We recently connected with Alessandra Maria and have shared our conversation below.

Alessandra , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

The first dollar I earned as a creative was right after I graduated from college.

At the time, I had to leave New York for a bit and back to my parents house, waiting tables in between so I could save up money for renting an apartment. I was offered a spot in Zach Tutor’s Supersonic Electronic group art show, at Spoke art in San Francisco, and I had to make one piece for the show.

I worked for 3 months on that piece, sitting on the floor with it taped to a piece of plywood leaning on my bedroom wall.

The piece sold opening night, and even though I made something like $0.75 an hour for the amount of work I put into it, I was on cloud nine; I couldn’t believe that someone would spend real money on something I had made.

That marked the beginning of my art career, and every piece I made for the first two years sold instantly. Again, I was making very little at the time (over two years that number crept up to $2.50 an hour for the work I was making), but learning the show circuit, pushing the consistency of my practice, etc, led me eventually to more shows, more expansion for my career.
Now, I am thankfully making more than $2,50 an hour, but that first era of pushing through, that first era of selling work and making a little money from what I made was a critical time in my professional development. Waiting tables simultaneously (obviously out of necessity, making so little hourly on my art) gave me the fire as well to keep pushing as hard as I could.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Alessandra, I was born and raised in a town outside of Seattle, Washington, and I went to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY for my BFA, with an emphasis in commercial illustration. I currently live in Hudson Valley, New York.

I am very lucky to be able to make up a world and create artwork around it as my job.

I started drawing around the age of 7, and never stopped. In a lot of ways, I see my life as the continuation of one very long thread: daily drawing, no matter where I was or the circumstances in my life.

((note outside the interview – I realize this is a short answer, but it’s a bit of a difficult one for me for some reason! Kind of drawing a blank on it to be honest))

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

When I was in college, I would spend so much time pouring over the works of Mucha, Klimt, Da Vinci, Schiele, and others.

Art is unique in its ability to open doorways to new ways of seeing, perceiving.

One of the things that struck me about these artists was that their dedication to creating their vision resulted in that profound gift for me, just some random girl who loved what they made. It was astounding to contemplate, that here 100 years after they had died, they gave me new visions, new ways to see the world.
And in a way, that encounter galvanized my determination to contribute something similarly meaningful in this life. I didn’t entertain thoughts about fame or reach, and that still is outside of what I am aiming for. Rather, it’s about creating the apex of what I want to see, and maybe through that pursuit, touch others with the same depth of feeling I had when I encountered Klimt for the first time.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The joy of bringing together disparate ideas, aesthetics, and seeing how they merge. Of imagining walking into a room of the most magnificent work I could possibly imagine, and using that as a compass in figuring out what I want to try to make next.

And of course, the humility that comes with failing over and over and over in a pursuit of the apex of what one wants to see, but continuing to get closer with each piece.

I really can’t believe I get to do this everyday.

Contact Info:

• Website: alessandramaria.com
• Instagram: alessandradraws