We were lucky to catch up with Julia Spieszny recently and have shared our conversation below.

Julia, appreciate you joining us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

Yes! I remember when I was in elementary school we were doing a project on a good cause or helping somebody, something like that so I drew a rather obese kid struggling to scoop his ice cream and a girl offering to help him. Unfortunately I received backlash from my classmates from this drawing. They were going off at me on how my drawing was offensive and mean when that’s not how I perceived it or intended it to be. I really thought it was just some innocent drawing of somebody helping somebody. I remember feeling so much shame that day that I hid it from my dad when we were doing parent-teacher conferences later that day because I didn’t want him to think negatively of it. I learned that sometimes people will perceive or interpret things differently than you do and people can interpret you to be “bad” or doing bad things when you actually have good intentions.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Julia Speedy and I am a highly empathetic artist who was born in America to Polish parents. Art has always been my biggest passion ever since I was a little girl. I mainly do portraits and abstract art. I’d say I’m versatile when it comes to my work because I’m not set to one theme or niche—I love to experiment and explore. I love to exercise my creativity. I am the most proud of my ability to draw realistically as well as come up with creative concepts. As a highly sensitive soul who had a hard time expressing herself, art has always been the perfect gateway, and I love being able to connect and touch others through my art.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I think NFTs are cool and interesting! It’s definitely something new and unfamiliar for me but it’s cool to see new inventions and advancement in technology. I love being able to display my art, whatever form.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I’d say mainly the belief that you can genuinely enjoy what you’re doing and be successful at the same time. It is possible to thrive off of your passions. I am proving that to myself and others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.julialovestomakeart.com
• Instagram: @julialovestomakeart
• Facebook: Art by Julia Speedy
• Youtube: Julia Speedy 🎨 (julialovestomakeart)
• Other: Tik Tok: @julialovestomakeart
  Threads: @julialovestomakeart