We were lucky to catch up with Drew Tye Ruby-Howe recently and have shared our conversation below.
Drew, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Thanks so much for asking.
My art practice is really fueled by my desire to create intentional space, breath, and healing where we need it most. I believe in the liberation of visual expression and for me, it’s ever-evolving manifestation through the physical and emotional. In that vulnerability, I think we are most powerfully positioned to capture the ephemeral beauty of our lived moments.
When I think about the things that inspire me most, it’s really the juxtaposition of concepts – of quiet and bright, hard and soft, natural and industrial. I am drawn to decades of contrasting paint peeling from the corners of old city buildings, aged shards of glass bottles unearthed from rushing creek water, and the figurative way deflated mylar balloons get caught in the wind and coil across chain link fences. I believe in the poetry these visuals create and the way they invite us to see the beauty of difference. My paintings are an acknowledgement and celebration of that which is magnificently ‘other’.
Drew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Of course.
I keep myself busy with many activities [a full-time job and being a mommy to two beautiful kids], but at my core, I’m an abstract expressionist artist. My practice – like each of us – is ever-evolving and my hands-on, brushless approach – physical, messy and filled with color – is richly informed by my constant desire to open myself to the complex textures of life. With each piece, I am digging deeper to feel more and seek a clearer understanding of the human experience.
I was forced to navigate a lot in my young life when so much of what I knew about my world and the people in it miraculously unraveled. I lost both my parents [my father to cancer when I was 20, my mother disowning me when I fell in love with an incredible woman – now my wife – and made the painful decision to divorce my wonderful husband and come out]. And through it all, in the darkest and most enlightened moments – the practice of painting became my survival – my therapy, my voice. And I just keep doing it because I can’t live without it.
When I’m painting, no two strokes of my palm or combination of colors are ever the same, and that constantly changing inevitability is like a steady comforting hand, encouraging me forward to evolve and grow. My practice has allowed me to understand change as a richly, life-affirming gift – one that I have the privilege of sharing with others through my work.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Early on in my practice, I truly believed my paintings were only ‘good’ if I got the colors and composition right on the VERY first try. If I stood back to assess the piece after that first go, and it didn’t work, I had somehow failed.
Looking back, at that stage in my life I definitely didn’t have the confidence to dig deeper and work through my doubt. The way I was defining ‘success’ as an artist – and perhaps as a person, too – was limited – and limiting. Now, the joy for me comes from the opposite experience and I let my art speak honestly and truthfully through my hands. I relish in the magic of ‘mistakes’ – of kneeling down, adding paint directly to the canvas, taking a scoopful of titanium white acrylic in my fingers and diving right in – totally open and unafraid. It’s only a failure if I don’t put myself out there.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
Oh my goodness, yes. I would list two gamechanging elements that have made a huge impact on my business across the last nine years : the beauty of client referrals and the marketing power of Instagram.
Client referrals : The best of kind organic traffic! I can’t accurately count the number of commission clients who had their sister or cousin or friend come to their home, see their new piece of art and all of a sudden we’re scheduling a consultation and we’re adding them to the queue. My clients are incredibly supportive and so much of the reason why I love sharing my work.
Instagram : When it comes to generating business and buzz – through pop-up sales, features of work ‘in situ’, or just sharing a new piece or process – I’ve been super grateful for this accessible tool. I have a full-time job outside of my art practice, so between that, painting and being a mama, it’s hard [and sometimes feels impossible] to find time to post. But the most helpful push I got was from my amazing art consultant, Danielle Glosser of ClientRaiser. Danielle encouraged me to be strategic and to begin filming my process and my sharing my work in ‘reel’ form. The day after that meeting, I purchased a tripod from Amazon and it elevated my practice significantly. The hardest thing about being on Instagram is ‘keeping up’, focusing on quantity, sometimes over quality, in this insatiably algorithmic world. I’d like to be the kind of person to just comfortably churn out videos and posts and not overthink them – but that just isn’t me. I will always take the extra few minutes for something to feel right, even if it takes longer to grow my audience. The best things take time [and, ideally, a really emotional painting playlist].
Contact Info:
- Website: www.drewtyerubyhowe.com
- Instagram: @drewtyerubyhowe
Image Credits
All photos by Cerissa Photography