We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natty Moss Bond a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Natty, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

As a child, my father had a paint store. House paint. He had a very small section of art supplies and that is where I always was. I would copy (very poorly and mostly with house paint) paintings I saw in books and hang them around my room. ha ha!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have been a musician for many years and as you know, it’s a young persons game. I have always been an artist and at one point, I slowly switched from making my living as a musician to working in the art world… I also worked for many other businesses along the way. One of them was a printing company…and at the same time that I became appalled at the waste in the printing world, I also couldn’t believe how expensive it was to be an artist. I started looking for alternative art supplies. One thing there was an abundance of was magazines and catalogs…so I started doing collage. I made cards out of reclaimed file folders and images cut out of old books, magazines, junk mail…whatever I could find. I called my cards “Rubbish”.
From that, I started finding other things that I could use in my art in garbage bins and construction sights. I make shrines out of old kitchen drawers and candy tins. Mirrors out of plywood and mirrors left on the side of the road.
Having been a singer, words have become very important to me…so I incorporate words into many of the things that I make. My shrines have stories on the back. I make mirrors with positive affirmations on them… birdhouses covered with words… In the last few years, I have taken on the world of pottery and needless to say… words cover my pots.
http://nattymossbond.com


https://www.instagram.com/nattymossbond/

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

Buy ART… I realize that times can be tough, but there is no better karma than shopping local and buying things that local creatives make. Starving artists are really no joke. If you own a retail business, sell art. Local art is great because you totally save on shipping. Shipping is so expensive and hard on the environment. And even though many art supplies are from other countries, get as local as you can.
If you are in the service industry, buy art for presents for you clients… Buy handmade Christmas cards from local artists… Everyone has a birthday…you get my drift.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I am serious about this saving the planet stuff… As humans and artists, it is our responsibility to be good stewards of this planet. I use a lot of reclaimed products and what I don’t use, I either donate or recycle…My art recycling bleeds into my day to day life. I barely have garbage for the garbage men to pick up. I have a compost heap…I try like crazy to only buy reclaimed or recycled anything…. I realize it’s impossible to be perfect, but this will only help if we all pull together. We can’t wait on the government or industry to do it for us. They don’t care that much.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nattymossbond.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nattymossbond/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nattymossbond/
• Twitter: not a fan
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nattymossbond
• Yelp: nope
• Soundcloud: none
• Other:
  
  
  https://www.pinterest.com/nattymossbond/my-beaded-voodoo-dolls/

Image Credits

Photo of Natty by Carrie Waite
All other photos by Natty Moss Bond