We recently connected with Harper Veresiuk and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Harper thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Ever since I was able to hold a pencil in my hands, I wanted to draw and paint. My dad is an engineer so he taught me how to draw basics and from there on, I’ve begged my parents to sign me up for any and all possible art classes. I knew then that I want to only be exploring art and learning about all possible techniques that I might enjoy. So after years of art schools and private lessons, all I knew was drawing and painting and sculpture and art history. Unfortunately this became more difficult to pursue over time because my parents immigrated to the United States when I was quite small and all the opportunities I had back in Ukraine were gone. As an immigrant child, you learn that you must be the advocate for yourself and your parents. You have to speak for them, so eventually you have to start looking for your own opportunities by yourself, while kids in your class have everything so much easier (or it just seemed easier). Since your parents are already working very hard to put the food on the table, they’re in a foreign country with foreign language and rules so to them, everything is twice as difficult. Therefore when we moved to Chicago, I had to quickly understand what I need to do by myself if I wanted to become a professional artist in this new city. However, one of the most influential and supportive people in my life was always my brother who pushed me to become stronger and better artist. He was always the most proud of me, adamantly telling me to fight for what I believe in and not expect anyone else to do things for me. He is the biggest reason I can proudly call myself an artist.

Harper, 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?

I started my first art lessons at 5, mostly because I was a stubborn kid and wouldn’t leave my parents alone until they found classes for me. I only got into watercolor realism/surrealism in high school and only because I wanted to prove to myself that I can succeed in a difficult medium, somehow I had it in my mind that in order to be a great artist, one must be perfect in all mediums, which of course is faulty. Having previously hated watercolor, I found myself mesmerized by how backwards it is, so the more I kept working with it, the more I realized I never wanted to go back to any other medium. In college we ,of course, were made to explore other types of art and new techniques but I would take extra art lessons to still stick to my dreams of being a fancy professional watercolorist. In those days, I thought that being perfect would solve all my problems or make me world renowned but of course, over the years of working on my craft, meeting other artists I’m fascinated with, learning about different techniques, I’ve, finally, realized that being imperfect is exactly what I needed, because the beauty is always in the imperfections. What I focus on now is finding beauty in the simple things and hopefully having my audience see how that beauty reflects in them. I paint flowers, anatomy, human and animal portraits, and marine life. The delicate nature of flowers is always mirrored in what makes up people, how we’re fragile in some areas yet resilient in others, how we strongly withstand harsh realities and persevere. Whenever I finish one of my paintings, my hope is that it brings the sense of clam and self appreciation for people who buy it. Art has always been about the human condition, our difficulties we face, our love, friendships and bonds we form. I’m the most proud of when someone looks at my work and expresses joy it brings them. Within my body of work, I mainly focus on surrealistic realism (term I made up myself, unless it already exists), where the colors are exaggerated, there is no black in my palette and things that seem trivial or functional are imbued with lots of color.

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

The biggest thing I had to learn as an artist, and maybe even as just human, is that we don’t know everything. We should ask for help, we should accept failure and learn to grow from it, we should assume that trying new things, will lead us to where we need to be. For years, I thought that I needed to seek perfection in everything I did but then it hit me, all I needed to do was to keep growing and embrace all the things that make my art unique. Within any field, there are a ton of experts, but what sets you apart is always being uniquely yourself. Years ago, I took many anatomy lessons because I wanted to know everything about drawing/ painting humans, only to realize that knowing everything is impossible and being able to create an atmosphere in your work takes courage. By courage I mean that, an artist has to be courageous to explore all that’s available to them and then be able to reflect that in their work with the guts of making it uniquely theirs.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect or being a creative is having the space to fully express yourself in your work. One of my favorite artists, David Lynch, who sadly has recently passed, taught be that you don’t have to explain your work. The work speaks for itself and your target audience will eventually find you, you don’t need to justify what you’ve created. There will always be critics and fans of your work but what matters is that you find your work important and therefore other people will too, there is no need to force it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.anoliarts.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harper_veresiuk/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@harperveresiuk

Image Credits

names of each piece in the order of uplodad:
Summer Splash, FloralBone, My DNA, Pop,
Fish Market, His Whale Gaze, Home, Hope