Are artists born or made? To help answer this question, we asked some of the most artistic folks we know to tell us about how they knew they were going to pursue an artistic or creative path. We’ve shared highlights below.

Maurice P. Kerry

Gosh, I had to be about 10 years old. I was in the 5th grade and got a chance to get up in front of the entire Fitzhugh Lee Elementary class and do a rap song about nutrition, or dental health, or something. Man, I was so excited! I and two other students were given the lyrics and we spent weeks practicing and practicing. So when the time came I was READY… then my verse in the song came last my adrenaline was pumping, electricity surging, then BOOM! Read more>>

Ruthie Craft

Like many creatives, my art began as a necessity for me. As a 9-year-old with Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsiveness, and chronic anxiety, music was not the first stop on the clinical train of treatments offered to me. As such, my voice was a tool that was left up to me to discover. And it took a while, at that. I wasn’t exactly exposed to a vast ocean of musical influences till full-fledged adulthood. But until I discovered the likes of Michael Jackson and Fleetwood Mac— I still had Billy Joel, The Beach Boys, and later, the queen Adele—to infiltrate my young mind with clever melodies, dreamy harmonies, and vocal runs that made my heart stutter. Read more>>

Courtney Smith

Being an artist and following the creative path in life is the first thing I ever remember wanting as a kid. Proof can be found in the piles of yellowed 90s grade school worksheets my mom kept. If you dig deep enough, you’ll find my answer, “Artist”, scrawled in uneven disjointed letters under “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The answer switched to “Teacher” a few years later when I learned Artist was seemingly impractical and borderline impossible. Read more>>

Taylor Coleman

When I was a child I wanted to be an architect. I would draw up floor plans for dream homes and pass them out to my family members. From there I began drawing Dragonball Z characters and I haven’t stopped drawing since. Fast forward 15 years I quit my job and decided to work for myself selling my paintings and eventually starting my own clothing line. Read more>>

Zerric Clinton

I guess I always knew that I was a creative and that was my pathway through this thing we call life. To me the turning point in my career was meeting my mentor mixed media artist Kevin Cole. I met him at a National Art Education Association conference in New Orleans, LA. where we served on a teaching panel together. After the presentation he invited me to his art show that was at Stella Jones Art Gallery and told me the next time I was in Atlanta to stop by his studio. Read more>>

Christina Chung

I’d always been a creative kid, and I’m really grateful to have been raised by parents that allowed and encouraged me to explore creative expression. I grew up dancing and entertained myself by drawing and writing stories. Through my years at school, I always had a passion for art, but I had never considered that it could be a viable career path until the end of high school. While doing research for an art class assignment, I found the works of illustrators such as Jimmy Liao, Victo Ngai and James Jean. Read more>>

Kandus Johnson

I’ve always had a passion for drawing. I would find myself all throughout my school years drawing all over my notes, getting lost in a world I was creating while tuning out the world around me. It became very obvious school wasn’t for me. I did not do well in school but I mustered up the courage to finish. I gave in to the whole “college is what you’re supposed to do after high school” thing and with that, I was looking into careers with money. We all want to be successful but we also want to be happy. Read more>>

Luisa Gonzalez

I think I’ve always been creative. I always saw art in everything I did and always tried to figure out how I could make it more personal. I grew up with 4 older sisters and I got a little bit of their personality and traits in me. My mixture of music can vouch for this, but one of my sisters started baking. I was never allowed to do anything since the kitchen was always taken over by someone until my sisters started getting married the kitchen was all mine. Read more>>

Aaron Veverka

I was a young child sitting down with my father watching David Carradine help people use Kung Fu. There was something about that, the fact these combat forms were in use to better the lives of those in distress. I wanted to learn how to do that. My mother however wouldn’t let me learn martial arts, as she said it had a Buddhist influence. However she would let me take whatever I wanted out of the library; so I learned the entire Kenpo Karate system by Ed Parker through his materials. Read more>>

Steven Wong

I have always enjoyed the arts, basically any type, from architecture to cooking to painting. I started drawing and painting when I was 10 and continue to this day. When I got to middle school I practiced music and cooking. Cooking and trying different foods was always a sign of love in my household as a child. My family enjoys a nice meal and with that comes great conversations and memorable experiences. Read more>>

BACH

The first time I knew that I wanted to pursue music professionally was last Dec. 2021. It was like something snapped in my head of like, you only have one life to live and if I died today, what I have I done to give back and contribute to society. During the year leading up to Dec, I went through this space in my life where I was finding myself. I think this push me towards really paying attention to myself and what truly made me happy. Zz It’s 1st nature to me and instinctual. Read more>>

Ray Remington

Well I was probably around five years old when I realized that I could see myself performing for a lot of people. Music always made me feel good. Made me forget what was going on in my world when my parents divorced. My world was lonely because I was the only sibling that chose to live with my father and grandmother. Out of guilt for maybe seeing my father lonely. So music was it for me from the beginning. I was 19 when I wanted to professionally make it happen. It was my first attempt at living in Nashville. I’ve gone through different genres like you wouldn’t believe. Read more>>

Kafi Marsh

I’ve always been a creative person. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing or painting or writing poetry. It’s as much a part of me as the color of my eyes or the shape of my nose. It just is. Growing up, art was my favorite subject. English and math being a close second. I think I always knew that there would be nothing else, career-wise that would make me happy. Read more>>

Jabari Weathers

It was honestly very early on! I knew that I wanted to make (video) games when I was really young, like 10 or 11 years old, but the most tenable path felt like it was through artmaking, so early on in my creative development I angled toward concept art. It’s funny, now I’ve steered away from that and toward book and game illustration, but in my adolescence I was devouring so much media (especially tons of anime and video games), and searching for the how-to behind the scenes of how these artifacts were made. Read more>>

Heather Schilling

I would say that I knew I wanted to be a professional artist when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I would draw and color all the time, copying comic strips and creating my own little characters. Of course I had a love of animation and comic strips. I would watch all the Saturday morning cartoons, including the Bugs Bunny hour, and I would read Calvin and Hobbes every Sunday. When I was about 8 years old I saw a documentary/special about Bugs Bunny that showed Chuck Jones talking about and drawing the famous rabbit. Read more>>

Daniel McGaw

I wrote my first song when i was 10 years old, but I was very much a soccer player growing up. Playing guitar and writing songs was something I did mostly privately until I was around 18. I was working as a bartender in a pub on The Isle of Jersey in The Channels Islands between France and England. There was a band on Sundays and they would let me play a few songs on their break. Read more>>

M-Squared

I was named after Michael Jackson and was so inspired by his Motown 25 performance doing the moonwalk for the first time. I saw how MJ captivated, impacted and moved people with his amazing gifts and that inspired me to pursue music. I started out in my middle school band playing drums and started DJ’ing while in high school and college. It was during college at Florida Atlantic University that I knew I wanted to pursue my artistry as a DJ and Producer professionally. Read more>>

Justin Smith

This is perhaps the most important thing I can say about a career in any creative industry, as well as one of my favorite stories to tell. It wasnt funny at the time, but now i find it hilarious. The truth is, I never had a ‘eureka’ moment where everything clicked and I clearly understood that my life was going to revolve around music. Read more>>

Claire Sully.

Hi! I’m Claire Sully, a pop country artist residing in Boston Massachusetts. I’ve always known that I wanted to be a singer. I started singing around 4 or 5, then at 13 I started doing gigs at bars. It wasn’t until I turned 15, that I knew that my singing hobby had become more than a passion. I am 23 now, and the amount of opportunity and success that I’ve managed to have has been incredible! I picked up a guitar at 11 and you’ll find me playing shows with the same one I bought at 16! Read more>>

Breanna Thompson

The first time I knew that I wanted to take my influencing seriously was when I noticed that friends and family were really interested in knowing the places that I went to and the things I was doing. What I wanted to do was create content sharing the beauty and individuality of each and every place I went. I wanted to share my personal experience with people to give them a first hand look of what should be (or not be) expected. Read more>>

Kylie Koeppen.

Well I started as gymnast, but somewhere during those years I realized I really only enjoyed the performance aspect of it. Dancing on beam and floor were the only things that interested me. Obviously, I loved to tumble but the dancing and creating a routine is what made me fall in love. I knew it was what I wanted to do when it was only in dance that I felt calm and also full of life. Read more>>

Laura Dargan.

I always had an interest in painting and drawing from an early age but that was never something I thought could be a career. As I entered college, I decided that I wanted to pursue a path in medicine. Perhaps become a surgeon of some sort. Three years in I lost interest in that path. I finished college ad I immediately got a job woking for a custom home builder. Read more>>

Mallory Hayes

I began taking violin lessons when I was 5 years old. I always enjoyed it more than any of the other hobbies I took up as a kid, ballet, tap dance, soccer, and eventually decided to focus all of my energy on the violin. As I got older and I learned that it was possible to have a career as a violinist, I knew that is what I wanted to do. I would attend symphony concerts and look up on stage and dream of sitting up there when I was older. Read more>>

Danny Brewer

At a very young age, I remember always being fascinated by different animated movies. Growing up, I would constantly be drawing movie characters from Disney’s Lion King to Dreamwork’s Road to El Dorado. As I grew, my passion for the arts grew being fueled by family and teachers. When it came time to choose a career path, art seemed the most obvious one for me. I started looking further into different avenues for it, landing me at Kennesaw State University learning 2D animation and character design. Read more>>

Sarah Tan.

I grew up in Singapore watching a lot of plays and musicals with my family. I always dreamed of being on stage but never thought it was something possible – it felt like something that was more plausible for people living in the West. The first time I performed in a play was in high school when I accidentally got cast in a 30-minute version of “Romero & Juliet”. I had joined the Drama Club with the intention of learning about tech, primarily light and sound design; but the Director had everyone audition for the show and I got cast! Read more>>

Jet Grey

I think I wanted to pursue a creative path, especially in music, when I got my first guitar pedal, which was a looper pedal. With the looper pedal, you can record guitar and re-record (overdub) guitars on top of it. It was my first experience with production and creating something that was my own outside of just learning music and singing. Read more>>

Chris Cyr

I have always been a creative person. Always drawing, or writing, or playing music. I picked up a guitar when I was young, say about 6 years old or so but I didn’t take it seriously. I played more guitar hero. Jump a few years to when I was twelve, I asked for a guitar for Christmas and I just went with it. I started learning riffs that I liked and then the chords. I didn’t realize it was something that would eventually take over as the forefront of my life at the time but it eventually became a passion. Read more>>

Lauren Lacy

From a young age (2 years old to be exact), I always loved to draw and be creative. The love and passion that I had for art led me to pursue a Fine Arts degree with a concentration in illustration. My college education definitely increased my creativity, knowledge, and skills. More importantly, I became a more well-rounded artist and discovered my own style and my own voice. After graduation in August 2007, with diploma in hand, I searched for a job as an illustrator. Read more>>

Liza Hathaway Matthews .

As a child, I absolutely loved to create! It could be anything from working with play-doh, crayoning in coloring books, weaving pot holders to finger painting. I was the little girl who enjoyed getting any art project or kit for my birthday and being busy for hours. I was blessed to have the best art teachers in elementary school and throughout high school that nurtured my passion further. My teachers love for art was contagious in every medium. A vivid memory that I have as a 5th grade student was with my wonderful art teacher, Mrs. Davis. Read more>>

Pierre Burrell .

In the year of 2020, I discovered that my talent was acting & before then I wasn’t even into the arts or being creative. I felt like God was just standing over me as I laid my head down to go to sleep & he handed me this gift box & the next morning I opened it, it was acting. Then all of a sudden I started making movie skits on tiktok & people liking & commenting on my videos enjoying my content. I didn’t realize how good I was until I started doing it & people say I should really get into the business. Within the next year I knew I wanted to take my talents to the next level so I started taking classes, finished the program, & I got signed to an agency. Read more>>

Alice Rovai

My family has always been into art. My mom’s uncle was an important Italian artist and made of art his job and life. I grew up surrounded by his art and I did my first drawing at two years old. It was our family’s dog and I still can remember the satisfaction I was feeling after I did it. I’ve always believed art could be a job, for my mom’s uncle was the living proof. So since that first drawing I thought art would have been everything for me. Read more>>

Han B. V.

I’ve been the “artist” to family and friends for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, maybe 5 or 6, while getting into painting on my own outside of school/daycare, I vividly remember trying to sell watercolors of Hawaii to my grandpa. I listed them as $500 and I remember thinking “oh maybe I can save up enough to get more paper and watercolors”. He gave me $5 for it, but I’m sure that just went towards dolls or something. My first art class was in Kindergarten, and until my senior year of high school was my only class. Read more>>

Brandon Keeble

I have always loved art as child. There was just something about mixing colors and seeing the finished product at the end. I would look down at my hands, and think , wow, I did this with these! One of the first times, I realized I wanted to pursue this passion, came from my mom and aunt. I had to be in the in the first or second grade , and I free handed a picture of Susie Carmichael from the Rugrats. My teacher at the time, thought I’d traced it but, nope, it was all me. Read more>>

Artemis (Art) Anaied

In elementary school I had two friends, Jazzenee and Ebony, and we made up a girl group called ‘the angels’. Of course as kids we’re just having fun, but I took it very seriously. I made us a logo, flyers and even starting writing music for us ( that we never performed). That peaked my interest in songwriting. Then later on I studied communications and marketing in college because whenever my friends would tell me about an idea, I’d kind of go crazy on the details. It was such a rush to see these ideas in my head and see even clearer how to bring them to life. Read more>>

Luke Sutton

I knew being in the entertainment industry was something I wanted to do after the premiere of my first film. My 11-year-old daughter went to the premiere and started crying when she saw one of the scenes where I lost my daughter. That’s when I knew the power of what we do. I also knew when I was a featured extra on the show Nashville around 2016. I became a little star-struck being on set and decided this may be something I wanted to do or at least attempt. Read more>>

Colibri

The first time I knew I was going to be an Artist professionally was in the winter of 2019. I’d been an Artist since I was a baby, had trained in Art, and even had great success instructing Art. But I didn’t KNOW I what I was destined for until that moment. I had recently separated from my husband and was settling into my new life. A friend of mine and fellow Artist managed to drag me out occasionally to showcase my Art. Up until then I didn’t consider myself a “Fine” Artist so I never took it seriously. Read more>>

MIKE DISCO

Between the ages of 4 and 6 when I started to doodle and began to draw actual pictures and my love for music and bikes Read more>>

ImTRU

I can honestly say I’ve always wanted to pursue a music career as a child pursuing music is something ive always been interested in and told myself thats what i want to do and thats what im going to do Read more>>

Setoria.

I think I realized I wanted to pursue an artistic path professionally when I began to appreciate my true purpose in life – to spread joy through my music and crafts and to inspire others. I’ve been singing my entire life. When I’m not singing or creating, I feel empty…… incomplete. I would pray to God to please order my steps and help me find my way and it always led to a stage or an opportunity to create. That’s when I knew that this was my purposes in life. It’s my happy place. This encouraged me to get out there and just do it! I’m glad I never stopped. With consistency, I’m finally able to see a profit from my work. It’s amazing to get paid off your creation! Read more>>

Robyn Evette Davis

I knew when I was a child I wanted to pursue the arts. Not truly knowing exactly what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to be on television. Performing as a child was my escape, I was shy and really felt no one understood my dreams. I was completely infatuated with television as a young girl but coming from a small town I thought oh thats fantasy, not reality. Read more>>

Marcus Cox

Wow! The journey started when I was in the first grade. Our class was preparing for the Christmas play and I was cast as Mickey Mouse and I had maybe two lines. There was a girl who was cast as The Cookie and she got sick the day before the performance. Now, The Cookie had a bunch of lines and was really important to the “plot” of this play. So, my teacher, “Mrs. Boyd” was trying to teach the part to another little girl but I knew all the lines and her song. So Mrs Boyd gave the part to me. Read more>>

Donielle Mills

It started when I was young maybe like 14 or 15 years olds with a dream and the mindset that I could do whatever I put my mind to. I use to love trying different things. I was the type that if I could see it I could recreate it. That’s when I realized that my hands are blessed and also a blessing. Hair was the first thing on my mind. I would do family and friends hair as well as my own for practice. As I got older I got better and better. Read more>>