We recently connected with Felicia Jordan and have shared our conversation below.

Felicia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

What my parents did right was listen and allowed me to pursue any and all things I wanted to. My parents were makers, with my dad being a carpenter and my mom drawing and working with textiles. My dad would encourage me to write and draw on sidewalks when we would take walks. My mother would listen still and listen as I explained how I saw shapes and colors different. They never said no when it was something that would expand my horizon. In middle school, I learned about Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual arts and I remember freaking out because the audition process was so close and I didn’t have a lot of the supplies that I need. Both of my parents took me to Michaels to get what we could afford and would sit for portraits for me to pad my portfolio for the audition. The arts played a huge part in the making of the person I am today and I think they knew that it would. Arts had a large part of their development and they shared that part of themselves with me.

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

I grew up with a dad would take me on Home Depot runs with him to get supplies for whatever house he was working on that day. The smell of lumber is a sense of comfort to me. My mom would play old school R&B around the house, so music became an integral part of my life, Those art forms began to appeal to me through them, My interest first started with music. I played violin and clarinet in elementary school, but I would draw all the time. My dad would challenge me to draw certain things in a time frame. My mom actually sent off for one of those drawing test they used to advertise on TV. When middle school came around and the art high school opened for auditions, my parents were all for it. I was at Booker T. that I started my formal education into the arts. Learning the elements and principles were all new things to me. This was also where I was first introduced to sculpture and jewelry. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before. It allowed me to work with metals, both precious and industrial in a way I hadn’t had the chance to do before and I fell in love and never looked back. Jewelry, metalsmith, silversmithing became my passion.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

After graduating with my BFA, I would as a bench jeweler to a big name company. At first, it was fine. There it started to wear on me. The boring, same ole, same ole of fixing diamond and sizing rings began to feel like a drag. The amazement that come with working with such a beautiful metal and stones felt like hell. I needed the creativity of fine arts and metalsmith. I craved the need to make my own and help others make what they wanted to bring into being. So, I left that job and decided that I wanted like into going back to graduate school to get my MFA in metalsmithing and Jewelry

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

For people outside the creative sphere, they would be surprised to realize how much of the arts had aided in my real world journey and problem solving. I love the creative aspect of it but I didn’t getting my field purely for the visual aspect of. I didn’t just want to be an artist. It is a plus that I get to use my natural visual talent but I want to be a problem finder and a problem solver. That could be something like budgeting and time management. Personally, my way of thinking is like that of a spiderweb. My thoughts are pinging all over the place. I get from point A to B it is never a straight line. But along the way, I solving separate problems that pop up along the way.

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