We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ray-Mel Cornelius. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ray-Mel below.
Hi Ray-Mel , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
From the earliest age I can remember my most successful form of communication was visual. While I read a lot, and the printed word taught me about the world and life my own preferred form of communication was through drawing and interpreting my impressions of what I saw around me and my own thoughts and fantasies.
My mother probably gave me the most encouragement. When I was still preschool age she supplied a small blackboard that she hung on the kitchen wall. I drew with chalk on it incessantly, insisting she review what I had just drawn before erasing it and drawing something else. She would also make small books out of folded paper bags for which I would create illustrated stories.
My first awareness of visual art came from illustrations in books and magazines and cartoons on television and in movies. Visits to museums to see “real art” came after I was in college.
These influences showed me that it was possible, if difficult, to make creativity a life choice, not just a hobby. I decided to pursue art as a profession, in one form or another, while I was still in grammar school. I was fortunate to have a university with a respected art department fairly close to where we lived, and that made it easy to get the education I needed to realize my career.
Ray-Mel , 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?
Having a practical mindset I first decided to utilize my interest in art through the study of graphic design and illustration. Those were my first experiences with the concept of art when I was a child and so inspired my direction. After graduation I started my career as a designer/illustrator and found work with magazines, book publishers, record companies and as well as corporate advertising. These included Texas Monthly Magazine, Time Magazine, the New York Times, Dell Publishing, Warner Books, Capitol Records and corporate clients like Ocean Spray, Samsung, McDonalds and many others.
While working with commercial clients I also created my own work that freed me from the constraints of client needs. After almost 30 years in that profession I began working exclusively on paintings for gallery exhibitions. Since then I have had 12 one person shows and have been included in many juried group shows throughout the US. My acrylic paintings and pencil and ink drawings explore the natural world, its inhabitants and our relationship to both. They are in many private and public collections.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
If I can communicate and connect with an audience, such as finding and exploring a subject of interest to me and sharing that interest or observation with someone else in a way that inspires them to see the subject in a new way, or see it at all, then I feel I have been successful. That’s what gives me the most satisfaction in my career.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Often careers are pursued for the sole purpose of making money. Of course a career choice is important from the standpoint of making a living and contributing to the society and culture in some way, but if income is the primary purpose of how I chose to spend so much of my life and time then it’s inevitable that there would be a level of dissatisfaction. I have to love what I do to invest so much into it and I’m fortunate to have that option.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy and there sometimes is considerable sacrifice in pursuing an unconventional way of living. Balance is always important, too. But the tired cliche that “Do what you love and you won’t work a day in your life” has truth in it, as most tired cliches do. That’s why they persist.
Contact Info:
- Website: raymelcornelius.com
- Instagram: @raymelcornelius
- Facebook: facebook.com/rmcorneliusart