We recently connected with Lance Vickery and have shared our conversation below.

Lance, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

As an artist, typically, you have to wear many hats. After school, I decided to take a break from full-time art and got a desk job. I taught myself coding and got a job building websites. I was good at it, and the work was straightforward. The hours and paychecks were regular. I tried to create on the weekends and evenings. This was hard. It is hard to give away all your energy during the week and then pour yourself into your work. It got easier over time. But, there was always a level of dissatisfaction with where my time was spent. I wanted more time in the studio, but I liked the comfort of a steady income. My father used to say, “You can have money or time, but you can only have one of them.” Work became boring and predictable. It became harder to be happy with the Faustian Deal. The security and money could no longer offset the creative loss. I decided to dive into full-time sculpture for my living. I am much more happy now. While life is filled with challenges, as a creative, the challenges are more of my own choosing. The problems are much more interesting. While the predictability is less, overall happiness is much higher. I feel like I matter.

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?

After I graduated from school, I really did not understand how to make a living. I loved creating, but monetizing that was a bit opaque. While I honed my skills, I took a day job as a web developer. This allowed me to develop my network and find the right area while still paying rent. When we moved back to Jacksonville, we noticed the volume of public art opportunities. We set up a home studio and started making larger public art projects. The growth was slow at first, but after about 5 years, opportunities started to find us. Things really started rolling. Each job got a bit bigger and more challenging. My wife and I started an LLC. She is a sculptor as well. Our teamwork has been the secret sauce. We have complementary and overlapping skill sets. In the past ten years, I have left the desk job and poured myself into large-scale public art.
We have created several pieces that I am very proud of, though they are like children. I love them in their own ways. Notably, I really like the piece at the Jessie Ball Dupont building in honor of Sherry Magill. The piece is titled Progression. It is a complex piece to build. It is a series of flat plates that form a large blue/purple waveform running over 22 feet. Another is “American Saddlebred,” in Shelbyville, Kentucky. This work is a full-size American Saddlebred horse (traditional to the area) made from forged bronze in a loose gestural style. The pair of sculptures illustrate the scope of my aesthetic.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

We need more art. More in public spaces, more in private spaces, just more. An artwork is a unique creation. It was created by someone with passion and love. Everyone should own some original artwork, not for its monetary value, but for how it makes you feel. We spend money on many useless things. When you buy original artwork, you are buying a real story from a real person. This is the type of true human connection we are missing. In public spaces, art can honor a time, a place, or a person. Art conveys that society cares about a space.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the best part of creating large-scale work is the connection to the community. The art, and by proxy me, become part of the story of a place. The work is a visual of the narrative about a place and a people. This will continue beyond my time on the planet.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.havic.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/havic_studios/

Image Credits

All images were shot by me or Jenny Hager. The credit can go to Havic Studios.