We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Greg Hausler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Greg below.

Greg, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I have been painting for decades. As a teenager, I was only interested in pursuing a career as an electrical engineer. I painted solely for emotional relief.

It wasn’t until I was a junior in college that I decided to earn a degree in painting and drop the academic pursuit of becoming an engineer. That would be the first time I had ever taken a formal art class even though I had been painting for many years already.

I felt much better studying something that I loved versus something that was just a means to an end. I have always been interested in technology but it never made me as happy as creating works of art.

As a junior in college, I already had more than enough of the non-art prerequisites that most art majors struggle with so I was able to spend all of my time in studio classes. It was here that I began to hone my craft. I learned not only the basics of how to make a canvas and color theory but also how to grow my skills through consistently spending time in the studio, similar to an athlete learning how to regularly train.

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 paint on canvases composed of discarded clothing, fabric scraps, and found objects, then layer them with obscene amounts of latex paint. It’s my nature to squeeze every ounce of usefulness out of everything I own, like using an old t-shirt I love but is too worn to wear. Often, even the paint I use is mis-tints or the dregs of cans and tubes. I think about the theme for the work only after I’ve finished bonding the textiles on the canvas. The challenge of painting on an uneven surface helps push that part of the creative process into unexpected directions. This technique is something I have been refining since the 1980s. Painting is a magical, healing alchemy that completely absorbs me

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Painting is still a huge emotional release for me. That doesn’t mean that the act of releasing those emotions and issues is always easy though. It can be a time-consuming and exhausting effort to extract and present them in a work of art that I am satisfied with. It is an entirely worthy pursuit though or I wouldn’t continue to do it. Artistic creation in most forms is a solo effort. That said, it is immensely satisfying when I present my art and I get to see it strike a nerve with the viewer.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I paint on clothing, fabric, and found objects. People will often ask me, “Why?” I strongly believe that truly creative people understand that making art can, and should, take many forms. To be an artist you can’t be constrained by what the outside world defines as to what art should be made from and what is acceptable as an artistic subject. I like using clothing and found objects because they already come with stories of their own. I’m able to add to those stories and take them in new directions. I believe that all art tells some form of story. I get to combine and add to the existing stories that my materials already have and create a new tale that is uniquely my own.

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