Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tammy Varela. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tammy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I feel like I’m truly myself when I’m creating art whether it be cakes, sugar, painting, etc. As a young child, I always loved drawing, painting, or anything I could do to let my imagination run free. This is exactly why I chose to go to college and get my BA in Fine Arts. After school, I really struggled to find my niche in the art field. So much so that I decided to go into retail management which was not an easy task.. The money was good and I got to utilize my leadership skills plus learned many life lessons but I always felt like a piece of me was missing….. my creative side. I was never really able to unleash my creative abilities in that job. I was so miserable that I finally decided to leave and peruse something more in the creative field which lead me to merchandising then the edible arts.
I’m actually very blessed to have both a regular job and a side job that allows me to be creative. By day I’m a full time Visual Merchandiser for Pike Nursery then a cake/sugar artist by night. As a visual merchandiser, I create inspirational garden displays so customers can envision what they can do to their own garden landscapes. To do this, I merchandise various plants, pottery, and garden decor accents with the goal of selling in mind.
After an 8-10 he shift I come home and settle in for a bit before I start creating edible art. I especially love doing this when the house is quiet and with just my one of my favorite tv sitcoms playing in the background. I’m usually creating either isomalt show pieces or fondant structures. Usually I create these just because I want to or because its for a competition. For me, there is.just something about working with my hands and creating unique one of a kind art that I absolutely love. From time to time I’ll also create custom cakes for my favorite customers so with that I spend my time baking and creating decor for their cakes. It’s very rewarding to see how much they love and appreciate my talents as well as how much time and work I put into their cake.
Tammy, 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?
After earning a Fine Arts degree from Georgia College and State University while majoring in drawing/painting I found my passion. Over the years I’ve been fortunate to to have several of my oil paintings on exhibit for sale in Helen, Ga. But while working y way up through management for a Fortune 500 company, I found my passion continuously calling me back to art. So, about 8 years ago I decided to change careers allowing me to have more freedom to really explore my creative side and while searing for my wedding cake it never became more apparent the opportunity for edible art pieces. I began taking basic fondant/gumpaste classes which grew into a world which I’m so lucky to be a part of. After a few years I started attending cake shows and taking more advanced classes. From there I gained so many friendships, relationships with vendors, and overall personal growth. Through these relationships it inspired me to try out for some tv shows which I was chosen for. Last year I had the pleasure of competing on Food Networks Holiday Wars. Our team didn’t win unfortunately but it was such an amazing experience. Hopefully I’ll be able to participate on other shows in the near future. I’m a very competitive person and that’s one of the reasons why I love attending cake shows. Competing in the cake show competitions allows me to step outside my comfort zone and just go all out. I’ve been fortunate to win 1st place in some and even win Best in Show. Plus when I go to shows now I’ actually have the honor of working at a couple of vendor booths doing demonstrations, selling their products, and helping other up in coming cake/sugar artists with achieving their passion. On occasion when I’m not traveling to cake shows I also create custom cakes for my most favorite customers. Along with all this, I also create instructional tutorials for various cake decorating magazines which is so much fun. Yes, I live a very crazy creative life and loving every moment of it!!!! I feel very fulfilled personally as well as professionally being a part of this cake/sugar world and look forward to what the future holds.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the ability to just be myself. Often times in society when we’re growing up we’re all taught to be or act a certain way in order to be successful in life. For me, a successful adult equated to having a job where I made a lot of money. Anything short of that would be me being a failure as an adult. Well, after I graduated college I took a retail management position for many years and made plenty of money but I unfortunately never felt successful. I always felt like a part of me was missing. But when I decided to switch careers I started to realize that money wasn’t the only thing that made you successful. Allowing myself to release my creativity gave me such peace and happiness. Also seeing everyone’s positive reactions to my edible art has just solidified what I knew deep down all along…. I’m an artist.
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.
Over the years working in retail management as well as what I do now I’ve gotten to know many non-creatives. Most of the time they tend to be more operational minded, which is great but hard to get them to understand your point of view. They have a way of handling processes, very business focuses, and very numbers based. Plus it’s very hard for them to visualize something that is explained. I know I’ve struggled over the years trying to explain to someone how something should look. My husband is a very operational minded person and sometimes it’s hard to get through to him what I’m thinking. For example, I got an order for a moving smoking cake. Yes, this cake moved and smoked. I needed his construction and engineering knowledge to get this cake off the ground. After a lot of discussions, I realized his version vs my version were completely different. His sizing was way larger than mine plus the way everything would look and move. So I had to literally draw everything with measurements for each thing. Then I had to take it a step further and have precise sized cut outs of each part of the cake. In the end the cake was a huge success but I learned a lot about how to work with a person who was handy in many ways but not so creative.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://artisticcakedesigns.com
- Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/artisticcakedesigns1
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artisticcakedesigns/
Image Credits
All pics take by me.
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