Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cassandra Clark. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Cassandra, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
It was the heart of the 90s, and the only thing that made slip dresses, bomber jackets, scrunchies and plaid flannel shirts even cooler was pairing them with hemp jewelry. As a 80s/90s kid, I was as eager to jump on this craze as I was to keep my Tamagotchi pet alive (it never stayed alive…).
Raised by an artistic mother and grandmother, I couldn’t resist learning the craft of jewelry making. I started creating and wearing my own matching necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings much to the adornment (and often envy) of my classmates, until one of my classmates asked me how much I would charge to make them one. I still vividly recall this lightbulb moment; I was stopped in my tracks in realizing wait, I can make MONEY doing something CREATIVE that I LOVE doing?? You could say I became a creative entrepreneur from that day on.
I started taking a few friends’ requests for colorful beads in hemp necklaces, and when they started getting noticed, my micro business became the talk of the playground. I started bringing my bead collections to recess so people could self-select and sample what they wanted added, and created a pencil-and-paper order request form. After nearly everyone was head to toe (literally- toe rings were “da bomb” back then) covered in my hemp jewelry, I expanded into creating beaded flower necklaces, keychains, and beyond.
I suppose earning my first creative dollar on the playground has kept me perpetually playful. Fast forward many years and many creative pursuits later, my passion for the arts and entrepreneurial spirit has led me to art galleries, teaching classes, private commissions, home decor and gifts, consumable art, and even launching my own artistic clothing line.
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?
I’m best known for my landscapes and underwater scenes inspired by my travels and love of nature, but I experiment with all styles and media. I specialize in oil, acrylic, and watercolor painting, but I also experiment regularly with varying printmaking techniques, beadwork, papercraft, and multi-media compositions. I recognize how important having a signature style as an artist has become, but I think in a world as beautifully complex and ever-changing as ours, how can one settle with sameness?
While there is great variance in the mediums, styles, and techniques I use, the through line of my creative practice is appreciation and awareness of the world around us. I work several full time jobs to fund my travels around the world, where I capture inspiration for my work. I think there’s nothing more magical than witnessing an arresting sunset or a breath-taking view, and I want to capture and share that experience. As an avid ocean lover and scuba diver, I aim to drive awareness about the magnificent world below that is unknown to so many. I donate 10% of all my oceanic art sales to the Ocean Clean Up project, and regularly volunteer with and donate to organizations dedicated to preserving this precious planet.
Channeling my relentless quest for self-expression and love of bold colors, I also launched my own clothing line and artistic gift business in 2019 (https://travelpaintcreate.etsy.com/). I am so deeply moved by how color, pigment, medium, and light bend and contour on a substrate, and in more so in our perception of this visual trance, that I aim to be perpetually surrounded by visual art and beauty. I therefore take my canvas creations with me wherever I go in the form of handmade shirts, jackets, leggings, socks, shoes, purses, accessories, home decor, and more… my studio space, my home, my wardrobe, and my life are so immersed in visual art that colorful chaos is my comfort zone.
While I never formally studied the arts, I was raised by an artistic mother and grandmother and spent all my free time crafting, painting, visiting museums, and diving into every creative endeavor I could afford growing up. What we lacked in financial stability we made up for in tenacity and curiosity. When you don’t have much to work with, you have no choice but to get creative!
As a lifelong learner, today I both take and teach adult education classes. Nothing makes me happier than sharing my passion with others, especially with adults whom believe they have “no artistic talent,” until they proudly marvel at what they created during one of my painting classes, astonished!
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
If nothing else, SHARE. It costs you nothing to retweet, share, cross-post, ping, or promote your favorite artists on social media or send to a friend who you think might enjoy an artist’s work. In today’s world, that’s how many of us grow our following, connect with new galleries, meet new potential clients, receive new open calls, and obtain commissioned clients.
Many of us are struggling to maintain a financially sustainable career as an artist, and often times creating content for marketing purposes feels like a necessary evil for artists to gain exposure, even if it feels futile and rarely seen. If you personally can’t afford to collect art yourself right now but see something you like on social media, what’s stopping you from sharing it?
* My soapbox PSA: please share ACTUAL ARTISTS or art gallery accounts and works, not just reposts from accounts that aggregate artists’ work and have the audacity to charge artists for this “privilege.” Ok rant over.
But of course outside spreading the word online, a creative ecosystem only exists if a community embraces it. Yes, of course we want you to purchase our works, commission originals, visit our websites, and attend our workshops, but I think as a society we need to do a better job instilling an appreciation for the arts early.
Take your kids to museums (many have free family days!), have them attend after school creative classes (many libraries and community centers have these for free!), and encourage them to use their open minds to build, create, and play. It’s amazing what you can do with pipecleaners, toilet paper rolls, and a few googly eyes.
Beyond educating the youth, you can support the arts every week by rethinking your date nights and how you spend your free time; attend an open mic night, shop at a local art fair, visit public art installations, look up open studio tours, check out a small production play, performance, poetry reading….
If your community doesn’t yet have a place for the arts to thrive, demand one! Often communities fail to foster a vitally important creative culture for lack of budget, lack of awareness, or just lack of demand! Reach out to your city planners, parks and recreation departments, or any local arts organizations and ask how they’re planning to support the arts in your community. They might not be able to build a new opera house, but what’s stopping them from funding a small mural project, or perhaps even issuing an creative grant to a local artist to teach classes? Maybe this could be personally enriching opportunity for you as a volunteer or mentor to get it started?
I believe every single person, regardless of how artistically inclined they might perceive themselves to be, can benefit from a thriving creative ecosystem, but it’s on EACH of us to create and maintain it in small ways every day.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I’d argue that creatives are creatives because we absolutely LIVE for it. Why else would we sign up to barely get by in an under-appreciated and over-saturated industry as our own accountants, marketers, financial planners, public relations managers, contract negotiators, logistics coordinators, shipping management experts, customer service representatives, website designers, digital advertising experts, inventory managers, contract negotiators, events coordinators, educators, promoters, trend analysts, content creators, and more (and that was just what we did before breakfast)?!
Being an artist and creating for fun versus managing a viable arts business are totally different beasts. I would love nothing more than to stay in my studio and paint all day every day, but committing to an arts practice often means being a jack-of-all-trades entrepreneur on steroids that often takes you away from what you love doing most.
Furthering the complexity is the lack of transparency, subjectivity, and exclusiveness of the arts world. This not only makes the barrier to entry greater for artists and art lovers alike, but makes the transaction process so much more complicated than it should be.
All this to say, my advice for non-creatives that want to engage with creatives:
(1) Don’t be intimidated by the Hollywood versions of what art shows, gallery tours, and museum visits should be like- we want to chat!
Of course we want to talk about art- we love it! I personally don’t think there’s a bad question you can ask an artist about their work. I believe that a painting’s meaning is half of what the artist intended, and half of what the viewer perceives.
I don’t expect everyone to know painting jargon or grasp the symbolic significance of a piece, but tell me what you see, tell me what it makes you feel, tell me what you like and don’t like. Ask me questions about the process, the medium, the subject matter… I’ll even talk about the frame! Don’t be hesitant to talk to me about my work, even if you have zero intention of purchasing. Feedback is a gift and talking about what I love is a cherished experience.
(2) I fully recognize that often the only thing more subjective than the art itself is the pricing. But generally speaking, if we set a price, we’ve done our homework and priced it fairly and consistently.
Please save “what’s the lowest you’ll go” or “what can I get for $X” for the used car dealership. Admittedly, art pricing is the wild west, but try to remain cognizant of how much time, thought, effort, expertise, and skill have gone into every composition.
There are varying levels of art for every budget; mass-produced reproductions, limited edition prints, originals, and lots in between. Quite simply, I recommend that you buy the art you love at the level you can afford.
My last PSA: help keep this world colorful, and never settle for blank walls! Sometimes just having something on your wall that makes you smile daily can make all the difference.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.CassandraClarkArt.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cassandraclarkart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CassandraClarkArt/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cassandraclark/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CassClarkArt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CassandraClarkArt
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cassandraclarkart Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TravelPaintCreate Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cassandraclarkart/pins/