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

Jones, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

As someone who creates in multiple mediums, I am very familiar with my work being mischaracterized.

From an early age I’ve always been a curious person, following bursts of inspiration and creativity as they pop up. I’ve collected many different hobbies, and havent grown out of loving to learn and practice new skills. In school and art camps, I started drawing, writing, sewing, trying out any medium I could, and just never stopped. As adulthood approached, I began dreading the idea of a 9-5 desk job, and so my casual hobbies evolved into areas of formal study, which opened doors to a wide range of professional opportunities. It’s been as exciting as it is confusing for me to navigate, within a society that demands us each to specialize and silo our careers so heavily. I noticed pretty quickly others around me needed to recategorize my whole career path when my focuses inevitably shifted, despite the fact that I never truly abandon one interest when another catches my eye. To my peers and my family, I’ve swung dramatically from being a costume designer, to a teacher, to a janitor, to a computer tech, to a painter; but to me, I’ve just been me. Instead of fitting neatly into one box, I try to keep adding to my toolkit. I don’t aspire to be just one thing, hone just one skill, do the same one-to-three things my whole life — the thought truly terrifies me!

I like outdoing myself, fusing disciplines, and honestly just never letting myself stay stagnant or bored in my practice. It’s important to me as a human and an artist to shake things up, in order to grow and synthesize what I already know with ideas I get to learn as I go. I’ve been very grateful to find that as I branch out and share my work with others, the more I trust in my abilities to take me where I need to be.

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.

Growing up in the Midwest during the 90’s I was admittedly partially feral, but still had the immense privilege of joining a number of art programs and summer camps as a kid, which is really how I got my start as an artist. At the same time, I was fostering a love of storytelling, particularly horror and fantasy stories, with plenty of monsters and other supernatural beings that both delighted and terrified me. This heavily shaped my personal style, which eventually brought my focus to garment design and construction in my teens. I started by Frankensteining together thrifted pieces, and in 2006, I began an internship with alternative fashion designer Samantha Rei. I got to study costuming and technical design and construction for theatre and film, and since graduating my undergrad program in 2013. That same year I began doing a lot of gig work as a freelance costume designer and technician, all the while developing a brand to offer my own varied disciplines under one roof. Ten bumpy years later, Creeptreats was finally given life!

I currently offer a rotating stock of multimedia handmade collectibles, plushies, accessories, and prints. Premade items can be purchased from my webstore and in-person markets, but I also frequently take commissions as an experienced visual artist, seamster, and writer. More informally, I like to share resources and provide education on technical and ethical practices. I strive to provide my work at sliding scale prices, ultimately to make owning and creating art more accessible to everyone.

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

There are many, many ways to learn and grow in your craft, beyond a formal 4-year education. While I personally got a Bachelor’s degree directly out of high school, I wish I knew earlier on that a diploma itself is far from the be-all-end-all for a career in the arts. Many of my skills have truly developed by asking fellow artists and entrepreneurs for advice. A lot of creatives (myself included) love passing along their knowledge, and often offer classes through local art studios and collectives on a rotating basis. Check out your local community’s arts offerings! It’s a great way to learn new things, grow skills you already have, and make community, all with a more reasonable price tag!

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

I absolutely love connecting with people about shared interests! I maintain a non-zero amount of social anxiety and self doubt, but making it over the hurdle to actually get out there and share my work with more than just my dog has brought more joy into my life than I could have expected. Hearing people laugh about my goofy art, hug my plushies, and having ridiculous conversations about cryptids makes all the hard work worthwhile!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Creeptreats.com
• Instagram: @creeptreats
• Other: Business items can be emailed directly to [email protected]

Image Credits

Samantha Rei (headshot)