We were lucky to catch up with Alexis St. John recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alexis, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I am mostly self-taught. At the beginning of my journey to become an artist, traditional paths were not open to me. Art school and art classes were not something my family supported. When I found a skill that I wanted to acquire, I would try the library first. I learned most of my basic drawing and painting skills from reading books and doing lots of practice.

I also learned necessary skills that support my practice, like business management, basic accounting, and social media. I learned these by joining local business groups, and talking to lawyers who donated time to helping artists. It is important to me to see the whole picture, not just focus on the art. Without the bigger picture, my work won’t get out there and be shared with others, which is important to the artist side of me.

Even though I worked hard at filling in all the gaps of my knowledge, there were still pieces missing. I decided to return to school and get my MFA a few years ago. I’m glad to have finally gotten to go to art school. I always felt it was a missing component of my career, but I am also glad I had years where I had to work hard and figure things out for myself, instead of being told how things are.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a visual artist. I paint, sculpt, and do installation art. My main focus is showing in galleries, but I’ve worked with interior designers and art licensing companies, painted murals, illustrated children’s books, and been an art designer for a decor company. I like working on different projects and getting to work with diverse groups of people. New projects challenge me and promote growth.

I have recently moved to Ventura, CA. I’m in a live/work space surrounded by other creatives and small business owners. My art studio is open to the public by appointment. I’m looking forward to finding new projects and meeting new people.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding part of being an artist is that there is no separation of work and home. My whole life is one fluid creative process. Every part folds into and informs the rest.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I had been living in the Caribbean. One of the local galleries carried my work, and I was an artist in residence at an all-inclusive resort. Things were going well, until they weren’t. Hurricanes happened, the tourist industry shifted, and I could no longer make enough money to support myself. I moved to Florida and got a job as an art designer for a company in Tampa. The job was steady and helped me save enough money to relocate and open a studio. It seemed like a step backward at the time, but I learned so much from the job, and a whole new side of the art industry opened to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://alexisstjohn.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexisstjohn/

Image Credits

Alexis St. John