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

Rose, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I could have waited a few more years before I threw myself in to working but, I think through a subconscious need to escape home I started very early on. I was working at a bicycle shop at the age of ten. I swept the floor and took out the trash in exchange for inner tubes and magazines. Eventually we were on to our own ideas carving “bash guards” out of steel with angle grinders, packaging them, and selling them through the bike shop to other BMX’ers. At age 15 I drew a pair of handle bars in drafting class and had 50 pairs made. A local machine shop owned by a cyclist’s father helped fund the run. I learned then it didn’t make much difference how old you were you just needed to make all of the steps happen.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The best explanation for what I do is I am an artist. The work I create is based in craftsmanship. I am primarily known in the automotive world and there is a see saw type balance or perhaps ongoing argument of Art or Craft and what dominates the trade. I went to a vocational high school for printing and spent many years in print shops creating tangible goods through very mechanical methods. Eventually I wandered in to working on cars, my own van specifically. These experiences are what lead me to eventually publishing my own van magazine, Custom Vanner Magazine. When my van needed sheet metal repairs I elected to do them myself. Moving from paper substrate to metal my Dad signed me up for a night time welding course at a local high school and I was on my way, or so I thought. Fast forward five years and I was lost in terms of what was taking place when working with metals. I went to Fay Butler Fabrication outside of Boston, MA to learn material science. The training that Fay has provided me gave me a career in classic and custom cars. Material science gave me a language by which to learn about materials and to provide for customers. When I eventually wandered in to making bubble windows for vans I was now working in a multi discipline process to finish these rather boutique products. I was welding aluminum extrusion, forming sheet metal and welding it, then forming the acrylic lens. After which i was finalizing via assembly, buffing, clean up, and packaging the product. This was a huge undertaking, bringing back a product that had not been around for almost thirty years. At the same i had developed about 60 other van related parts like floor pans, exterior metal panels, and fiberglass parts to sell to hopeful van restorers. Another mentor, Gene Winfield, who is a seminal father, or grandfather of custom cars and movie cars had taught me about forming plastic. He’d been an honorary member of a plastic society in the fifties for his work with plastic bubble tops and the like, while simultaneously holding a nascar drivers license from around the same time. What this all adds up to is my journey in craft. I have traveled and had the chance to work with some of the greats in automotive. This fuels all of my endeavors whether artistic or mechanical. Ive been in bands for most of my life and continue to try fit music in to schedule, I still enjoy film photography which I learned in high school. I’ve worked in televsion. I have hosted out door events like the Van Nationals. One of my favorite achievements is the hardback book I published about the 49th Van Nationals. I enjoy giving my own perspective on craft and art. I don’t think I’ve really presented anything that is a true representation of what i have been working towards. I believe that is still coming. All the same the pieces I have made up to this point do point to dedication and a burning interest in creating.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Steven Pressfield’s “The war of art” is a favorite of mine. I share it with friends in the industry when I see someone in a turning point in their career. The ideas are written in small digestible bites. Many of the ideas are a single page. Something that is mentioned very early in the book that sticks with me is about putting in the time regardless of the outcome. Sitting down at the work station, putting in a days work and calling it. He refers to his writing and says that it doesn’t matter how many pages or if they are good pages. For many of us we struggle to find a balance thinking we need to accomplish so much in a day. Daniel Kahneman in “Thinking Fast and Slow” lays this out as a planning fallacy. We are often much too optimistic in what we believe we can accomplish. When I started accepting what I could do in a day as a valiant effort the mental battle of productivity and self worth was easier on me. It doesn’t necessarily make customers happy but that is a layer of expectation management you deal with after you become more realistic about what can happen in a day.

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

When you see someone make something look easy you should tell yourself “they must be really good at that.” You have to realize when you see a skilled worker doing their thing you are watching a movie like montage, flashing decades of experience right before your eyes. This is much easier to apply to hand crafts. In a digital world many people believe when a computer controlled machine is involved it’s a matter of pushing a button. Without knowledge of materials and technology none of what is produced could happen or would make sense. There is a difficult dichotomy here though. There are many who participate in art and creation from amateur perspectives that unintentionally remove value from trades or skills. Would be consumers can often not tell the difference off hand. I think one way for people to reinforce or refine their value judgement is to try doing it yourself. While I realize most people won’t, I have occasionally had some rather gracious customers who said ” i already tried to make it myself so believe me I’m grateful for the value and admire the craft”.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @queenofthevans, @customvannermagazine
• Other: I’m currently employed via @brosseaus_coachworks so readers could view that if they want to see more of what i do daily. Custom Vanner is currently on the back burner so i don’t really want to encourage people to visit the website but that is customvanner.com.

Image Credits
They’re all by me.