Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chuka Susan Chesney. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chuka Susan , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I took a risk as an artist. A few years ago, the joints in my fingers were swelling with arthritis and hurt all the time. I decided to start writing because I always wanted to write poems and short stories. Typing didn’t stress my fingers as much as drawing and painting for hours every day. In my family, the kids were supposed to each have special abilities. My sister Kathy was good at playing piano, sewing, and writing. My brother was good at math, science, and shooting off firecrackers. By the time I came along, even my one of my cousins was involved in this form of doling out special talents. My cousin Jean was already known as the artist of the family when I was four. I was drawing and painting every day, but my mom would say, “Jean is a really good painter,” when she looked at my work. In elementary school, when I wrote a story or a poem, my mom would declare, “Kathy is the writer of the family.” Then she would tell me I could be the cook and also learn to type so one day I could be the secretary for the family business. I thought to myself, I don’t care if Jean is The Artist, I can be an artist, too. Jean and I ended up going to the same art school, but she dropped out halfway through.
When I started writing a few years ago, I didn’t worry about my sister writing. Nobody cared about those rules anymore. I thought, “It’s about time!”
I also thought the writing might be good for my painting. I would understand themes of exhibitions better. I could write my artist statements more clearly. Maybe I would make some cartoons.
I began to write poems. A lot of them weren’t good, but some seemed worthwhile. I started to submit and got a lot of rejections. Some of my poems and stories were accepted along with artwork. Peacock Journal featured five of my poems along with artwork. https://peacockjournal.com/chuka-susan-chesney-poems-paintings/ Rye Whiskey Review published one of my poems with a painting of Marilyn with her bicycle. Her head replaces the handlebars. http://ryethewhiskeyreview.blogspot.com/2019/10/after-old-town-by-chuka-susan-chesney.html.
I created a piece of art and wrote a corresponding poem. Both are titled “My Last Meal”. http://inkclay43.com/assets/chesney.pdf. The art was included in a show at Cal Poly Pomona called “Ink and Clay”. The artwork included many lines from the poem written around and about the composition. The subject of the artwork and the poem is a woman named Kelly Renee Gissendaner from Georgia who conspired to murder her husband. She was found guilty and sentenced to death. Before she was going to be executed, she was allowed one last meal of her choosing. This meal included two whoppers, salad, cornbread, cherry vanilla ice cream, lemonade, buttermilk, etc. Unfortunately, the execution had to be postponed because the injection fluid had been frozen and hadn’t thawed in time. So Kelly lived a few months longer. Her next last meal didn’t include as many ingredients because she said her stomach hurt after she ate the first last meal. http://inkclay43.com/assets/chesney.pdf

Chuka Susan , 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?

I drew and painted artwork from the time I was a little child until I graduated from art school. Then I got married, inherited a printing and graphics business, had kids, bought and sold a string of houses including one in Colorado, and finally started creating art again when I was around 50 years old. I was hoping to make money from my artwork and I did–a little bit of money! Not much. Fortunately, other opportunities helped my husband and I to not have to worry about whether I sold my art or not. My art has been shown around the country and I’m part of a gallery–Aarnun Gallery in Pasadena, California. My poetry and stories have generated a very tiny, tiny income. Mostly writing makes me happy and helps me to meet lots of fun and talented people. Some of them are also both artists and writers. I have used my art education to decorate the houses we’ve lived in. Most were in Southern California. One was in Colorado. We have made money on all the houses we have lived in except for one. I’ve used my knowledge of design and color theory to make each house much more beautiful than it was when we bought it. We did inherit one house from a family member. My husband and I worked very hard on that house and the property. We did a lot of the work ourselves. Because of that house, we were able to purchase the home we are living in now which is a ninety-eight year old storybook structure that again, needs some work! My art is all over the walls of the house, so it looks like a gallery. A few days ago, I had to find art to submit to a show. My contractor was in my studio, talking to me while I pulled paintings out of my trunk. He saw a couple of my paintings and loved them. He ended up buying them with cash! Never thought that would happen.

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

I love to make friends who are also creative. One of my friends, George, an artist, brought me food during the pandemic and I gave him a bunch of toilet paper. A few years back, I curated a show in L.A. at the Brewery. His displayed painting sold. I loved seeing the joy on his face! I have a friend named Joyce who recommended me for a solo show at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica. That was so kind of her! We also each painted portraits of each other and exchanged the portraits at a salon at my former house.
I made a friend named Ulrica who is an artist and a poet. She is a retired professor of creative writing. She has taught me a lot about how to write poems and invited me to be part of a group show in Pomona.
My friend Tobi Alfier, a prolific poet who is published all over the place, also helped me with my poetry. She and her poet husband Jeff are the editors of a poetry review called “San Pedro River Review”. I’ve submitted several poems to them and they accepted one titled “If You Want an Ice Cream Sundae”. The poem is about my parents and how they used food to bribe me to go to church when I was a child and a teenager.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Claudine in Paris by Colette – I wrote a poem that is inspired by a passage in this book. https://panoplyzine.com/snail-girl-chuka-susan-chesney/

“On Drinking” by Charles Bukowski. He has inspired me to write several poems about drinking. It’s so ironic because I hardly drink. But I wanted to get poems into “Rye Whiskey Review”. Such a fun challenge!

“The Last Sitting”, a 12-hour photo shoot of Marilyn Monroe by Bert Stern at the Hotel Bel-Air in a bungalow. One of those photos haunts me and reminds me of my mother when she was mentally ill. I have painted hundreds of paintings of that pose.

“A Very Young Circus Flyer” by Jill Krementz – Borzoi, 1979, about the Flying Farfans. This book inspired me to paint “Blue Circus” which I recently sold to my contractor.

Please let me know if you would like for me to add some more resources. I have many more!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aarnungallery.com/
• Instagram: chukasusanchesney
• Facebook: Chuka Susan Chesney