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

Erin, appreciate you joining us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

I have been shown a lot of kindness when it comes to pursuing my creative career. The most substantial kindness would be the support of my family through all of the rough times. But I do have a specific art related kindness that happened before I was an artist, and I had no idea how much it would have an effect on me. When I was in high school, I was able to take a drawing class with one of my elective options. At that point in time in my life, my hobby was collecting hobbies. I was not a good artist, and I really didn’t have an interest in pursuing it, because I could not make it look like I wanted it to not having put in the practice. Mrs. Pisano is the Holt high school art teacher, and she gave me my greatest kindness during that class. She would teach us a technique and give us a simple exercise to be able to present it, like hang it up in the hallway. With each of these tasks, I would try to do more. I would try perspectives and techniques that I have never tried before. I would go beyond the assignment every time, because that’s where my imagination went with it. Because of this, I didn’t finish one assignment. They were all work in progress still by the time the due date came. Now, a lot of teachers, especially in public schools with no hate to them, would consider those works unfinished and would’ve given me a grade that reflected that. But this woman, she saw what I was trying to do. She saw the mountain I was trying to climb without the skill set to climb it. and she never punished me for it. She would tell me that she saw where I was going, she would also make sure I knew which new elements I had added to that which was more than she taught me that would save my grade. What that kindness did for me 10 years later was give me the confidence to go for what I didn’t think I was talented enough to go for. That I thrive in trying to art things that were hard for me art, that I have never tried before. She followed it up with the second greatest kindness and that was on the 20 year anniversary since I had graduated from high school and been in her class, she had invited me to share my life experience with her current students at their end of the year exhibit. I did bring one of the pieces that I had done in her class, and I can tell you right now that all of her students were better than I was at that age. So it was really nice to get to show that, even if it isn’t easy the first time you pick up a pencil, if it ends up being something that your passionate about it’s worth pursuing. Because the practice will allow your imagination to grow and your hands will follow.

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?

I think there are a few things that make me unique in the art scene. I lean towards the fantastical and the obscurely nostalgic. I didn’t decide to pursue Art until much later than my first drawing class in high school. I wasn’t very good, honestly, but my imagination was vivid. It wasn’t till 28 that I really started to practice and try every medium I could get my hands on. I learned in the messiest mistake ridden way, but even if I missed the mark, every piece was a little better than before. I began to vend at Art Shows and Comic Cons, networking with creatives like myself. I joined my local Art Council and took a part time job at an Art store. I surrounded myself with creatives of all types. I didn’t get my art degree till about 10 years after I decided to be an artist. And I learned that even though I don’t use all the mediums as the greats intended, I can successfully use them to share the fantastical world that lives in my head. One thing I’m very proud of as my art career continues to grow is that my mother has involved one of her hobbies with my art in order for us to be able to create awesome usable things that have more longevity than paper. We began sublimating my art into things like coasters, magnets and lapel pins. I’m even known affectionately around Lansing as ‘The Coaster Lady’ which delights my soul. It gave me control of the quality of items that I made prints on and was just a really neat way to have something other than paper prints. Because prints are fun and all, but why not something people can use that fade resistant and waterproof.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Perfection! I do not need to make perfect lines. I don’t even need to make the art I set out to make. I realize that I had never allowed myself to make messy art and sit with it until I was 10 years into my art career in my drawing class. There is something about trying to draw a whole body in less than a minute that will really shake your world. I started allowing my intuition to have more say my art. I started letting the paint tell me who lives there in the alien landscape that I painted. When I can doing that, not only could, I produce art more freely and quickly, but it was so much better, because I’m the only one that knew that line wasn’t supposed to be there, or that those stars were really just paint I spilled that gave me a great idea. I had to unlearn the lesson that perfection is the goal, because it’s already imperfectly perfect as it is.

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

I do have a particular goal that drives me, That is to share and not gatekeep as much information about the art supplies we use and the selling opportunities that we as small artist have. Sometimes, artists can be a little close lipped about their process because it is so easy for it to be copied, and then for their own work to be valued less because it’s more readily available. I on the other hand, because of not really being good at it for a good amount of time, can completely empathize with how frustrating it is when we try something we don’t know how it works and it doesn’t do what we expect. A good example of that from my own life, is that for 10 years I didn’t do watercolors. When I tried watercolors I had inexpensive paper and paint. I am a left-handed artist so I am a little heavy-handed. I also drag my hand through stuff a lot and I do have a tendency to overwork a lot trying to put too many details in or too many colors, etc. etc. every time I attempted watercolor, I would tear the entire surface of the paper up. It was never fun for me, so I ended up not practicing. When I started working at Odd Nodd Art Supply a few years ago, I actually got to play with good watercolor and good paper and the game completely changed. And I have been hyper focusing on watercolor for the last two years. So I just want to share what experiences I have with the mediums so that people are a little more prepared. Going into it and can have a lot more fun without stumbling like I did.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.lychensartstudio.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lychens.art
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lychensart