We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Taylor Gallegos. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Taylor below.

Taylor, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Meaningful projects is an interesting topic in terms of being a “Working Creative.” Meaning is something that we assign to a situation. Meaning can come in different forms for the professional creative – there’s the personal connection with a project, the weight of the concept, the creative freedom, the financial component, the opportunity prospect.. Ideal projects check all the boxes, but those aren’t the norm, especially in the beginning of one’s professional journey. As I’ve gotten farther into my career though, those projects have been happening more and more.

Some of the most meaningful projects have been the ones that hit closest to the heart, often an honoring of a person who’s passed, or an honoring of someone or something great. As a visual artist, people come to me to paint their ideas into reality. There’s a lot of gravity in this for me, and I feel the responsibility of this position to bring these projects to fruition to the best of my ability.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a painter. My main outlets are murals and paintings on canvas. I’ve been painting and drawing since I could hold a crayon. I’ve always loved observing the world and then recreating it in my own way.

I make murals and paintings for individuals, residential and commercial projects, and municipalities. People come to me with a vision or and idea and I help them flush it out. It’s a collaboration where their concept gets filtered through my mind, artistic perspective, and practical artistic considerations. From there I bring it to life for the client and art gets created.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In terms of resilience, I think the best story is that of me still being here as a professional artist (much like most other professional creatives). Working in the field of creative arts, there are so many closed doors. Every project proposal is in competition with other artists, sometimes a ton of them, all capable and talented. Clients change their minds, change directions, pull out at the last minute. There’s so many “No”s that happen all the time, and I’ve just have to get used to it, accept it when it happens, and then keep moving forward. I’ve received so many “Thank you for your submission but you weren’t chosen for the project” letters, and it just is what it is. Over time, I’ve learned a process for moving on. I take some time, really feel the loss, then dust myself off and ask myself “What’s next?”, and “What can I do from where I’m at, with what I’ve got.” Then the next move is to keep going…

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My mission as an artist is to fully live the experience, and share the creative fire. I believe that everyone is creative and has the desire to express and connect over their experience of being alive. I want to encourage that, through my own artwork and my artistic pursuits, by showcasing the creativity in people on my podcast, by working with budding artists that I mentor, and even just in the day to day conversations I have with people I interact with. I’m a contemporary artist living in this contemporary reality finding my way like everybody else and I know that making art and being creative feels good. I’m pushing myself, my art, and my art career as far as it can go, and I want to encourage others to do the same. I believe that a connection to one’s creativity can help a person tap into, transform, and express themselves in powerful ways. I think this transformative effect can have a positive influence on a large scale, and I feel that it’s what we need a lot more of in the world right now.

Contact Info:

• Website: taylorgallegosart.com
• Instagram: @taylorgallegosart
• Facebook: taylorgallegosart
• Linkedin: taylor gallegos

Image Credits
Photo credit: Beau Austin @beaudoesgo