We recently connected with Yulissa Mena and have shared our conversation below.

Yulissa, 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.

When I was in my late teens early 20’s I was called weird for how I presented myself – for context I grew up in The Bronx in the late 90’s early 2000’s – and for fun I would go to SOHO downtown just to walk around for hours with a bag of warm roasted nuts from the street vendor and people watch, thrift shop, hit up the art museums, dream of living in one of those cool lofts with the big windows hosting amazing parties. It was one of my favorite solo things to do in NY, my self-care ritual. As I entered the workforce I remember feeling like I was meant to do something else but honestly didn’t know what that something was. Eventually I decided to move out of NYC to Austin ,TX as my attempt to reinventing my life. At the time I was running multiple medical offices, there was a period that I was thriving and it felt good – until it didn’t. There was a day I went in to work and decided I would take the day off and just practice my self care ritual on a week day. took myself to the Blanton Museum, and it reminded me of home for and it was the beginning of me going back to an old love- painting, creating art out of joy, to help me manage my emotions – it was my therapy.

During the beginning of the pandemic as many workplaces closed my work place remained open which was great for those who needed outpatient services but for me who was running it making sure we had all the basic needs (hand sanitizer, soap, & toilet paper etc.) and staffed at all times for all locations became stressful. It took a toll on my mental health. I needed to take a step back and take care of myself.

I found myself painting more and my partner would hang up my work all over his place. I thought it was sweet of him, and he would hype me up and encourage me. One day as he was in a zoom call his background was a wall gallery of my work – his colleagues would complement and it made me feel really good about myself. So I went bigger. I now was having a vision to making bigger art pieces and I did. I made a trip to home depot got some wood, canvas cloth and saw kit – Made my first raw canvas 48×60 ( Proud moment) I later made 3 part collection and then my commissioned work rolled in. I created a system that made the process of creating enjoyable for me and provided an experience for my clients.

Yulissa, 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?

During the pandemic 2020-2021 I was working and experiencing major burnout it was taking a toll on my mental health and physical health. I realized a life audit was needed. It was very telling to me that the work ahead of me would be my responsibility to be better, do better and show up for myself. It’s my life to create, my thoughts have influence on my reality so mindset shifting was necessary. I decided to resign and focus on my well being.

Tapping into my creativity was instrumental for my mental health throughout the years – poetry, jewelry making, painting, and journaling. With painting -I was curious to see what happens when let my emotions flow onto the canvas.

My partner truly inspired me to keep painting as he would hang them up all over his apartment not just because I made them but because he loved them enough to display; this was a huge compliment for me. I noticed he would take his zoom meeting with my art as his background and how it would create conversation followed with complements. At this point I knew I wanted to make bigger pieces because I was working with what I had 18x 24 canvas.

I turned my living space into my home studio for the following project was an exciting challenge. Creating a process. This encouraged me to get the needed materials, plan my designs digitally and present them to client for approval. He loved this process because now he’s collaborating in the design process. The project was 3 – 36x48in canvas I was so excited to get to work on them. I placed them on floor side by side and went to work- recorded the process with my favorite music playing in the background was such a vibe to capture. The finished work came out so good I was so proud of myself and to see his reaction was priceless. This lead to my next commissioned work and this time was bigger.

Now my motivation is growing and I’m beyond excited to execute, the next commissions required me to make my own xl canvas this was a new challenge I was happy to accept. I recorded that process and it was work using a hand saw to cut wood panel angles, but I did it. I created digital designs based on clients vision, presented for feedback, created and recorded, my client was so happy to see the finished result in his new home.

I would describe my art as simple yet interesting with it’s own complexities an abstract of thoughts and feelings . My art is inspired by the classics like Basquiat, Warhol, Miró and Matisse in which I get to add my own spark. My art is my journey through the motions with textures and paints, applying love and high vibrational frequency to create that feel good energy when you walk in a room. Creating art is part my healing journey. My Art is a return to home. Yulissa Art Studio is where it’s created .

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that art is about connection, whats created speaks to observer and the beauty about this it can be different for everyone.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I believe there’s an artist in all of us once we give ourselves permission to play and explore, and once we accept this makes it that much easier to accept and support the magic of others.

Contact Info:

• Website: yulissamena.com
• Instagram: @_ymena_
• Youtube: New to Youtube : YuliArt
• Other: TikTok @yulissa.mena

Image Credits
All images taken by me