Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacy McClanahan.
Hi Stacy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I always wanted to be an artist or creator of some kind, and I obtained degrees in fine art and video game animation to that end. The problem was, my hometown had no employers. So after college when a friend of mine in the gaming industry suggested I come to San Francisco and interview at a game company, I took her up on it! I landed the gig and after that company closed, worked at various game and tech start ups over the years. I’ve worked on the Pokemon franchise, Lego, Star Wars, and some interesting virtual world spaces. The last game company I worked at pivoted into strictly advertising and monetization instead of creating games in house. There wasn’t a creative direction to take, and I was ready to try something different and start a family. I quit and was pregnant within a month! After that I spent a little time volunteering for a really cool charity called Lava Mae ( I was their first volunteer) obtaining funding and in kind gifts and then my pregnancy got rough and I had health problems and a miscarriage scare. Luckily our child was born healthy. But I was a stay at home mom with chronic illness and I struggled with finding time for myself that wasn’t doctors appointments and grocery store runs. I also didnt have a place to paint other than the dining table, and it got more challenging once our baby became a toddler. My spouse has always been super supportive, and we were able to get sitters and that gave me some creative time. I had some minor surgeries and got some diagnosis and new meds for some of my health issues and that’s helped too. Ironically one of the best things that happened was after a tree fell on our house! It trashed so much,including our yard. It gave me the excuse to build a shed in the back, and that became my art studio.its my happy place! I decided it need a tiki theme, and wanted black velvet paintings to decorate it with. When I couldn’t find any good vintage velvets, I decided to make my own. And that morphed into making velvet art for tiki and local events and teaching classes about the history of velvet painting as well as on how to paint velvet. It’s been wild!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wouldn’t call it smooth, no! hahaha. . In high school , my mom always told me to keep art a hobby and marry rich. My dad was a high school drop out who had a successful career building homes but technology wasn’t his forte. My mother is a very talented artist, she’s a great painter and she was doing incredible graphic design work in the 80’s. She did everything by hand and some of her designs became licensed goods but she never got credit. Once she designed a baby’s line of room decor that was used for the baby’s room in that show “ Full House”. Her stuff was great. But she struggled to make it with her art and my folks weren’t big fans of higher education or spending money on school. Of course my idea of rebelling was to prove that I could make a creative career happen. My parents weren’t thrilled when I told them after high school that I wanted to move to another country and go learn to make video games! At the time I was working selling furniture and my employer who’s also a dear friend now was super supportive- she paid to get photos taken of my paintings so I could apply for a scholarship. Her help was instrumental. She even tried to talk my parents into supporting higher education for me. But the school was in Canada and I was American. I couldn’t get a loan and could only apply for one scholarship, and it wasn’t for a full ride, just a semester. And that was if I even got it. I also wasn’t allowed to have a job up there on a student visa and wouldn’t have a source of income. So I asked My mom and grandparents if they’d give me any money for the school. They thought I was nuts and said no. My mom told me that if I cared so much about getting to go do this, I’d make money by selling my new car that I’d just finished paying off and my possessions. So I did! I don’t think she thought I’d go through with it. My father did come around and told me something sweet- he said: “if you think this school is worth it, I believe in you.” He gave me a check. It didn’t cover my first semester there, but it helped. My luck continued, as the only scholarship available was awarded to me and it covered one semester! The school wasn’t perfect but the experience and friendships up there were priceless. And I know attending secured me jobs in the industry.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in oil painting on black velvet fabric. Recently I’m most proud of being able to take what I’ve learned with trial and error and distilling it into painting workshops. I’ve come to realize that I love teaching and seeing folks enjoy making art and gaining confidence in themselves. I really enjoy the challenge of working with different mediums and spreading the gospel of velvet!
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Making Halloween decorations out of cardboard and acrylic paint with my mother is a favorite memory. We made a life sized Iron Maiden with a joke inside, and a miniature haunted mansion the size of a garden shed, full of little rubber skeletons. Halloween and Christmas decorating are some favorites in my family and it’s definitely in our blood; my grandparents ( on my mom’s side) would fabricate their own decorations too and they were so awesome! I still have a small silver metal Xmas tree that my grandpa made himself in the 1950’s that we call the “ Sputnik Tree”.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.TheFogDen.com
- Instagram: FogDenSF