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

Hunter, appreciate you joining us today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

The first dollar I earned as a creative was when I made my first sale at a gallery exhibition that took place at my university. The exhibition also had a market portion I was a part of so at the start I was running around setting up my table and organizing all the prints I made so far that semester. I didn’t know what to expect until a classmate of mine came up to me and asked if a piece I had hung up in the gallery was for sale. The print in question was part of a series I did to document how my shoeprint changed faster over time due to how I used to walk on my toes and how much I walked since I don’t have a car. It was on cardboard my overlapping shoeprints and “GODSPEED” in bold red letters and someone wanted it! When the person came up to buy the print I got a chance to talk to them about the concept behind it and they became more interested in buying it. Then they asked how much and while I was still dumbfounded someone wanted to buy something from me we started to negotiate a reasonable price for two college students. I am glad that I had that as my first experience selling my work because that taught me I need to have actual prices in mind and how to talk to people about my art in a way that isn’t insane rambling.

Hunter, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Hunter Duffy Rensink, I’m a multi-media artist based in Colorado who works with printmaking, photography, and graphic design. I am a founding member of a visual arts collective, Fast At Your Door otherwise known as FAYD which is focused on bringing The topics I’m currently working on focus on addressing the hostile elements of queer male spaces and car-centric infrastructure. Both have impacted me heavily throughout my life but with the voice that art has given me, I am finally able to process my experiences and explore the impact this has on other people and communities. I strongly believe if you want to enact changes in the world you need to help contribute with whatever platform or skills you possess and that’s why I contribute with the work I create.

During my time in college, I began to untangle the sexual trauma and negative encounters that occurred in high school and the effects it had on my self-image. I have been working on this series as ideas come to me and if I am in the right head space to sit with those emotions. “Already Taken” is a piece I made to confront my lack of self-love, based on the phrase “Be yourself, everyone is already taken” I screen printed the phrase onto a mirror with an ink wash layer so upon viewing you can’t ignore the message. As I work through this heavy series I want to be able to show others who have similar experiences that you can heal from that and be able to love yourself.

“Godspeed” is a body of work that addresses how hostile and inaccessible communities are to people who don’t have access or the ability to use a car. My experiences as someone without access to a car informed me how I can bring the neglect and carelessness of this environment into my art. One of the ways I have recently done this is by creating a magazine spread that focused on how car-centric infrastructure was used to impose redlining and discriminate against disabled people onto uneven, broken plaster sidewalk panels.

When I am not working on artwork I have offered up my skills in a few different ways, mainly as a graphic designer and photographer. I think one of the strong est points of being a creator is the fact there are so many applications for someone with creative abilities. In my work as a photographer, I had the amazing opportunity to document events, work with models for marketing campaigns, and help people feel empowered through personal photoshoots! In the graphic design roles I have held, I’m most familiar with creating elements for brand identity, this includes logos, fonts, icons, merchandise, and promotional materials. One of the things going forward that I would like to implement more of in my work with clients is helping them implement accessibility in their websites and media.

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

One of the things I like to keep in mind while I’m creating is that I am never done learning. It’s a phrase that has stuck with me since I met a few other artists I knew from the amazing printmaking community at the University of Northern Colorado. Intially when I came up to study for my first year there I was dead set on just sticking to graphic design and I didn’t need to work in anything else. That was until I stepped into the printmaking studio and then soon after that, I was picking up a camera. Looking back I’m so thankful I stepped out of that mindset because if I didn’t my overall vision and abilities wouldn’t have improved and I wouldn’t be able to overlap all these skills to create what I do now. If you’re done learning that means you’re done growing and that just doesn’t make sense for my creative journey.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

One of the most rewarding aspects I appreciate about being an artist would have to be when something I created connects with someone in the audience. When that happens I know I executed my idea and techniques right to get people to connect with my experiences or message. A big part of why I do this is so people can feel represented in artwork or be able to name something that needs to change. It’s amazing to be able to talk about my work with people, and what I could look into doing next because those connections have always led me to pursue a subject or thought further.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hunterdrensink.wixsite.com/portfolio
• Instagram: hunter.by.art
• Other: Artist Collective Instagram: fayd.jpeg

Image Credits
Headshot Image Credit: Ragen Wareham Credit her Instagram: ragenw.photography Art Image Credit: Hunter Duffy Rensink