We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mikel Robinson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mikel, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
It was about eight years old when I decided that I wanted to be a writer. As I got older that morphed into being a radio DJ and I knew early on that whatever I did in life both personally and professionally would need to have some sort of artistic aspect or outlet involved. In High School I dabbled in all sorts of creative endeavors, taking art classes, getting involved in yearbook and ultimately bringing creativity to just about anything I touched. Being a creative is just want I knew I needed to be and I’d say that really hit me at 8 years old.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Mikel Maureé Robinson and I come from a long line of creatives on both sides and not a one of them the same. I grew up surrounded by artists and not all of them in the conventional sense. I was encouraged at a young age to follow that path but to also have a back-up plan. I knew there was lucrative ways to make a living using my creative talents. I went on to get a bachelor’s degree in mass communications. I did my internship at a radio station and after graduation was able to obtain a job there, starting my creative journey as a radio DJ. I was an on-air personality for about 6 years, I also sold radio ads and wrote the copy, voiced ads, and made liners for about 4 years. I moved on to run a bar and became a full-time bartender, something I did to get through college that I found to be very artistic in its own right. At that time, I also helped my husband open a leather business that we still run today just now it is out of our home. Currently my full-time job is I am the executive director of my local museum, The Plains Indians and Pioneers Museum where I get to work with other artists and photographers to exhibit in our art gallery. I get to incorporate many of my creative talents in this job and I love that, but I have also get to meet a lot of really amazing artists and have grown in my own creative side hustles. I think what would set me apart from others is my overactive curiosity and creative problem-solving skills. I tend to search every corner of the box inside and out, creatively mitigating the events of a problem and moving it from the dark back to the light. Since I was in college, I have pursued my art but always on the backburner to my full-time creative gigs, but I try to find balance between the two. You’ll find me creating under the name Mikel Maureé Art and Mikel Maureé Photography. I don’t tend to work in just one medium therefore I don’t focus fully on each of them. Some do get more attention than others, but I flow with my creativity and if that means switching mediums, I honor that.
Those mediums include but are not always limited to, acrylic on canvas where I tend more towards abstract art that is very much
influenced by my emotions and nature. I am a photographer with an emphasis on landscape, animal and nature photography but I also enjoy product/brand, event/concert, and lifestyle photography. I am a writer and poet, you may find me writing content copy and blogs, but you’ll find me mostly writing poetry that I will share on my social media sites and now with a chapbook, “For the Days We Spend in Hell,” available for purchase on Amazon and my website. I also macrame, tool leather, make jewelry, do graphic design and most recently am a podcaster. Some of my accomplishments include my photography being published in Snap’d Magazine, the publication of my first poetry collection I spoke of, and I have done two murals, one in Wichita, KS and one in my current town of Woodward, OK. I want my art in all of its many forms and mediums to spark an emotion in you. I want you to experience it and feel something.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I’d say the most rewarding aspect of being an artist and creative is what it gives back to me. I know that sounds selfish and conceited but hear me out. Creating is very therapeutic for me. As I have said for a long time now its gives more back to me than it has ever taken. In other words, art for me is therapy. As the great Pablo Picasso once said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life”, and I felt every word of that.
In your view, what can society do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mikelmaureeart.com
- Instagram: mikelmaureeart
- Facebook: mikelmaureeart
- Linkedin: Mikel Robinson
- Twitter: mikelmaureeart
- Youtube: mikelmaureeart
- Other: Patron: Mikel Mauree’ Art TikTok: mikelmaureeart