We asked some of the city’s leading artists and creatives to tell us about how they decided to pursue an artistic or creative career. We’ve shared some highlights below.

Angela Aguiar | Artist, Fabric Designer, Styling Assistant, Content Creator, Entrepreneur

I was born an artist. As the say goes, « What’s meant to be yours is already making its way to you. » It runs on both sides of my family, mainly on my mother’s side. Too many artists to count. I didn’t set out to do anything artistic at first and I never formally attended any arts schools. When I was a teenager I dreamt of becoming an architect, a fabric or fashion designer. Read more>>

Michael Taylor | Master Screen Printer & Designer

I chose a artistic and creative career for a few reasons one being the uniqueness of being a creative. It all started when I was in high school I was in co-op which Is when you go to school and get out early to go to work. This granted me my first job as a Screen Printer. Having that job allowed me the opportunity to acquire the skills and knowledge of how a design was made and also how to apply it to a garment. That’s what sparked my interest in wanting to pursue an artistic creative career. Knowing that I could create a garment that was expressive plus unique to my own thoughts and visions..Solidified my decision to pursue art and fashion. Read more>>

Katia Luu | Visual Artist

It’s said that your natural interests and hobbies as a child tell you a lot about your destiny and I definitely believe that to be true. I’m an only child, so growing up I was by myself a lot and would pass the time by being creative in any way I could. I would draw out characters and create plot lines and fill up notebooks with comic strip drawings. I also remember playing around with my mom’s camcorder and making little movies and funny videos with my friends. Then in high school, my favorite class was broadcast news where I loved recording and editing segments for the school news. It’s funny though because when I was like 18, I was set on going to law school and becoming a lawyer. But now, I don’t think I could picture myself not doing something artistic or creative. Being creative has always been a large part of who I am, and I feel the most fulfilled when creating. Read more>>

Tilly and Amanda Trull | Owners and Creators

We have both been super creative and into art our whole lives. The idea for Treasure Trulls stemmed from the love of music and love of festivals. We would spend so much time planning and preparing outfits for events, and always got so many complements for our creativity. We also are huge Thrifters, we always loved finding such unique pieces and upcycling them. Read more>>

Juliette Velazquez | Foodie & Events Management

Growing up I was always passionate about food, cooking, and the culinary/hospitality industry. I would watch cooking shows and be amazed at how the chefs would start with multiple ingredients to then create a beautiful and delicious dish. I began cooking whenever I had the chance. Holidays, birthdays, gatherings, etc., I always wanted to prepare a meal. Being in the kitchen with fresh and colorful ingredients would always make me so happy, and to see the end result of not only the dish itself, but everyones reaction to what I’ve created, put a huge smile on my face. I would go to restaurants and take pictures or videos of all the dishes I would get. I then realized that I had all these pictures, but I was the only one seeing them. So that’s when I decided I wanted to share them with everyone and create a page just for the food I was eating and cooking. Who doesn’t like to look at pictures of food?? Read more>>

Marie Coady | Vintage Textile Artist /Longarm Quilter

I’m a big “Lets see if this’ll work” person.
And I’ve been able to entertain myself endlessly in my day job because of it. As a Children’s Librarian for 15 blissful small-budgeted years, I stockpiled the cardboard flotsam and jetsam of daily library life for…. a giant ping pong ball run, a life-sized Angry Birds-esque setup to test popsicle catapults, bear caves, robots, and castles. Ultimately duct tape, cardboard, fleece, and hubris pretty much forced me to establish a teen puppet troupe for the Library that performed with handmade puppets and sets to huge crowds. We had beanstalks that grew, Rapunzel’s breakaway braid and tower, Old MacDonald’s giant barn with doors and windows for puppets to pop through. Read more>>

Jordan Harrison | Visual artist

I always had an interest in the arts from a young age; it started from trying to replicate/ recreate my favorite animation characters as a child to creating more realistic/ representational art. This passion for the arts grew as I began high school through the guidance of my art teacher and friend Steffan Harriott. Even though I was passionate about art a new passion came into the equation this passion that I speak of was accounting. Throughout my high school journey, I manage to balance the two effectively. Being excellent at both I had decided from then that I would pursue both careers during my lifetime. Read more>>

Many Novo | Plastic Artist & Architect

Since the age of 8 I was passionate about painting, toke some lessons with a master of Mexican muralist painting, studied at several institutions in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende, and have not stoped painting and learning since then. I always liked canvas on oil painting on top of other medias and have perfected in many methods and technics. Read more>>