We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lindsey Millikan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Lindsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I am a contemporary realist artist. Over the past thirteen years, my work has focused on fostering social connection, community engagement, and environmental stewardship. I create visual touchstones that reckon with our past, reflect our present, and inspire us to leap forward with intention into our future. I am available for commercial murals, large-scale public art projects, and fine art commissions. Atlassian, Twitch, Salesforce, CNN, Sentry, and Simple Mills are select companies that have commissioned commercial murals and fine art paintings. I have collaborated with Hungry Ghost Productions and Building 180 on dozens of large-scale mural installations. The City of Austin and the City of Oakland are municipalities that have commissioned me for multiple large-scale murals over the years. Throughout my career, I have honorably assisted notable artists such as Prairie Prince, Daniel Galvez, Sosakete, and Gay Outlaw with public works in Washington, Nevada, and California. I have dedicated a large part of my artistic practice to creating public art installations for wonderful community organizations such as the Chabot Space & Science Center, PangeaSeed, 826 Valencia, Attitudinal Healing Connection, Pomo Indian Cultural Center, Saint Francis Homelessness Challenge, and Paint the Void.
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?
I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. After I achieved my BFA from Texas State University, I moved to San Francisco to complete my MFA from the Academy of Art University. I worked steadily in the Bay Area on dozens of public art projects, murals, and installations. In addition, I kept an active studio practice and regularly exhibited in galleries and untraditional venues. In recent years, I have invested in a home in Austin, Texas, which allowed me to create a live/work studio practice with my partner. Since being in Austin, I have created permanent murals and installations for Atlassian, an interior mural for the Austin Municipal Courthouse, a 3800 sq ft exterior mural for the City of Austin Gus Garcia Recreation Center, and created a new body of fine art paintings that have recently been seen on the Austin Studio Tour, Almost Real Things, the Carver Museum and the MACC with Big Medium.
I am actively looking for a gallery home to display the new series titled “Tides and Time.” These paintings combine my traditional atelier fine art painting training with the on-the-street mural skills I have acquired over the past dozen years. I purposefully distort dimension and perspective to imply a folding and stretching of ourselves. Many of us question our current situation, our past choices, and our chosen path forward in this dystopian present. These paintings capture the moment an individual faces that fear, fills their lungs with air, and takes that terrifying leap forward into the future with intention and awe.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Individually, we can best support artists by investing with our time, money and interest. Examples can be: attend artist events (e.g. shows, open studios, mural unveilings, live music shows, screenings, artists talks), purchasing original works and prints, and sharing work you love via your social network.
As a society, we can better support our artists through public arts investment. Currently, public arts are woefully underfunded. Public art gives communities a sense of place and belonging, which further instills a sense of societal social connection.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I want my work to become a part of society’s visual library. I have long kept my fine art painting practice and public art mural practice as two separate entities. I realize now those various skill sets are a strength, and I should be embracing them as one. I would love to work with and collaborate with creatives and curators who celebrate the connection and bridge these two areas in the art world as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lindseymillikan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milli_art
- Other: https://www.cohart.com/u/lindseymillikan https://www.wescover.com/creator/lindsey-millikan-milli
Image Credits
millikan_naedaze_2022.jpg. Photographer: Lynae Carroll millikan_buildingcommunity_2023. Photographer: Christian Bruncsak millikan_atlassianaustin_2022. Photographer: Whitney Arostegui millikan_chabotwelsome_2021. Photographer: Eric Cabunoc