We were lucky to catch up with Corey Pressman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Corey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I started my creative career at the right time, though I’ve sometimes wondered what would have happened if I had begun earlier. I never saw myself as an artist when I was younger. Creativity was always part of my life through writing and music, but I didn’t feel visual art at the time. Looking back, I can see that all of those experiences shaped my current creative practice, even when I wasn’t aware of it.

If I had started sooner, I might have tried too hard to fit into existing expectations. I needed time to unlearn certain ideas, step outside familiar frameworks, and develop my own way of working. By the time I fully committed to this creative path, I had a strong sense of direction. I wasn’t chasing external validation or following trends. I was following something deeper.

Starting later might have given me even more distance from traditional ideas about art and success, allowing for even greater freedom. But I wouldn’t trade the path I took. The timing felt right, not because I planned it that way, but because it unfolded naturally. Creativity, for me, isn’t about controlling outcomes. It’s about being open to what emerges. I started when I was ready, even if I didn’t realize it at the time.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I developed the process of waxed powder painting out of desperation. About five years ago, I felt an urgent need to make visual art. I could see glimpses of completed pieces—forms, colors, and atmospheres—but when I picked up paint, I quickly realized I couldn’t bring those visions to life. I had limited experience with paint media and the learning curve was steep. I feared getting lost in gaining technique rather than capturing what I was experiencing. The imperative was clear: reveal and realize the work *immediately*.

Then I discovered powdered pigments and began experimenting, applying them directly to paper. One lesson led to another, and within weeks, I had developed a process using stencils and brushes to shape the forms I envisioned. Already familiar with encaustic work as a collector, I knew about wax as a medium. I’ll never forget the moment I dipped a powdered piece into untinted wax—the result was instantly luminous, numinous.

Since then, I’ve been refining and expanding the possibilities of waxed powder painting. In my workshops, I guide students through a similar process of rapid discovery. The materials are intuitive, allowing for a more direct route from mindset to media, especially for the kinds of abstractions I explore in my work.

An essential skill in making art is the ability to let go—to forget. I had to forget painting with liquid media to stay focused, avoiding the distraction of what I thought art should be. Every day, I have to forget the relentless messages about productivity, commodification, and speed to create the mental, emotional, and spiritual space necessary for my work. This is harder than it should be (at least for me), but as my capacity for forgetting grows, so does my ability to create work that is fully my own.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

At the heart of my creative journey is the pursuit of aletheia—uncovering what’s hidden, revealing what’s real. My work isn’t about producing objects or making statements; it’s about creating openings, moments where something just beyond language can surface. The artworks themselves are the residue of that experience, traces left behind. Whether they resonate with others is beyond my control. What matters is the encounter itself, the act of creation as an unfolding rather than a rigidly structured exercise.

I call my approach to abstraction “The Alphabet of Everything.” This requires a practice of deep attention, of noticing and cataloging the countless shapes, textures, and forms that emerge when we are truly present. These impressions, gathered both consciously and unconsciously, become the raw material of my work, recombining intuitively as I sketch, stencil, and paint. Abstraction, for me, isn’t a departure from reality but a direct engagement with it—an attempt to capture the glimmers, essences, and fleeting impressions that exist beyond normal consciousness and figurative representation. In this way, The Alphabet of Everything is both a personal vocabulary and a method of revealing what is already there, just beneath the surface.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

A thriving creative ecosystem isn’t about forcing creativity into markets or treating it as a means to an end. It is about safeguarding the conditions where creative life can unfold naturally. True creativity isn’t just about making art; it’s about a way of being, an organic process of play, discovery, and deep engagement with experience.

Creative life flourishes when it’s nourished, not instrumentalized; it thrives when it’s valued for its capacity to generate meaning, connection, and aliveness rather than for its ability to produce commodities or capture attention. A culture that prizes efficiency and spectacle often stifles this deeper creativity, favoring what is easily seen, sold, or measured over what is truly generative.

The best thing we can do? Make space. Make space for play, for reverie, for the kind of creativity that doesn’t need to justify itself. But more than that, we need to craft new cultural norms that actively recognize and uphold creativity as vital, not as a side hustle, but as a central force in shaping our shared reality. When creativity is woven into education, work, and public life—not as an occasional indulgence but as a valued practice—we open the door to ways of thinking and being that we have yet to imagine.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pressmanart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cspressman/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-s-pressman/
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/corey-pressman-421974285

Image Credits

My headshot: Photo Credit Alice Christine Walker (https://www.alicechristinewalker.com/)