We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephanie Romero. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephanie below.
Alright, Stephanie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?
First dollar I ever earned as a creative was for a “Pet Screw”. It was back in the 70″s and Pet Rocks were all the rage. My grandmother and grandfather lived in front of the railroad tracks so us kids played back there, super dangerous. But I collected anything I found back by the tracks, pennies, cool animal bones (probably just chicken bones from the people that jumped the trains), and railroad track bolts that had come out of the track. I thought those rusty things were so super cool. I wanted to make something out of them but what? That’s when I jumped on the idea of a pet bolt. That wasn’t a catchy name so I changed it to The Pet Screw. Yes I knew that was a double entendre, I was in fifth grade. lol Plus I knew the adults would find it funny. So, I walked my middle lower class neighborhood door to door selling my Pet Screws. The bolt was shellacked and they all had googly eyes and a white or black yarn mustache I glued on, I think with contact cement. From these sales one of my neighbors loved how creative I was and they gave me a spool of Copper wire. I went home and found my parents needle nose pliers and just started twisting and turning and finding things to contain inside the twisted wire to make pendants but mostly earrings. I even made the wire hooks from the Copper. I loved it. And then went door to door with my new product. My neighbors were the best!! My Mom and Dad were the best! They would allow me use their tools and play around and make things with everyday objects. I did have to promise not to take apart the eletronic kitchen tools anymore as I wasn’t so good at putting them back together. So I graduated to buying broken electronics from garage sales and taking them apart to make new art with. That was my very first experience with earning a dollar as a creative.
Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Well, my name is Stephanie Romero, I am originally from Denver but have lived here in El Paso more then half my life so I call my self a native by choice. I was lucky in that I went to high school in Denver and they offered so many different art class choices: drawing, enameling, ceramics, pottery, jewelry making ( lost cast and soldering), and industrial eduction classes as well. I had wanted to open a gallery to help other artist when I was younger as well as myself but was told at UTEP that was not such a great choice. So…I went into education, which was fine, because I am a born teacher. All of my mother’s side of the family were teachers and coaches and my Dad was a teacher and coach. In fact they all thought I would be a PE coach. Ha! Too much standing around outside and not making things. I wanted to teach art but again was asked by the university if I could not be employed for a few years as there were not many art teaching positions in the area at the time. So….I got a minor in Geology and Art and taught Elementary school until an art position opened. Oh, and by the way…,most of my lessons, even math, had art components to them. Products they could create in which they demonstrated what they learned and how it would help them in a real live situation.
I taught art in El Paso for over 20 years and mentored many future art teachers all while taking workshops and art classes outside of town to add to my skills and continue to work on my art as I taught to make my living. I loved my job. This past year I retired and decided to travel and do my art as well as teach workshops here in El Paso and in different places as I travel. Recently taught a private workshop to three young college boys in Cairo. I have done private classes in Denver as well and hope to spread my teaching areas as I am asked to go to different venues and create some of my own. Here in El Paso I teach workshops at Retro Revival where I also have some of my artwork for sale, at Wine Down in Socorro which is across the street from Bodega Loya where I share a room with Patsy Torres and we have our art and crafts for sale there. I have sold my mixed media Crosses and some Dia de los Muertos clay pieces at Collectibles, Marilyn is very supportive of local artists and has been one of my champions for selling my work in shops verses craft fairs. I did do over 12 years of craft fairs in New Mexico, El Paso, and Arizona. As well as assisted with workshops at Art Unraveled which was held in Phoenix Arizona over 12 years.
I like to say Im a jack of all trades, I have played with and explored mixed media, painting, portraits, pet portraits, drawing, sculptural work, ceramics and hand building and am continuing to push my self to mix and try new, to me, mediums. I have recently begun to do Lino cuts as a form of relaxation and will be teaching this soon in one of the El Paso Venues or in one of my two El Paso studios, if I can clear off some tables.lol I think the tables are brown at one studio and beige at the other.
I think I want to create and help others create. I want to take away the snobbishness that some people feel with artists and I want to show people that we all are just doing what we see or can do.
Anyone can create. Will it be in the museum? Who knows. But does it need to be? If that is your goal, great. Go for it, practice, learn, be open and keep practicing and learning. But what I want for my students list to have fun and learn something new. Bring themselves to the workshop and leave all the negative voices from their past or from themselves outside the classroom. I used to tell my school children, leave your negativity outside the classroom, bring only open willingness, if you want you can pick up the negativity from the hall on your way out, I doubt anyone will steel it. I want to show people that they can create art for themselves, to make themselves happy or relaxed or take them to a place they don’t normally go. Even in a drawing class, yes, you may feel uncomfortable for awhile but that is part of learning, if it isn’t difficult at first you aren’t really learning anything new or pushing yourself to learn something new. Bring back the slogan, “Make art not war”….wait, was that the slogan?
My commission clients will get a piece that is part of me, I try to bring in my simple observations from around the world, the commonalities and the wonderful rich culturally different and similar. Be it a portrait , an abstract, or a non representational work. I can and do work form the clients photos when they want a portrait , but I also like to get a sense of the person or animal. Something about their persona. I love workin with color an a bit of the abstract but can be a tad more realistic when called for, not photo realistic, that is for people who love that kind of work and for cameras. I call my work whimsical or folk art but was recently described as illustrative by a publisher. That made me feel like a real Artist, with a capital A. I think I have just been an artist with a lower case a for the last 50 plus years, even though I have sold work to people all around the country. I wish I would have kept a notebook of all the places by work was being taken home to. It’s so fun to think of it living in a different country. I have done commissions for clients in Cairo, Egypt, and Dortmund, Germany. Mainly because I travel to those countries and meet people there.
Recently I have gotten into Neurographic art, which was started by a Russian psychologist Pavel Piskarev. He has created a “Algorithm for removing limitations”, as written in his Instructor course training manuals and pamphlets. Basically organic lines are created and then softened at the intersections resembling neurons. From there the theory is changing your stress into a beautiful piece of art and maybe working out a problem you have at the same time. That is just my most basic definition. I have been teaching it for the last three years first to my school students, and I do brag that they had 100 percent success rates with this because they are not trying to draw anything that anyone has seen before. It is so freeing. Yes there are basic rules but the end products are very personal to them. I hope to eventually go to a training session for more background information on the science of the studies, I love learning about the brain and try to share that knowledge in the classes that I teach, when applicable.
Like Donkey said, in Shrek, “pick me pick me” if you want to have fun in your art or learn to enjoy doing art. O.k that was weird and I’m working on zero hours of sleep as I just got back from Cairo last week with a quick side trip to Vegas. lol. When in town I can be available for home parties and private lessons as well as commissions. My turn around for commissions is anywhere from one week to two months depending on my work load.
Ok. I’m off to paint a mural in Colorado. So I have to get my paint together. Yes, I do Mural work.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I guess I had to unlearn that art is for everyone. I knew this deep down inside but what I witnessed living in Denver in the 70’s and what I remember is that ART was for the wealthy. It was photo realistic. It was unattainable to the every day Joellene. If you weren’t in the “crowd” you were a crafter. I absolutely hated that term. Even in college I hated that term. It felt like your creation or product was being belittled. Mainly because I worked so much with clay, and I would get the oh, your a craftsman not an artist. And I’d be like. Um. excuse me, I work from what I see and feel to produce and original product, I never worked as a production artist, even if I made a dozen Frida mugs they all were different. I had to unlearn the negative feeling that I allowed myself to attach to a term. And just create. Artist, creator, craftsman, human…Yes!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Well for me there are two things that stand out to me today, ask me tomorrow my answer will probably change, but first: It is so rewarding as an art facilitator, I like that better then teacher, to see the faces and see the tight body language loosen up while your students are doing their art or when they are critiquing it at any point of the process. I love that we humans can give ourselves some grace and breaks and love the process as much as the product. Or find something from the product to enjoy, even if the don’t love their first piece, almost always there is something they take from it being in the actual product or in the process.
Second: I love that my over active brain has a release. I don’t find it in cleaning, but I do like a clean house. I find peace in my brain when creating, be it cooking, baking, or art making. Not even my sleep most nights gives me the kid of peace that creating brings me. Because I find myself constantly creating and recreating in my sleep. I used to keep a notebook by the bed but that would wake me up so now I just try to go back to sleep. I am so so thankful that my parents allowed and nurtured my creativity as a way to cope, live, and love.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: stephanieromeroart
- Other: email: [email protected]