We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Roshelle Carlson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Roshelle below.
Roshelle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
As a child, I was allowed freedom to create with art materials, and have loved art ever since I could remember. I would constantly fill up sketchbooks with drawing after drawing. In school, I would take any opportunity to turn an assignment into an art project. This led into the desire to participate in various week-long art camps during two or three summers growing up, where I learned crafts such as lanyard making and embroidery. However, I never had a formal fine arts education until I took my first art class during senior year of high school, where I was properly taught how to translate a small image into a large drawing using the grid method. Nothing else had ever clicked for me so easily and quickly, or was as enjoyable, as the instruction I received in that class, and the work which followed it. I then produced a number of photorealistic drawings, one of which won first place in a local arts competition.
From that moment on, I realized I had a talent, a passion, and a desire to study art. So, during my first year of college (UCSB), I declared myself a Chemistry major.
–I didn’t want to be a starving artist! I realized that Chemistry wasn’t for me (“You don’t say!”), so I decided to change my major to Sociology. I was trying to choose a path that would allow for more career options, but little did I know that art is truly the path I was meant to take for such opportunities. Finally, at 18 years old, I took a higher-level fine arts class that I was meant to have taken much later on in my schooling; while I was passing my other more “academic” classes with B’s and C’s, I got an A+. Not only that, but it was the one class I actually enjoyed taking! This made me wake up and smell the roses–art was officially my pursuit.
I declared a double major in Art and Sociology, because I still had a fear of being a “starving artist.” I was good at drawing, but many people are, so how could I stand out and become successful? Then, two years into my college education, I heard about a major that I knew I would thrive in professionally: Book Arts. Binding books by hand, printmaking, digital design, paper making! Having worked in a library and growing up reading, I had a certain admiration and love for books–not only for the stories they share and emotions they elicit, but also for their design from concept to the published product. I knew I possessed the talent for not only visual art but writing as well, and in learning that this medium consists of niche skills I could learn and a small community that provides networking opportunities, I felt I could turn this degree into a passionate career.
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.
My name is Roshelle, and I am a visual artist and teaching artist! I earned my degree in Art, emphasis in Book Arts, at UC Santa Barbara from the College of Creative Studies in 2020, and I started creating art under the press name Rose Shell Press soon after. I specialize in printmaking, artist’s books, and zines, but also dabble in photography, poetry, jewelry making, and murals. As a day job, I teach children’s painting, drawing, and printmaking classes at an arts center, a local art gallery, and occasionally schools. In addition to being a teaching artist, I am a library assistant, where I fulfill customer service, community programming, and makerspace roles. I make and teach art because I find it brings joy to not only myself, but to others. To me, knowledge is interesting, and important to both learn and share; artistic knowledge especially so.
Aside from creating and teaching art, my passions include community engagement, spending quality time with others, and non-visual artistic avenues such as social dancing! I live for serendipitous, small world, and full-circle moments; for example, one of my proudest art accomplishments is painting a mural at my former elementary school! As another example, I took classes as a child at the arts center where I now teach, and as a teen, I volunteered for many years at the library I now work at. Much of my art is inspired by these kinds of moments or personal experiences, and another large portion of my art is centered around climate or social issues and the environment. I enjoy developing narratives in my work using words and loaded imagery.
The main medium in my art practice is printmaking. My favorite printmaking process is reductive linoleum printing, where a carved linoleum block is placed on a Vandercook letterpress (circa 1950s), covered in ink, and the image is transferred to paper; the linoleum is taken off the press, carved again, and the process is repeated with different colored ink until most of the linoleum is reduced and the ink is layered on the paper to create a cohesive, multicolored image. I also enjoy printing hand-set type, which I have used to include my original poetry in hand-bound books. For fun, I like to create zines, design and paint laser-cut earrings, do photoshoots for friends and family, and sell my art at local art markets.
The artistic field in which my work resides, book arts, is a very niche field. I have learned many techniques, used specialized equipment, and created work in a way that is not as accessible as it would be in more common artistic fields such as painting or drawing. A print, from start to finish, may take anywhere from a couple of hours to two weeks to complete, depending on the scale. I have often spent 12-hour periods in an art studio, every day over the course of a week, working on one print. The process for handmade books takes a similar amount of time, or longer. In addition to the obstacle of time, I do not always have access to a studio or printmaking equipment; despite this, I have learned how to create using the limited space and materials I have at home, which is knowledge I pass on to others through my teaching.
I tribute my knowledge of book arts to my education at UCSB, and to the mentors who guided and taught me. Linda Ekstrom, Sarita Zaleha, Lucy Holtsneider, Inge Bruggeman, Rose Briccetti, Cathy Ellis, Andrew Morrison, and Sara Sterphone were just a few of these inspiring mentors who gave me feedback and advice during my journey to becoming an artist, and I am grateful for their impact on my success. I am thankful to my parents for allowing and encouraging me to be creative in my youth, and for always being supportive of whatever path I chose to take. I appreciate all of my family, friends, teachers, and acquaintances who have also supported and motivated me throughout the years. I would not be nearly as successful of an artist without their positive influence, so thank you to everyone who has supported myself and Rose Shell Press thus far, and who may do so in the future!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In 2020, my grandmother passed away unexpectedly, and I experienced true grief for the first time. Then, a few months later, during my last quarter of college, the Pandemic hit. On top of the grief for my grandmother, I experienced a sort of career grief–I graduated without a ceremony, could no longer work my university job, and had no job offers, which meant I did not have enough income to sustain rent in a city too expensive for a broke postgraduate. I was having a rough time figuring out what would be next. Luckily, my department offered me the opportunity to be Artist in Residence for two years. Now, this opportunity didn’t come with an income (although it did come with a small stipend for art-related expenses), nor did it come with housing, but it did come with the opportunity to use the studio on campus. However, because this residency came early in the Pandemic, the studios were closed to everyone, and the department had gone fully remote. So, staying in that city was not cost-effective, and I moved back home to live with my parents.
At this point, I felt lost and defeated: I went back to the same job I worked right out of high school, I had but one close friend in town because all of my friends from high school had moved away, the COVID vaccine hadn’t come out yet, so I didn’t feel comfortable spending more time in public than was necessary, and I couldn’t afford my own place. I wanted to create artwork for the residency, but I didn’t have any of the proper equipment, and the only “studio” space I had available was my mom’s kitchen table. So, I adapted. I used my mom’s kitchen table, my bedroom floor, and any other space I found to commandeer as my “studio.” Using the residency stipend, I purchased as many printmaking and bookbinding materials as possible to recreate, as best I could, the setup of the print studios on campus. I learned new techniques for printmaking without a printing press, and found new avenues for creating artwork, such as using the laser cutter at my workplace. Because my job was part-time, I used the rest of my time partly to audit virtual classes and attend meetings for the residency, and partly to create art and develop my press brand. Soon, I had enough inventory–and confidence–to begin selling at local markets.
Unfortunately, I came across yet more challenges. During the second year of my residency, I experienced the loss of a beloved mentor from within my department. The university reached out to myself and a fellow artist to create and publish a book in memoriam, and with the help of another mentor we embarked on a very important yet emotional year-long journey. During this time, I was nearing the end of the second year of my part-time job, and was told that due to understaffing I had worked more hours than I was legally allowed within a fiscal year; while I would be able to return when the new fiscal year began, I would not be consistently scheduled to work for three months. Luckily, I had my press to fall back on for income, but I was ready to explore something new. So one day on my way back from selling at a market, I passed by a local arts center that I had fond memories of from when I was a child, and I realized that this was the first time I felt passionately about wanting to work for a specific organization. I reached out with my resume and art experience to ask if they had any available teaching positions, and they responded with an offer to schedule an interview! I got the job, and through this new part-time position, I gained experience teaching printmaking. This led to a local art gallery, which hosted an art market I participated in, reaching out to me to ask if I would be interested in occasionally teaching printmaking workshops. All this being said, while three part-time positions and a personal art practice is a lot to juggle, I was able to overcome many grievances and unknowns to find opportunities within my field!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
The stereotype of being a professional creative is “starving artist” – which is true! To an extent. The fear, at least, of “starving” (being broke) is definitely real, and some of us have actually been there! Non-creatives may not understand why we would willingly face the unknown and a lack of security simply for our passion. The first reason that comes to mind is the visceral feeling of passion for creation. The strike of inspiration and the urge to pull it from an idea into an artistic form are overwhelming at times; my body will vibrate with the physical need to create. The anticipation to begin a project, the high of hard work, the relief and joy felt when a project is completed, and the feeling of pride when others admire, connect with, and are impacted by the finished project are why artists create despite all odds–emotion and passion are tied to our work, through and through.
I think a more straightforward reason creatives are so willing to take a risk for our passion is because those of us who are self-made, no matter where we end up, all start out with the unknown. There’s no way to avoid it if we are going to create. We don’t know how successful we’ll be (IF we’ll be successful); how long we’ll be involved in our art practice or how many breaks from it we may need to take; how much life will get in the way of our ability to create; what path we may want to take down the line; if anyone will like our work; if we will even like our OWN work; and we ourselves as artists are unknown within our community. The unknown just happens to be a constant factor for creatives, whether or not we are experienced or successful. Those who are lucky in their beginnings may have some backup or startup funds, or perhaps a beneficiary or an investor–so therefore have less risk involved–but we all have to face the unknown and at some point started from the ground up, whether that’s financially, within our community, building a brand, or even when it comes to practicing and honing our talents.
Creatives might be misunderstood as only focusing on fun, hobbies, and color; our efforts may be viewed as a lack of functionality, a waste of time, or unproductive. What non-creatives may not realize–other than the fact that we have an emotional and passionate connection to our work–is that because we are starting something from the ground up, we are putting a lot more time and effort into our work than they may think. I do, however, believe that many non-creatives will see and appreciate our art and hard work, and will relate it to their personal, non-art based endeavors; but they may not understand the creative process behind it or have any concept of the effort that came along with that process. So, a bit of insight for folks who may not understand this process–for me it looks something like this:
→ inspiration
→ ideas
→ write or sketch the ideas
→ finalize the draft sketch or plan
→ brainstorm logistics for creation: how long it will take to make, scheduling time to make it, what materials are needed, quantity of each material that is needed
→ estimate cost for materials needed
→ purchase & gather materials
→ prep materials (i.e. cut paper, mix ink, etc.)
→ CREATE!
→ make mistakes
→ create until preferred quantity or quality is achieved (this could take hours, days, months)
→ drying/setting time
Now, this is just the creation process. I could go on to include the packaging, submissions, advertising/marketing, showing, selling, and distribution processes, but that would be information overload. The point is, there are just as many steps to each of those processes as there are to simply creating. On top of that, many creatives, like myself, are doing this all on their own. I sometimes have to go hours without relief at markets because I am the only person manning my booth!
The journey to being a creative is never a straightforward one. You have to find opportunities, take chances, accept that you may experience losses or even fail. It’s not a guaranteed life, there is no security like a 9-5 would give you. And if you have a 9-5, you’re working outside of that time, stretching yourself thin for your passion. If you’re like me, you may not be working a traditional full-time job, but you’re hustling long past the hours a full-time would require of you for far less financial payoff. The tradeoff here is fulfillment, joy, and pride; I live a very colorful life. I wish I could have the best of both worlds, and I’m sure it will come at some point, but this is what’s working for me for where I’m at during this point in my life, with the experience I do have. That’s what a lot of being a creative is: gaining experience, learning. The education (and the work) is neverending, and we get a lot out of it in the long run. If we’re putting the effort in, using our creativity, building something; we’re not “starving” artists, because our souls are full.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://roseshellpress.wixsite.com/home
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roseshellpress/ (@roseshellpress)
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550363817440
- Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@roseshellpress
- Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/roseshellpress
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credits
Roshelle Carlson