journey. I was lucky enough to always have a job in my line of work. Since 18 I remained a sponge and gathered every thing I needed to excel in my creative corporate career. I’ve worked and designed for some of largest house-hold retailers in todays world. I have designed tops, bottom, for kids adults, men and women in all different shapes and sizes. What I am most proud of is my ability to adapt and understand what consumers or people need before they need it. Always mindful of the next step and what is needed to go forward. I have worked in corporate for years but my counter parts, co-workers and peers would always refer to me as a free spirit. Later discovering painting as my current form of expression using medium such as acrylic, pencils, and collaging.
The beginning of 2024 I curated and my own solo show tilted The Art of Taking of Space.

The Art of Taking up Space is a continued series that focuses on the importance of family-life and mental health. Through my own personal work in therapy and self discovery I shine a light on the Black home, Black community, healing childhood trauma and breaking generational curses. Becoming over-stimulated with warm tones, eccentric/vintage design, and maximalist use of space. My idea is to give people a chance to escape the gloom, trauma of the world and their past. The goal is to show up as your full and authentic self regardless of how awkward, loud, or scary that may be. Giving the viewer a safe place to reconnect back to their inner- child, connecting with the parts of them that make them special and letting go of things that hold them back. She believes reconnecting with our inner-child will heal us all. As a visual artist my main practice is in acrylics, pencil, and collage mediums.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A story that illustrates my resilience is how I grew my confidence in my artwork. For years after graduating from college, I would not often post my work any where. I would cringe at my own ideas, self doubt myself often and keep everything tucked away.

After years of being artistically mute to the world, I learned from life experience that the only way to get over something is to face it head first . As easy or cliche as it may sound, it is the recipe. I had to be ok with being seen, vulnerable and even misunderstood. That was the only way I was going the grow and change, I had to be ok with being uncomfortable . I realized I was not making art for other people I was only creating for myself. Me sharing my art with the world was my gift to share. The second most important thing, I really had stop thinking about others and their opinions of me and my art

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

A mission in my journey is creative freedom in all the parts of my life. Years ago I would tell myself I don’t care what I do as long as I can use my creative brain to support my lifestyle. Wether that is as a designer, or artist I am currently living out my goal but my mission is to maintain it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://aerytheartist.com/
• Instagram: aerytheartist
• Linkedin: Aery Briggs

Image Credits
Robert Thomas