We were lucky to catch up with Gabe Ratliff recently and have shared our conversation below.
Gabe, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
Yes, I am happier as an artist. I couldn’t have it any other way, even if I wanted to. Occasionally, I’ll have a brief thought about what it might be like to have a regular job again. Then, I remember the blood, sweat, and tears I gave for someone else’s dream. I’ll think about all the commitment, passion, and time I gave for the dream they were fulfilling. I must also add that because the people we served were kindred, I was so committed to the company’s vision that I didn’t just drink the Kool-Aid. I helped make it. I’ll think about how one day I, along with several people on my team were laid off just like that. After several years of 70-hour workweeks, constant exhaustion and fatigue, poor health, and missing special life events with family and friends, my part in their dream was over. That was, of course, when my dream of ärtful began.
Gabe, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
For over thirty years, I have had a love affair with art and music and continue to engage with them in one form or another. As a fan of music, I grew up drawing and illustrating band logos while listening to their albums for hours. I started playing drums when I was ten years old and went on to play in the concert band, orchestra, and marching band. In my senior year, I earned the spot of quad captain and got to play in front of 80 million people at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. I studied photography and media arts and hosted a weekly radio show for four years while at university. After college, I recorded, performed, and produced several records with bands like A Shoreline Dream and Drop the Fear, an award-winning multimedia project. Since 1997, I have performed at outdoor festivals and world-renowned venues like Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Beta, The Church, Soma, Burning Man, and Chronicle in Goa, India. I co-founded two production companies, was a talent manager for several DJs and promoted various music events in North America, including parties inside caves in the Southeast region of the US. Before becoming a corporate creative, I spent almost ten years as a dance/electronic music buyer at notable record stores like Twist & Shout Records, Bart’s Vinyl Attic, and Lost & Found Records. After over ten years of designing and producing content for companies like Adobe, Nikon, Sur La Table, Craftsy, and Denver Center for the Performing Arts, I started working towards my dream and founded my company ärtful. We are a small boutique creative agency specializing in graphic design, photography, and web design services for music artists. Most developing artists don’t have a recognizable music brand or even know that they need to have a unique brand. Music branding is the overall message, identity, personality, style, values, beliefs, ambitions, and music of an artist. It is everything that helps people identify and experience an artist’s unique brand or what we like to call “mythos”, which is vital for an artist to stand out in the music industry. We work with artists to develop a music brand that fans can connect with so they can get from the bedroom to the big stage.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The goal or mission driving my creative journey is best summed up by the ärtful manifesto — We are misfits, mavericks, bohemians, punks, rebels, weirdos, risk-takers, explorers, adventurers, and dreamers. We are artists. We create just for the sake of creating without concern for the outcome. We inspire others through our authentic, unconditional creativity. We are enough. That is all. Nothing more. Nothing less. When we do feel small we reach out to each other for support in whatever form we need at the time to get our heads out of our butts and go create something awesome — hopefully together. We let the past go. We experience the present at the moment. We create our future. We enjoy the journey and embrace the detours. We see other misfits. We hear them. We support them and promote their work. We create a wacky-crazy-wunky-funky world no matter where we go. We are drawing our lives not tracing them. We are painting outside the lines. At the end of our lives, we will ‘skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a ride!”’.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that we get to create just to create. As humans, we get to choose what we devote our days to in life. It is such a blessing to get to devote our days to a craft that fills our cups as well as puts a roof over our heads. I mentioned in a previous response that I left the world as a corporate creative working on someone else’s dream to focus on my own. Choosing this life and getting to live it daily is a gift. Now, it is not all unicorns and rainbows. It takes a lot of hard work, discipline, and persistence, but it is a path that should be walked with gratitude. Some people never find their calling. For those of us fortunate enough to find it. It is something not to take for granted. I also believe that we are all creative beings. Creativity manifests itself in different ways for different people. For example, a musician can compose a gorgeous piece of music, a developer can code an elegant app, a baker can design a beautiful cake, and an accountant can paint a masterpiece with numbers. As artists, we must remember that we don’t get to decide if our art is good or bad. It’s about confidence and creation, not validation. We get to enjoy the journey of our creations and the mastering of our craft. That is enough and so are we.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://artfulmusicbranding.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artfulmusicbranding/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artfulmusicbranding
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/artfulbranding
Image Credits
Photo credit: Alex Gradisher (Denver, CO)