Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Johanna Heilman. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Johanna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my recent solo album entitled When We Were Electric. This album is deeply personal as it details my experience going through breast cancer treatment. Writing such an intense album was both cathartic and challenging but I’m very proud of how it turned out. The thing that I like most about music and art is that they’re always there for you. You can take extremely difficult parts of your life and use those experiences to influence what you create. In some ways this process can help you understand yourself better and hopefully help you heal.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a painter, musician, and an art teacher. I’ve been writing songs and making art my entire life. For the last 11 years I’ve played guitar in local shoegaze band Wildfires, and I recently released my first solo album. Over the years I’ve played in many venues across town both in bands and as a solo artist. I love having access to so many clubs and getting to both play and attend shows in Austin. My visual art has taken many forms over the years but not I primarily work with acrylics and pencil. I’ve had the opportunity to show my work in many galleries in Austin and around Texas. I currently sell works on etsy and look forward to participating in more art shows in the future.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think the most resilient thing you can do as an artist is turn personal trauma into art. I’ve done that repeatedly throughout my career both in painting and in music. In addition to making an album about breast cancer I also made lots of visual art detailing the visceral and upsetting aspects of my treatment. Breast cancer surgeries are such a shocking and viloating experience and I’m glad I was able to chronicle that through my art.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I think my mission in art and music is to constantly evolve and explore new ideas. I tend to change artistic styles quite a bit. My mantra has always been to let my interests guide me. I never try to make art based on what I think will be commercially successful. For one thing, I’m bad at predicting what people will like. I also find that making art just to try to make money is incredibly unsatisfying. This means that I will always need to have a job to support my creative endeavors but I’m completely fine with that. I enjoy teaching and it gives me the steady income necessary to fund my creative pursuits.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://johannaheilman.bandcamp.com/album/when-we-were-electric
- Instagram: @joheilman
- Twitter: @JohannaHeilman
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0IbXrYkpc0nLCXLCrqgTkQ
- Other: https://pricklypearstudiostx.etsy.com http://johanna-heilman.com/
Image Credits
The first image of my album cover is by Raphael Umschied