We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Huan LaPlante a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Huan, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

After finishing my master’s, I’ve been taking a break from conceptual work to develop my commercial portfolio of prints and watercolor works. This latter half of the year I intend to use to return to my conceptual and experimental work. “To Be a Cloud”, the body of work I developed for my thesis, has been my biggest leap as I let myself choose materials and media that fit my topics rather than confining myself to a single media. This allowed me to explore impermanence and selfhood through a lot of craft and experiential pieces. After taking a break and as I enter a huge turning point in my life, I want to give myself that freedom again to utilize craft and tactile media as a mode of reflection. For those interested, you can find images of “To Be a Cloud” on my website, and my written thesis of the same name can be found via Tiger Prints.

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.

I am an artist, art educator, and writer with a focus on the human experience. My work expands a multitude of media, from watercolor to printmaking to large scale drawing and even installation. As I’m coming into my career, I’ve started to find footing as an artist that makes commercial work and separately indulges in conceptual work that isn’t so practical for home decor. Having these parallel practices sounds like a lot of work, but for me it means getting to explore different problems and solutions that scratch the creative itch in different ways.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My biggest driving factor is an internal craving that I’m sure many other creatives relate can relate to. I’ve always felt this need to not only express but understand and art provides a conduit for that. Specifically, I use the act of making as a sort of meditation to help me process information, memories, and feelings. Beyond my own personal pleasure, I hope to illicit curiosity in my viewers. I like hearing them question the meanings behind imagery, or spark conversation on the emotional or philosophical works. My goal in my conceptual work is to drive questioning.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had really understood how important community is within the creative journey. Having other artists to bounce ideas off of and share skills with is an invaluable resource, especially coming out of school. Not only that, but having a community of folks that aren’t necessarily other artists who are interested in your work is so important to growing creatively. Outside perspectives are just as important as the studio work, because it’s the people that engage with and consume your work that really completes it.      

Contact Info: 

• Website: https://huanlaplante.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huannieo/
• Other: Other instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huanlaplante/

Image Credits
Huan LaPlante