We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Calista Garcia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Calista, thanks for joining us today. 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?

It was my senior year of high school and one of my friends kept asking if she could buy a print of one of my photographs. I felt strange selling her my work since she was my friend, but the more I thought about it I realized that other people could want to purchase my work too. It was then that I decided to start start selling prints of my digital art to my classmates. I sold a lot of prints that semester and it made me feel so much more confident in my work. It reassured me that my work has purpose and it deserves to be shared.

Calista, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Calista Garcia and I specialize in photography and abstract painting. I’m currently a senior pursuing my BBA/MBA in Marketing at the University of St. Thomas. Although I’ve been creating art all my life, it wasn’t until high school that I truly started to hone my craft. I attended the High School for Performing and Visual Arts: a rigorous art school where I had the opportunity to experiment with various mediums. It was there that I developed my love for text art, photography, and painting. Since then, my passion for art has continued to grow. I’ve applied my artistic background to all areas of my life, whether it be my marketing internship, my marketing officer position on campus, or even my daily life.

I’m most proud of having my work shown in galleries such as the Contemporary Arts Museum and the Jung Center. I specialize in multiple mediums of art, such as photoshop, photography, and painting. I believe my wide skillset is what truly sets me apart from others. The main thing I want people to understand about me is my pure love and passion for creating art.

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

One of the primary goals driving my creative journey is to share my work with as many people possible. I genuinely want my work to be shown in so many galleries or websites or social media platforms that it becomes recognizable to local Houstonians. As an artist it’s important to have a following if you want to have any sort of presence in the community. Therefore, sharing my work with as many people as possible is what will help me achieve my goal.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Society has endless opportunities for artists, yet they do not always make them accessible for them. Local business or companies should specifically seek out artists to contribute to their creative projects because they would have more authentic designs or ideas. I strongly believe that if artists had more opportunities to contribute to art in their city then it would make it more representative of the people.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://calistagarcia.myportfolio.com/
• Instagram: @calistag.art
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/calista-garcia-52a77b204/