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

Hi Claudia, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

In my twenties I was widowed with two young children. I had been an art major in school but at this time was working full time at a greenhouse. After being offered a promotion and thinking carefully about it. I decided to go back to school and finish my degree. I received a pell grant and was able to keep our heads above water long enough to graduate with my BFA. However after realizing I needed to work to support my little family, I gave up on the idea that I could go on to graduate school. After some years of “life” I was finally at a point where I was able to get back to my lost dream. So I started the arduous task of making my way back. I had often wished that things were different for me but they weren’t. I had always lamented that I had so little time left to pursue my dream. That said things seem to work themselves out and who knows what would have happened if things were different. At least I am doing happy what I had always wanted.

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?

When I graduated from school I had specialized in clay sculpture and drawing. Later I taught myself painting because although I had my BFA I had never taken a painting class past one semester. I loved assembling odd ball items, much as I had done in my unusual clay sculptures. Both loves had ultimately evolved into two lucrative avenues for me to pursue as my art career evolved.

I tend to be a problem solver and love figuring things out and doing it in a fashion that is less than conventional. I am an avid reader of mysteries and very much appreciate the twist at the end of the story or that unexpected “thing” that happens. I believe that is a driving force in my work….”problem solving with an unexpected twist”.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I’m not sure about non-creatives struggling to understand creative process, I do get a question all the time which is “where did that come from” I think people don’t understand how I come around to my various ideas that are behind my creations. These questions are a bit puzzling to me because my work usually does not arrive at a certain point with a snap shot of what the final product will be. I get a kernal of an idea and a vague idea of what I want to do, once I start the idea begins to take shape and leads me from one thing to another until I finish. I suppose you could call it intuitive work but I have always thought that artists are divided into two groups: the first group has a definite picture in their head of what they are going to create with few revisions the second group is more less structured and lets the piece take it’s own direction.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Really the only goal that drives me is to get better and better and to aways have that same excitement that I feel when I start a piece. It is always disappointing to me when I don’t feel that feeling it usually happens when I’m doing something not particularly exciting usually the finishing of a commission although I do try and give my commissions the same quirky finishes as I do with my own work. I think that if I’m not feeling that excited feeling it just can’t be good. I have always hated production work that’s dictated to me although I have done plenty of it it seems harder to keep that sort of work fresher.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.claudiaroulier.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/croulier/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/claudia.roulier
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudia-roulier-3999b5a/