We recently connected with Ella Geida and have shared our conversation below.

Ella, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I am incredibly lucky to be able to say that I make a living from working as a creative. I know the usual narrative in society is that it’s nearly impossible to get a job working in the arts; but I’ve found that the truth is quite the opposite. Over the years I’ve had quite a few jobs in the arts. In high school through college I taught as a painting instructor and also ran a children’s art camp during the summer. After graduation, during the pandemic, I started my own small business and began freelancing. In 2023, I began working at the Holderness School in New Hampshire where I taught graphic design as well as an art history based drawing class.  During my time there I also worked as the gallery assistant at the Edwards Art Gallery, which is partnered with the Pucker Art Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts. Some of the responsibilities I carried out while working at the Edwards Art Gallery included curation, assisting in transporting and packing work, prepping the gallery space for exhibitions, writing show analyses and artist biographies for display, as well as creating graphics for vinyl decals. Currently, I am with a fantastic company that works closely with museums and contemporary artists. I am a full time graphic designer and illustrator, and I get to create content for social media that focuses on art history, bringing awareness to museum exhibitions, and putting the spotlight on contemporary artists. I also get to have a hand in some of our unique product design and creation, collaborating with other members of our design team to come up with fun ideas for new merchandise. I continue to work as a freelance artist on the side and have recently begun pursuing a career in the movie poster industry. My advice to artists and creatives that want to get into the field but haven’t been able to yet would be to absolutely never give up no matter how long it takes. For as many jobs I’ve had within the creative field I’ve had an equal amount that were outside of it. While doing those jobs I always continued to make art and pursue a career in the arts. It’s never too late.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am originally from New York but I currently work and reside in Connecticut. Art has been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember. I even had an Alexander Calder style mobile above my crib. My mother was an art professor in Queens and she would often take me to visit the museums in the city. Growing up, I always took art classes throughout my childhood and in high school. I eventually went on to attend the Hartford Art School and graduate summa cum laude with honors, with a double major in Illustration/Visual Communication Design and a minor in Art History.

I think what sets me apart from others is that I approach art as if it were a language. During my undergraduate studies, I taught as an adjunct professor within an anthropology based science class about the origins of human speech. I delivered an art history focused lecture series to students in both the regular and honors version of the course about the relationship between art and the development of human communication and cognition. In viewing art as a language, I strive to make my work transcend surface level aesthetics and attempt to achieve a more emotional and layered meaning within my pieces. I want to be able to communicate through my art and create the feeling as if the work itself was in conversation with the viewer.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

It’s often spoken about how after graduating college you’re faced with the daunting task of finally entering the “real world”. However, in 2020, the world I was met with after graduation didn’t feel real at all. And in many ways, it largely wasn’t. There were no more in person classes, no senior shows, and no physical graduation. They were reconstructed in the form of website links, videos, and zoom meetings. In the first few months I was completely overwhelmed by the uncertainty and instability of the world around me. I feared for the safety and health of my parents and friends, I became overtaken by depression and constant panic attacks, and I questioned my purpose as an artist. Art had always been therapeutic for me, but its use completely took on a new intensity during quarantine. I began incessantly creating work; more frequently than I ever had before. I would throw myself into my art and just draw and draw and draw until the anxiety subsided. During this time, I created a piece entitled On Display, which is a self portrait with half its creation in the digital realm and half in the physical as a reference to the way many aspects of life became divided between the two spaces during quarantine. Drawn digitally, printed on canvas, then finished with acrylic paint. The portrait is encircled by references to works that are emblematic of prominent movements that reshaped how we think about art. Historically, art has been reactionary to its environment. From destruction and atrocity arose new forms of creativity. Modernist movements such as Dadaism and Abstract Expressionism grew out of the First World War and the Russian Revolution. These pieces now serve as a testament to how art has always been there as a healing tool for the world during times when it seemed the world had stopped making sense. They represent human perseverance through periods of global uncertainty. They functioned as a method of therapy during their own unprecedented times and continued to do so in the present. After this; I embraced becoming a full time artist and dedicated as much time as possible to working in the creative field. I also decided to continue my education by pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in Illustration.

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

The biggest lesson I had to unlearn was to stop undervaluing my art. When I was younger, I never made art my main priority. It was always a huge part of my life, but I never took it as seriously as I should have. I would often do work for free or for very little pay for friends and acquaintances. In college, I’d always advocate for my friends to not undersell themselves because they deserved to be paid for their hard work and skill; but I never felt my own art was worth it, so I kept my prices very low. When I got to graduate school, someone mentioned how when you undersell yourself, you bring down the value of your peers. By pricing yourself fairly, it sets the standard for the community as a whole that art has value and there should be an expectation to pay well for quality work. I’ve come to realize that you have to respect yourself and your art for others to do the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: ellageida.myportfolio.com
• Instagram: @ellageida_art