Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yaa Animwaa. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Yaa Animwaa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

When I moved to New York for grad school, I worked at Pearl Paint art supply store. I had the opportunity to randomly test out different products that were on display. One day I started messing around with some clay that was laying around and sculpted a keychain sized African mask. It came out pretty nice and from then on, I was excited to see what I could create on a larger scale. I started making African masks and selling them to people I knew. I kept working at it and branched out into making whole figures.

I don’t know if speeding up my learning process would have taught me the patience I have established within my work. Having taught myself, I learned through trial and error. I find things sometimes happen at the time they are supposed to and you can’t rush it. Knowing what I know now, my only regret is not unearthing this passion earlier. What inspires me to keep learning is knowing that my fullest potential has not been reached. I’m excited to see how my art evolves as I reveal more layers of my creativity.

One of the skills that was essential to my learning, was learning to fail. There are pieces you will devote a lot of time to and a crack can bring you back to square one. I’ve worked on pieces until completion, only to have them crumble before my eyes. I had to accept that its okay to start over. I also had to learn to decipher whether things not going right meant for me to dig deeper or concede and start over. It’s always a feeling. If I’m working on a piece that I’m happy with and I start to see it falling a part, something will tell me to stop and regroup to fix it. I’m mastering the art of problem solving instead of panic, within my art. Other times, I’ll see a piece falling a part and I don’t feel connected to it anymore, that’s when I know that this wasn’t for me to make. Time to start over.

I think that I might have been the biggest obstacle in learning more. I remember in New York, I used to follow this Haitian jewelry designer that made wearable metal art in Brooklyn. I always wanted to take her workshop, but I was like, I don’t have the supplies, I don’t have the fees. And I blocked myself by thinking that it was out of my hands. At some point, I just started to teach myself, I watched videos, I found less expensive supplies and I got to work. I was able to make and sell my pieces. There is freedom in being a creative, but fear is sometimes the obstacle that keeps me from leaping. I take my time, I think about it and then I decide. As I grow as an artist, my goal is to just make whatever I feel drawn to make. Not placing myself in a particular box has made me more fearless in my creativity. I am an artist in avenues I haven’t even ventured into yet. All I need to do is practice, step into it, and execute.

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.

I’m a Ghanaian, born and raised in Madison, WI. I’ve been a creative since I was a child. I lived in a predominantly Asian, Mexican, and African immigrant neighborhood. The people I was around at my earliest, had language barriers with me. My babysitter was Chinese and she didn’t speak English, but she could draw. My sister and I would sit with her and draw all night until she left. Art was my first language. It allowed me to communicate in ways that language couldn’t reach, couldn’t understand. I started off drawing, painting. I was also an avid reader/writer, so I started writing poetry and essays as well. The mediums I worked in were always changing and evolving into other areas.

Moving to New York, helped me find my creative voice. I had the opportunity to be in the presence of various creatives that inspired me to challenge myself, and take the chance on putting my work out there. I started vending around the city with textile artist, Nketiah Brakohiapa, and branched out into working with leather and beads, creating statement piece jewelry. Currently my focus is African influenced ceramic sculptures.

You go through seasons as an artist, some where you see other creatives showing their work in big spaces, and you question where you are at. Whether what you do is unique enough to stand out amongst everyone else or will that voice you’ve found get quieted in the crowd and no longer have anything important to say. The best thing you can do is to work with tunnel vision. Tell your stories and know what your work is trying to say. Being distracted by saturated markets and the success of others in your field, will only talk you out of being confident in your work. Just keep creating.

I’m most proud of what I have been able to teach myself and the voice I have established as an artist. Its natural and I feel like it guides me through the process.
I didn’t grow up in Ghana, but I was raised in a Ghanaian household. That connection doesn’t go away. Being a foreigner in both America and in Ghana, you have to choose to embrace the truest part of yourself, regardless of what people might want to label you as. You decide. I am a proud Ghanaian.There are memories I still hold on to that I am able to revisit in my work. Those memories are pieces of a puzzle, that come together to form this grand full picture, layer by layer. The feeling I get when I am able to bring the vision I had in my mind into fruition, that is what motivates me to keep going. When people see my work, I hope I make them think, and want to know more. Hopefully the parts of home they have physically and internally been displaced from, can feel familiar again. That connection can’t be undone. If we look closely, look back, we can still see all the different cultural traditions that keep us tethered to home.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing how my mind transforms a single thought through what I do. Something as tiny as an idea, grows limbs and becomes something tangible that I can see. I like the fact that the process feels like it is happening to me and not just something I do. Sometimes I don’t know where the idea for a piece comes from, but I feel drawn to create it. I wholeheartedly love the way that art makes me feel. Even when I’m frustrated, I step away from it, come back, and the clarity that I was looking for is there. The block that was preventing me from completing my piece, is gone. It is an experience I never get tired of.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the expectations other people have for me as an artist. Just because your work is not in a gallery, viral, being advertised or being talked about, doesn’t mean you aren’t an artist. The way people think I should exist in the narrative of me, that exists in their mind, is not my responsibility. Distracting yourself with everyone’s opinion is the quickest way to lose focus and misuse the gifts you have. I have second guessed myself by listening to what other people think I should be doing and where my work should be. What I do know is, I owe it to myself to continue to nurture my skills, that is my purpose. It is only the times I have stopped creating, I have felt lost and aimless, because not creating is not who I am. So I keep going.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://theblackcowrie.com
• Instagram: https://black.cowrie