We recently connected with Liz Yanez and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Liz, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
I feel like my walks in life have always been guided by a powerful star. Ever since I can remember I would always be drawing something, like filling up a paper with collages of drawings I had made of all the brands of which I liked their logos. I would draw cartoon characters and even had my own. The day I decided I would be a graphic designer clearly comes to mind. One day my family and I were visiting some friends and the oldest son was on his way to college. I asked him what he wanted to be and he said a graphic designer. He explained what that was and after listening to his explanation I knew right there that it was what I wanted to be as well, and so my journey to become a graphic designer began. After college I got into murals and doing mosaics among some art mediums and I have tried to dab into as many techniques and mediums as I can, loving each and everyone of them.
Liz, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Liz was born in Mexico City. Her parents moved to Houston for work when she was 1 year old. She grew up here but would spend her summers in Mexico with her grandparents. She grew up surrounded by art since her mother was a painter. She would love going to the art store and looking at all the awesome art supplies. She wished she could have everything there and know what they were used for. She would draw all the time. As a student she won several prizes in art shows at her elementary school which was next to the HISD main building back in the day. Her school’s name was Will Rogers Elementary and is now a Costco. She loved that school. Who would have thought that she would be working for the same school district as an adult. She recently met a fellow student from the same elementary school, but has never kept in touch with anybody from that school, which she regrets. She went to college and became a Graphic designer! She loved her college years and wishes they would have never ended. She worked as a freelancer in Mexico City as well as a translator/interpreter for Procter & Gamble, and then moved back to Houston. She became a flight attendant, but did not enjoy some of the issues that came with it so she only stayed for one year. She later worked with children at catholic charities non-profit organization for 3 years and loved it when kids would call her teacher. She began meeting people who were teachers and they pushed her to become one, so she did. She loved it and has been doing that for 13 years. She currently does freelance art stuff like logos for non-profit organizations, murals, and help with mosaics among other things. “Artyfact” is the name with which she represents herself. She does anything art for anybody who needs it. Her Instagram is artyfact28, you can see some of her art on there as well as art lessons she does at school with the little ones.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
Growing up I loved drawing. What always impacted me the most was advertising campaigns and the logos for the products. I would draw and imitate product logos on all my art. I later decided I needed a logo as well and went to a long process until I finally created my final logo, which is my current image. I registered for it last year and feel very happy I finally got to do that. After I went to college I began to do more logos and corporate images for several clients in Mexico. I realized when I moved back to Houston that I had to begin my client list from scratch and do a lot of networking. It was taking too long to actually make money from my art, so I had to look for a stable income job. I became a teacher and was able to do what I love, ART. The most rewarding thing about being an art teacher is being able to see the most beautiful works of art made by some extraordinary artists with un-contaminated and very pure creativity, My Students. If I could keep some of them I would, but they know what they do and rarely want to give me their work, lol.They make the most beautiful works of art with some simple instructions. The biggest reward is motivating children to create and express themselves through art. Participating in art events with my students’ creations is very rewarding. The last show we participated in was “Let there be Gold” from The Faris Foundation. It is such a great feeling to be there and see all the students’ creations for such a great cause. Art is very rewarding to me, being that I see it as working day by day to make this world prettier, While others make it better in other ways. Art is everywhere!!!
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Society now is more open minded and Art savvy. However it would be great if society would provide spaces for Art. Such as cafes offering works of art for sale, without asking for anything in return. Businesses could allow artists to paint their outside walls to make it look more artsy. Non-bias and open minded people would be greatly appreciated. Lets just accept everyone for who they are and not expect anything from anyone. We must all understand that we are all different and we all think different, so let’s just all accept everyone and get along and prevent unnecessary wars. If everyone would look at things in a more creative and art filled way instead of judging and being negative about everything our town would be much prettier and more attractive. The word hate should not be used so freely, PEACE is what we all need in our hearts and not HATE. So let’s all create beautiful things physically, spiritually and mentally. Thank you for the opportunity to express myself, Let there be gold, like Faris would say.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sites.google.com/view/artyfact/home
- Instagram: https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Finstagram.com%2Fartyfact28%3Figshid%3DOGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%253D%253D%26utm_source%3Dqr&data=05%7C01%7CLizeth.Yanez%40houstonisd.org%7C7a19e50d0cdc4211b71708dbc66748bd%7Cf5eb996693364b3388959982425b13ed%7C0%7C0%7C638321919167380904%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Li5lFj5EOhhZ%2FCs0M7vrHiDzhD0MTMQw8e%2BQh198Zl8%3D&reserved=0
- Facebook: https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Finstagram.com%2Fartyfact28%3Figshid%3DOGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%253D%253D%26utm_source%3Dqr&data=05%7C01%7CLizeth.Yanez%40houstonisd.org%7C7a19e50d0cdc4211b71708dbc66748bd%7Cf5eb996693364b3388959982425b13ed%7C0%7C0%7C638321919167380904%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Li5lFj5EOhhZ%2FCs0M7vrHiDzhD0MTMQw8e%2BQh198Zl8%3D&reserved=0