We recently connected with Kimberly Nick Gutierrez and have shared our conversation below.
Kimberly Nick, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
I think the best thing my parents ever did for me was being unapologetically supportive of my creative endeavors. Despite telling me from an early age that “being an artist would mean being poor” they still supported me when I expressed a clear desire to do something creative with my life. Granted they still tried to guide me towards careers my brothers had pursued such as accounting, business administration, and engineering; they were still very supportive when I reminded them that I wanted to do something creative and artistic. There were times I wasn’t sure what that was but all I knew was that I wanted to create. It didn’t matter how many people told me I was great at writing, philosophy, physics, or even computer science. All that seemed so boring in comparison to art. I know it sounds like I’m full of myself but I’m just being honest. I love studying physics, philosophy, language learning, and history but it’s not what I have ever wanted to do for a living. I can still study all those subjects and incorporate them into my art and I feel like my parents have understood that in one way or another. My parents have also always been my number one fans and customers! They were there when I sold my scribbles for $1 as a five-year-old (my mom still has those drawings framed and hanging in the house). They never hesitate to commission me for artwork and they never get mad when it takes me months to complete them. When it comes time to pay they’re always adamant about me charging them as regular customers, no family discounts are allowed. I guess what really drives me a lot nowadays is knowing they’re proud of me and what I do. Maybe they don’t understand all the art I create but they still support me, they check in on me, they participate in my milestones when they can. If I can’t create for myself, I damn well can create for them.
Kimberly Nick, 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?
I’m a largely self-taught artist from Ciudad Juarez that dabbles in a little bit of everything. I like to work with gouache, ink, acrylic, graphite and occasionally create digital illustrations. I’ve also worked as a graphic designer for a Latin American art museum, been a graphic design instructor, and am looking at new positions to get more hands on experience and a designer. I started off drawing on the walls of my home and would teach myself how to draw by sketching characters I liked and attempting to follow old instructional books that I got from my older brothers. I used to draw anything and everything that came to mind, my mother has saved just about every single piece of art I ever made before I left for university. From there I would take art electives in school and really started taking my art seriously when I got accepted into AP Art and the National Art Honor Society during high school. This was around the time I started to create art that was a little more weird and abstract when I had previously been focused on creating realistic graphite portraits. I wound up getting bored with realism and wanted to focus on artwork that was more stylized and free. I did a lot of exploring with style during my time in university and started to study graphic and visual design. Nowadays I like to create abstract paintings, sketch whatever I’m interested in, and develop my skills in graphic design. I also focus on selling art as a vendor with Museo de las Americas and through sites like Redbubble.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the things that has been most difficult to unlearn is the idea that my successes and achievements are not worth celebrating. Growing up with two older brothers who are 10-11 years older than me often made me feel like I was constantly in competition with them even if we were a part of completely different generations. I always wanted to do the same things they did so I could prove I could do it just as well, if not better. There were a lot of times when I felt like I came up short and my achievements weren’t worth celebrating since someone else had done the same thing 10 years prior. Amongst my peers, it’s been very difficult to celebrate my accomplishments. It often feels like I’m not worthy of it or that others deserve the praise more than me. Even when I am proud of something I worry it comes across as bragging or being obnoxious. Social media, in this case, can be a double edged sword because it allows me to share my successes but it also shows me the successes of the rest of the world. On the one hand it makes me happy to see my fellow creatives be successful and on the other, it makes me feel like everyone has it all figured out but me. Obviously that’s not true but as someone that has imposter syndrome, I have a really hard time understanding that. I always have nagging voices in the back of my head telling me I’m not as good as someone else or that my achievements aren’t great because someone else has done it already and they’ve done it better.
What’s helped me get out of that mindset is to remind myself that I’m in competition with myself and myself only, my path to success isn’t going to look exactly like anyone else’s and I won’t encounter the same obstacles they do. I can still be proud of what I’ve achieved because they’re milestones in my journey, not anyone else’s. They’re accomplishments that represent my growth as a person and artist. If I would celebrate the same achievement had it happened to someone I know, I should celebrate it when it happens to me too. My experiences and journey aren’t going to be like anyone else’s and the success of others doesn’t diminish my own. It takes a lot of personal reflection and introspection but I do my best to not put myself down as much as I used to. I have a lot to be proud of and I work hard to continue to become better as a person and as an artist. It helps that I try to surround myself with people who encourage mutual development. I’ve been very fortunate in the past couple of years to find people who celebrate my successes just as much as I celebrate theirs. They remind me that I have a lot to be proud of and return the same hype I bring to their celebrations. I’m very grateful to have people in my life who remind me that I can do whatever I set my mind to and who encourage me to keep going and growing. I really love and treasure my friends for that.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
This is probably a pretty basic answer but I think a lot of non-creatives have a hard time understanding that art is a skill you have to work and develop through time and dedication. My skills certainly didn’t get to where they are overnight, I’ve been drawing since I was around 5 or 6 years old. During that time I’ve studied art in and out of school, I use tutorials to teach myself new techniques, and always make sure to keep a sketchbook on me so that I can draw as much as possible. Just like any other skill, it’s something that is going to take time to develop and cultivate. I feel like this is especially true for creatives who are searching for that distinct style. Something like that can take years of trial and error while you search for a niche that works for you. Personally, I don’t think I’ve found my style just yet. My art feels like it looks different all the time and it’s always changing, but it might not seem that way to a non-creative.
I think this often comes up as a vendor when I want to really upsell a piece, especially pieces that are minimalistic like my dry-point prints. When I sell original pieces I try to take into account the cost of materials, the amount of time it took to make, and my skill set. Some pieces like my dry-point prints took weeks to etch and print so they’ll be more pricey compared to a graphite sketch that took a couple hours. Unfortunately you can’t always get that information across to buyers, I can see some who are very shocked when I try to sell them my prints for $65 each. I can understand that too, I have so many friends who are artists that I want original work from, but I don’t have that kind of money (yet). I also try to remember that even if I haven’t sold a particular piece just yet, I have to wait for the right person to come along who will not only appreciate the art but will also appreciate the time and effort that went into making it. Who knew you had to work hard to get good at something?
Image Credits
Kimberly Gutierrez