We were lucky to catch up with Brittany Conder recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brittany , appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
Some days, most days, I wake up with motivation. I start my coffee and begin to contemplate what i’ll do for the day. I wrestle with what i should create and if i should try to create something people will like so i can make money or make something that would bring me joy and which is more important. I won’t wait long before im creating something that will bring me joy because i truly have no other option. I typically paint, so ill prep my canvas, meditate on it a moment, and then begin. It feels like i’m floating aimlessly in space and then i make a stroke. Then another. Then another. I’ll step back to have a look and hate it. I continue on anyways. Another stroke and another. Hours pass. I step back. I love it, i’m incredible! Ive done it again! Its finished and im so proud i take pictures to show everyone. The next day i see it and hate it, so i start another. Maybe this time it’ll be enough. This is the cycle i live in. I have to create. I can’t live another way. I dont want to live another way. Even if i work a normal job and i have, i will be folding origami at work or painting the moment i get home. As vulnerable as this life is and as much pressure as i put on myself, I dont have another option. It’s painful and rewarding and embarrassing and exhilarating and i accept all parts because i have to.
Brittany , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I hate the idea of selling myself as a brand or a business or whatever. I’m a crazy lunatic artist that will whither away if I don’t create, so I create and hope someone will see what I make and like it and give me money so that I can buy more art supplies. If I have to put it into words though, I paint mostly. I prefer oil paint most times, but acrylic is so wonderful too. I have so many different styles that you could name something and i’ve probably created a piece similar to what you’re thinking.
I love making colorful art, surrealist art, abstract, portraits, landscapes, and any other thing you can imagine. I also love working with clay, foam, fabric, wood, etc.
I love to make sculptures and will probably start a carved out jaguar from foam tomorrow to stand at my front door to hold my car keys.
I started a separate instagram account just so I could post my outfits I make separate from everything else. I’ve made dresses out of fake spider webs from halloween, a skirt from fake grass for a Windows inspired outfit. I made a purse out of foam to look like a meteor, and a backpack sculpted from a two part epoxy that looks like a weird sci-fi shell or something.
I hate trying to sell myself or what I do because I make so many different art pieces in different styles that it’s hard to put myself in any sort of box with words.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Don’t buy anything from shein or other websites like this that steal designs from artists. Shop local!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I’ve battled depression since I can remember. I’ve struggled to find ways to keep going for basically my entire life. I’ve made art since I was little, but when I was 21 a fork in the road materialized in front of me. I only had two choices. To die, or to find purpose. I started working 60 hours a week to distract myself. I didn’t want time to think or feel. Not so surprisingly, I eventually burned out from this and realized I was continuing to waste away hiding who I was everyday. I started making art more regularly. I had always painted with acrylic, but decided to branch out and try my hand at oil. Maybe the third oil painting I ever created was a painting of a bourbon bottle from the distillery I worked at, Bardstown Bourbon Company. I gave the painting to the CEO on my last day before I quit and he loved it so much he put my work in the gift shop. I connected with all of these beautiful people after I left because I set my ego aside and wanted to thank the CEO with my silly painting, but ended up making a business connection that helped give me the confidence to know people really like my work.
And so I just kept moving. I put myself out there, pushed through fear daily. My partner Trevor encouraged me to keep going every time I felt down and worthless, telling me often that as long as I love what I’m creating, that’s all that matters. Then I met Jigg, I call her the queen of Louisville, she got me into live painting where I met so many new, beautiful people that helped me by buying my work and supporting me in all sorts of ways. I met Dre Smith who asked me to collaborate and make album art for Producing a Kind Generation, and from there I was asked to work with Bendigo Fletcher on album art for their most recent work; as well as prop building and set design with the wonderfully talented W.G. Rickel.
All of this to say, this path started because I decided I wanted to live. I didn’t want to die so I had to find a reason to get excited when I woke up as often as I could. I pushed myself as hard as I could just to get out of bed and the incredible community I didn’t even know existed was there to pull me up the rest of the way.
I am so incredibly grateful for the people I have met and continue to meet.
My goal is to continue finding reasons to live and to extend that hand to anyone I possibly can around me in need.
Contact Info:
- Website: brittanyconder.com
- Instagram: @abstracctoriginal
- Facebook: Brittany Conder
Image Credits
I took all of these pictures myself.