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

Hi Heather c. , thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I have been a creative my whole life. My earliest art practice memories include drawing on typewriter paper, painting with water on the sidewalk, creating found poetry from my Ranger Rick magazines, or collaging from an assortment of newspapers and old magazines that my amah (grandmother) collected in her basement. I used to look at coffee table books with awe- wondering how someone could be so innovative as to display their art in public.

My creative career began in 2012, when I realized that my neurodivergent way of processing included painting, block printing, drawing, and writing prose to heal from childhood and early adulthood traumas. I worked with acrylic and found items on canvas and sometimes sculpture. I developed a personal collection of canvases, poems, and sculptures- which took residence in my apartment, crowding out the furniture, dishes, and books tenfold. I began gifting my art to family and friends to share my love of making. I opened my first online shop in 2013- hoping to share my love of visual art with community members.

After almost 10 years of part-time creative work, I shifted to a thriving full time practice in 2022. The decision was made for me. In less glamorous terms- I was fired from my full time non-profit job and unsure of what to do next. I could continue to search for work as an administrator OR do the work that filled my heart with absolute joy- art. The process of drawing, painting, block printing, tattooing, writing prose… and teaching it to others was and continues to be pure alchemy. In other words: the creative process of taking the mundane and transforming it into gold was life giving.

In the past year, I have realized the ways I used my full time administrator roles in postsecondary education and nonprofit as excuses to not take creative risks. I was always “too tired” or “uninspired” to hone my craft. And after almost 10 years of a more formalized art practice- choosing to be a full-time artist was a terrifying risk. And rewarding. Magical. Transcending. Seeing patrons smile widely at vibrant, colorful, and culturally relevant pieces- and to see myself reflected in visual art is exactly the kind of healing I was searching for.

Do I wish I had started my creative career sooner or later? It’s really difficult to say. I think that I fell into full time art and consulting at the perfect time in my life. I had a time in my life with spaciousness- and it was the appropriate time to take a calculated risk toward the kind of integrity-filled creative career I had been preparing for my entire professional life. Being able to pursue a full time creative career after have established clientele, having financial stability, developing necessary business skills, and maintaining a network of peer artists is an absolute privilege- and this was the perfect time to seize the opportunity to grow further as a creative in the Twin Cities.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Heather is an angry Gemini earth dragon, multiracial, Asian, queer, cisgender and gender expansive, disabled, survivor/surviving, anxious, and depressed woman of color artist and educator based in St. Paul, Minnesota, which is the historical occupied land of the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Anishinaabe peoples. She is a painter, printmaker, digital artist, poet, performer, educational consultant and facilitator, and public artist dedicated to making art accessible, engaging, and multi-dimensional.

Heather is from the Torrance/Gardena, California area, the home of the Kizh people. She spent her childhood with her Taishanese grandmother eating persimmons and learning about community through food, storytelling, and a good game of mahjong with the aunties. Heather creates art that centers on the narratives of her ancestors- particularly her amah- and focuses on how to find joy and healing in the midst of intergenerational trauma. Her art is vibrant, colorful, and wistful- leaving viewers with a sense of awe, hope, and vitality- which has been a through-line in her over 10+ yearlong artistic career.

As a post-structuralist and futurist scholar-practitioner, she has focused on arts-based research and assessment, critical mixed-raced studies, womxn of color feminism, first amendment rights, and dismantling white supremacy within institutional practices. She has worked at a multitude of institutions and in a variety of functional areas- with the goal to center and empower the people with the most marginalized and minoritized experiences.

Her more recent work focuses on Asian and Black solidarity and coalition building movements, dismantling anti-Blackness within Asian communities, addressing historical trauma and continued violence against Asian womxn/femmes/elders/youth throughout the COVID pandemic and beyond, and utilizing art as a method of continued intergenerational healing for queer and trans-Black, Indigenous, People of Color. Her work has been exhibited in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, University of Minnesota, Hamline University, Macalester College, University of California, Berkeley, Oregon State University, and elsewhere. As a community leader, she is a co-founder of Support Local Hustle (a BIPOC collective in the Twin Cities that has served over a hundred artists and makers and thousands of patrons), Northern Lights Artist Council Member, Funny Asian Women Kollective Advisory Board Member, and have served as a resident artist at nonprofits such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, Reclaim, Urban Roots, and Free Arts Minnesota.

In her spare time, Heather loves birdwatching, snuggling loon (her pup), roller-skating, hiking for self-care, playing her ukulele, cooking, and spending time with her chosen family.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I started my creative journey to focus on the way art can facilitate intergenerational healing. Partly, I noticed that there was not adequate representation of queer, disabled, Asian, multiracial folx in artistic communities. I didn’t see myself in the many art history courses I took, let alone mainstream gallery spaces.

My artistic goal has been to find slivers of joy in every experience. To tell stories of my ancestors. To develop a trail of artifacts and radical counterspaces that are relatable, vulnerable, honest, and unapologetically queer, Asian, and disabled. I am inspired by nature, futurism, intersectionality, and magic. I want to find ways to challenge and dismantle white supremacy in artistic communities by creating mentorship networks for Black, Indigenous, Mixed/Multiracial, and People of color creatives to be holistically supported with entrepreneurial opportunities- whether making, selling, or workshopping their art.

By engaging in transformative, mutually accountable, reflective, and loving relationships with my community and myself, I feel that my art practice is intentionally paving the way for continuing to not only make queerly unique art- but also to push our understandings who we are and what is infinitely possible in the future.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In 2020, I was commissioned by Springboard for the Arts (St. Paul, MN) to create graphics to illustrate one of their organization’s values: Artists are essential (https://springboardforthearts.org/about-us/principles-vision/). Artists are essential for vibrant and just local economies. And those economies must be within human-centered systems. According to Springboard, “Artists use their creative process and creative power to make meaning, share ideas, bring people together, shift conversations, challenge assumptions, and envision new futures.”

How do we put these values into practice?

Hire artists, specifically BIPOC artists, as consultants. Create a budget to pay us for our physical and emotional labor and expertise. We can curate your office spaces. We can facilitate creative and futuristic learning experiences. We can provide expertise regarding visioning and community-centered processes. We can help inspire change making and radical shifts by creating room for people to imagine brightly and share what is not only in their mind, but also in their hearts.

In a 2018 article in “Engaging Images for Research, Pedagogy, and Practice: Utilizing Visual Methods to Understand and Promote College Student Development,” I stated: “Art resists. Art heals. Art is resilience.” However, that expertise must be valued, supported, developed, and compensated. In order for a thriving creative ecosystem to develop and be sustained, we MUST value art, arts practice, and artists wholly.

Contact Info:

• Website: hclouart.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/hclou
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/heatherclou/
• Other: https://springboardexchange.org/heather-c-lou/ https://voyageminnesota.com/interview/rising-stars-meet-heather-c-lou-of-st-paul-mni-sota/ https://mnartists.walkerart.org/does-this-mean-im-a-real-artist-now

Image Credits
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