We were lucky to catch up with Pamela Maurer recently and have shared our conversation below.

Pamela, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happier as a creative? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job? Can you talk to us about how you think through these emotions?

I think it’s almost impossible to be happy as an artist, and it’s equally impossible to not be.

Being a creative professional is HARD, especially in the US where government funding for the arts is much lower than in peer countries around the world. There is a lack of cultural buy in, and without robust public arts funding, artists have to do a lot of work that we probably wouldn’t choose. I’m an installation artist, for example, and I design immersive environments. My work is large scale, and gallerists struggle to place me in shows because it’s a lot harder to sell an experience to a collector than it is to sell a painting. So I work for stores, restaurants, hotels, creating large scale pieces like window displays and lobby art. It’s not that designing lobby art isn’t fun, or that it doesn’t use my skills, but I have to share my creative energy with businesses and entities that I may not have alignment with. I have to be ‘on’ all day, and sometimes at the end of the day, I feel I don’t have any creative energy left for my own personal work. Sometimes I wish I didn’t want to make anything at all, and could just be happy to walk down the street enjoying the window displays created by others.

I have often dreamt of getting a job in some totally other field, answering phones at some small town dentist’s office, working on a farm or as a flight attendant. I think to myself, maybe if my creativity was not something I relied on to support my life, if I could be more comfortable working a ‘normal’ job with a ‘normal’ paycheck on a ‘normal’ schedule, maybe it would free my mind to focus more on my creative pursuits purely in my free time. There are a million examples of this in film, in literature, I’ve seen artist friends happier and more balanced with a non creative job, but I struggle to put it down.

I was given a copy of Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Letters to a Young Poet’ in high school—Sister Act 2 was a hot new movie at the time, and Whoopi Goldberg’s character in had given it to Lauryn Hill in a scene where she is pushing Lauren’s character to sing. My high school English teacher was giving copies away like it was going out of style. I was already a fan of Rilke’s poetry, as a moody theatre nerd, I would read backstage between scene changes on set crew. I loved the imagery of ‘The Panther,’ in particular, a poem that describes a powerful wild animal with its spirit tamed into submission, pacing behind the bars at the zoo. Rilke’s advice is summed up in that film like this: ‘Rilke says to this guy:’Don’t ask me about being a writer. lf When you wake up in the morning. you can think of nothing but writing…then you’re a writer.’

As early as I could hold a crayon or hum a tune, I was creating, always making up new ideas, inventing new ways to play. Creativity, for me, is a compulsion more than anything, meaning: I can’t help it. When I wake up, I am filled with inspiration, when I sleep, I dream about the things I want to do and to create. I find myself quietly watching the world, storing away inspiration, daydreaming about all the things I see inside my imagination. But it wasn’t until high school, building scenery in the shop on Saturdays and after school, that I started to understand how much happier I was when my hands, mind, body were MAKING. I’m a maker. I’m an artist, so would I be happier if I could walk away from it, put it down, find some other job? I don’t think so. I think even if I’m not paid to do the work I want to do, or paid not enough, it’s still better for me to be making, helping invent what’s next in the world of art and design. There’s a quote from that book that I carry with me from that time:

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to a creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.”

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 am a multimodal/multimedia artist and designer originally from Durango, CO, specializing in experiential installations, environmental design, sculpture, and videography. My work explores storytelling in 3D.

I primarily work as an installation artist and environmental designer, creating scenery and displays for public spaces like restaurants, theatres, hotels, museums, events, etc. I also create music videos, and use video in my installation work. I started young, working on set crew in the theatre at my small town highschool, building scenery on weekends, and getting really into making at a very large scale. I then went on to study scenic design and artistry in college, where I learned model making, drafting, etc. Shortly after college, I started working on the Mag Mile of Chicago, creating window displays and retail store interiors. For the past 15+ years, I’ve worked throughout the Midwest as a commercial artist: designing/fabricating environments for Harpo Studios, Field Museum, Anthropologie, Kehoe Designs, AllKinds Studio, etc.

My super power is helping clients create memories with space, and I’m passionate about restaurants and retail in particular. It’s hard to overstate how special it was for me as a young girl from a small town to see real ART on display in windows downtown in Chicago, the first BIG city I had ever lived in. It’s something accessible at any time, it’s meant for everyone, and you don’t have to pay to see it. Restaurants offer a similar experience for me: if the space is right, every kind of person should feel comfortable, cared for, and want to hang for a while.

I truly believe if you can imagine it, I can figure out a way to make it, or something close to it! I think my fabrication and project management knowledge sets me apart, as I can usually figure out a method to bring any idea to life.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The thing I love most about being an installation based artist who also works in interior design is that my name isn’t really applied to anything, there’s a special anonymity to the work. Usually I’m working as part of a larger team, so it’s a collective effort. Even if I am the leader or the idea starts with me, it’s usually not possible to create large things by one’s self. Because of this, I find the most joy at two parts of the journey – standing with my team at the end of something being installed and feeling collective pride and joy with the whole group is the top one. The second most rewarding part of the job is seeing people interacting with the space – taking pictures, posting about how amazing a space is. It’s humbling and lovely and it’s sorta nice to be ‘backstage’ and not in the spotlight because it’s about the space, not me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think a lot of non-creatives think the only way to be successful as an artist is to be famous or to teach. i think both are ways to be successful for sure, but ultimately there are many of us out here working, earning a living, paying our bills from just making art, and there is struggle sometimes, but we all make it work. I think non creatives have a hard time understanding that it’s worth the risk of maybe not making a lot of money if you get to do something every day that feeds your soul. My family in particular has always been ‘worried’ about me, but I’m really happy. I get to travel, I get to see and do cool things, I feel satisfied, but am I ever going to own a mansion, probably not. And that’s okay by me. The jobs are contract to contract, piece to piece, but somehow once you’re in the flow, if you just keep pushing, you can get to a point of comfort and stability.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://pamelamaurer.com
• Instagram: @pamela.makes.art
• Linkedin: Pamela Maurer
• Youtube: @BabyMoney4eva

Image Credits

Details from various projects, interactive mural panel, stills from videos.