We were lucky to catch up with Cassandra Quinn recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Cassandra thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I graduated from Perpich Arts High in 1998, received my BA in Studio Arts from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2004 and got my BFA in Art History from Columbia University in New York in 2010. While I was at Columbia I studied in Venice, Italy drinking in all of the Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance masterpieces. I fully anticipated a career in The Arts. But despite the creative passion and specific preparation after I graduated I ended up with a career in…..Bridal? Thinking back on it I think that I really bought into the idea of the starving artist. Like, you either got discovered and ended up in famous galleries, represented my dealers, or you struggled. So I jumped ship and told myself I was doing something responsible and realistic. Which looking back is kind of shocking, considering how rebellious I had been. But I always wondered what would’ve happened if I hadn’t committed to more-than-full-time corporate work. I made little things here and there but it wasn’t until leaving New York and then my career in bridal that I started to really think about what making time in my life to create would really look like. In the spring of 2019 I made my way back to Duluth, MN and a more serious art practice. Sometimes I wish I had stayed the course and worked on growing an art career right out of college. But I can see how much all of the life that I experienced in the in between times informed my work. I had so many crazy New York experiences and so many opportunities to grow. I became a mother. With age and life experience my work has become more direct, precise and unapologetic. Motherhood has focused my craft, driven me to a deeper dedication to my creative practice and clarified my artistic voice. So I am just thankful for where I am at now. It is a pretty sweet place to be.

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?

After leaving a full-time, pretty all-consuming job in NYC I knew I wanted to get back to a more peaceful life that included a dedicated art practice. So the first assignment I gave myself was a daily collage project where I collaged rabbit heads onto bodies from fashion magazines. It was a great reentry set up because had super clear parameters, sated my interest in fashion and it was humorous. It was possible for me to sit down and complete a collage in a reasonable amount of time, like during my daughters nap or after putting my baby to bed. And if it didn’t get finished I could leave cut paper and return to it while it was still workable. Something I couldn’t do with paint, which had been my medium of choice in the before-times. My materials didn’t take up much space, which was perfect for our first teeny home.

My work has evolved over the last 8 years, as my life has. I now have second daughter, a lovely art studio that my partner built out for me in the basement of our new home. I also have a much more clear vision of what my art looks like and what it means to me. I am a contemporary mixed media collage artist. My work is inspired by current events, pop culture, politics, nature, spiritual symbolism and motherhood. My pieces are richly layered and combine appropriated imagery and acrylic paint in highly saturated colors. Exploring the complexities of humanity, spirituality, power, gender and ritual I aim to create worlds of narrative psychedelic romanticism.

I am proud of finding my way back to art. After leaving New York in 2013, I went through 4 years of demanding infertility treatment in Iowa. During which time I struggled to create regularly. After returning to Duluth and now as a 44-year-old mother of 2 young daughters, I have managed to follow the ever present siren song of making art! I carve out fairly regular times to work, developing my artistic voice and the technicalities of my craft. As much as I value my original art I am proud to offer prints and t-shirts at a Brick and Mortar location, Hemlocks in Duluth, MN. Producing art that people can see in person and incorporate into their lives at an accessible price point is really what this whole thing is about. My work is all about the lives of women, body positivity, diversity, self-awareness, self acceptance, shared humanity and ultimately experiencing the mind blowing magic of this life. I feel like the world needs more art created by human hands now more than ever. And seeing my art walking around the city on people’s t-shirts is a trip.

Recently my work has been included in shows at the Duluth Public Library, The Duluth Superior Pride Show at Zeitgeist and the 63rd Arrowhead Regional Biennial at the Duluth Art Institute. I currently have a solo exhibition, Birth, Afterbirth, Rebirth: Motherhood in the Time of AI at the Duluth Art Institute. I sell originals painting on my website (cassandraquinn.art). In addition to my work being available at Hemlocks I also sell original paper collages at Gichi-Gami Apothecary in Duluth, MN.

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

Supporting small artists is essential for fostering creativity, diversity, and culture enrichment within our society. There are so many ways that we can help support artists at all levels:

Buy Art: Purchasing art directly from small artists. It can’t be their job if it isn’t making them any money! Buying art directly from artists is huge. Hit up your local art fairs, shop your favorite artists websites directly. So many of us make it so easy to purchase their works at all price points! So many artists also offer commission work if you have something specific in mind.

Promote! Share! Educate!: Help introduce the work of artists you love to your friends. Give art as gifts! Word of mouth is invaluable. In this way you can also encourage friends family and community to do the same.

Attend Events: Hit up local art exhibitions, gallery openings, craft fairs, and studio tours. Your presence means so much to the artists. You help create the local art scene.

Offer Your Skills and Services: If you have skills in areas like marketing, promotion, social media, law, investments…artists need all that too. Have a big space? Or even a tiny office? Own a local business? Make it an exhibition space. Let artists hang their works in your space. Free (temporary) art for your walls and you are providing exposure for artists.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That art happens when an artist is inspired and that success happens when an artist is discovered were two of the biggest misconceptions I held, and they stuck with me for a long time. So when I finally truly embodied the belief that art doesn’t only happen when an artist is inspired, and artists don’t only succeed if they are discovered, it was a revelation and I think it was also key in me being able to commit to a more dedicated art practice, and with a clearer vision!

For the longest time, I believed that the muse had to strike, like my artistic worth was tied solely to tumultuous emotional periods or whims of fleeting inspiration. But life, especially life as a mother, taught me otherwise.

I have found that art is a discipline. It’s not just the finished pieces that make it out of my basement studio. It is the countless projects I do with my little ones. The countless crappy half-formed ideas, the persistence to keep painting even when I don’t feel particularly inspired. It’s about showing up as regularly as I am able and working on my visual voice and dedicating time to the exploration of my craft. As a mother I don’t have the luxury of painting when I feel like it. I do it in the in-between times and after the bed time routines. I have to be ready to work when time allows it. And that has actually really pushed me and my work forward.

At this point in my life I consider myself a feminist art maker. I recognize that the art world, like so many other realms, neglects or overlooks the contributions of women. But for a long time I internalized that pervasive myth that true success hinged on being a uniquely inspired artist. Saying something that had never been said before and in a way that was entirely individual. That being “discovered” by the right people meant fitting into a narrow mold of what a successful artist should be.

Thankfully I am old enough and live a privileged enough life to realize that my success can be self defined. I delight in the small victories of making it into my studio after a long day, applying for grants and shows and showing my work locally. Creating my work is worthwhile even if I never experience mainstream art world success.

So, in the intersection of feminism, motherhood, and artistry, I unlearned the idea that my creativity was beholden to inspiration’s unpredictable appearance or the validation of some exclusive elite. I find my artistic power in consistency, in authenticity, in the belief that my voice as a woman and as a mother is worthy, and that the ideas of women doing “women’s work” or making “women’s art” is essential to the ever-evolving narrative of art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cassandraquinn.art/
• Instagram: @cassandrarayquinn
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cassandraquinnart