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Coffee With Emily Lavalier, Artist and Travel Guide at Hammer Travel · Coffee People Podcast

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Hey everyone, welcome to the Coffee People podcast presented
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by Rostar Coffee Packaging. You can find them online at
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rostar.com. Thank you for being here today.
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I'm your host, Ryan Wolt. You can follow or subscribe to
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this show wherever you're listening, but you'll only find
0:16
the best bonus context links and recaps to this episode on
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coffeepeoplepodcast.com. This is a bonus episode
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featuring Emily Lavalier. She's the owner and artist
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behind M Lab Art and a trip leader at Hammer Residences
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where she and the team guide adults with intellectual and
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developmental disabilities on fun filled vacation adventures.
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I had the privilege of meeting Emily about two decades ago when
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we were young adults just hustling at hospitality jobs and
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dreaming of a day where we'd get to follow our dreams, which were
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artist for her and obviously podcasting for me.
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Actually, I don't think podcasting was around yet.
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Coincidentally, the restaurant we both worked at, the Old
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Fashioned in Capitol Square, Madison, WI, was also the very
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first place that I brewed a coffee or pulled an espresso for
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anyone that includes myself. I wasn't drinking coffee back
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then. And in retrospect, if you were
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one of the many people who sat at the Sunday brunch bar in the
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early 2000s, ordered a shot of espresso to go with your your
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eggs and bacon, many, many apologies.
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I have no doubt that that was not a very good cup of coffee.
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I wanted to chat with Emily to learn more about her art career,
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where it's gone. And Full disclosure, I have an
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original M Lab art piece and several prints from her stored
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away just waiting for a permanent place on our on our
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walls when we get settled here up in Oregon.
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But more so, I was excited to learn more about her work with
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Hammer Travel, where the work that they're doing goes so much
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further than planning trips. If you want to follow along or
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multitask while you listen to our show today, check out M Lab
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art.com and Hammer travel.org. OK, let's let's get started.
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I've got this cup of Papua New Guinea single origin from
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Sisters Coffee and Sisters OR today, and I hope that you've
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got a full mug of some sort of excellent coffee to enjoy as
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well as you listen to our bonus episode of the Coffee People
2:16
podcast featuring Emily Lavalier artist.
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Cheers. Well, I'm Emily Lavalier.
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I'm a collage artist. So I use magazines to make my
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work. So lots of layers.
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It's I should say I use paper to make my work.
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So I use mostly magazines, but I'm also kind of cutting and
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layering, you know, kind of whatever I can find mixed media.
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I make pretty dense colleges. I call it high density collage.
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So it's, yeah, lots of layers kind of within my work.
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It's more of like a textured finished product.
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And then yeah, kind of trying some of these suitcases too
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lately, which is a good tie into the hammer travel, which is kind
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of my other. I haven't seen the suitcase
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thing yet. I don't know if you remember
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this the last time I remember seeing you.
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And Full disclosure, everyone I, I know, Emily, we used to work
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together when we were kids, which is anything under kids,
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under anything that's like a day younger than I am now I consider
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a kid. I remember we having a bagel
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with you. There's a place near where we
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were called New York Bagels. And I remember you telling me
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about your artwork at that coffee however many years ago.
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And I remember you telling me you worked with collage.
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And I think you showed me a showed me one and I didn't quite
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understand it. And now we Fast forward and
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you've made like a career out of it.
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You've jumped into it. I think.
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I want to ask first what you you obviously you said you work with
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paper, but when you say high density, what what do you what
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does that mean to you? Like, what is if you were to
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describe as our work to someone in an elevator, What is it?
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Yeah. I would say that the layering is
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a big part of the process, so it's kind of bigger pieces
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first. I don't really stress too much
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about that original image that I'm drawing.
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So I use larger pieces of paper to kind of figure out what my
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design is going to be. And then from there I'm building
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up with more paper, so just using smaller and smaller
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pieces. So kind of whenever you look at
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it, you're seeing some of the textures or the pictures that
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were in those magazines also now on my piece, because I'm not
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really painting on it on any of them.
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I'm just using, you know, the paper directly from the source,
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kind of giving it a second life, so.
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The place that you are combining all of this paper, do you have
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a, do you have like, this is what this is going to look like
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when I'm done? And it's just a, a combination
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of all these different pieces I, I'm seeing in my head that's
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fitting together. I have, I have some of your
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artwork. So I'm asking a little bit for
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the audience and we'll share some imagery as well.
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So do you start with an idea? This is what I want it to be.
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Or do you let it come to you? I mostly start with what I want
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it to be. Yeah, My very first step is kind
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of sketching out a very basic sketch of kind of like, OK, so
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each one of these, this is going to be a cocktail.
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When I'm done with it, this is going to be a Flamingo and I'm
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done with it. And then the way I work is I
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usually have a few pieces going at once.
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So if I find a really good magazine page that has a lot of
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colors that I might need for a piece that I'm like, oh, this
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will look really good on the cocktail, then I'll switch gears
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and kind of go work on that one. So I do know, yeah, where I'm
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going kind of when I start. You have more or less, I mean,
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what looks like hundreds of magazines kind of stacked up
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behind you, yeah. Yeah, this is just a small part
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of the collection. Are there some magazines that
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are better than others for this kind of work?
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Yeah, I tend to stick with more National Geographics and really
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current magazines I love like interior design magazines.
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I use a lot of cooking magazines.
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I had a whole fruit series, which I still do kind of draw
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back on the fruits too. And those, I use a lot of
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cooking magazines for those and Home Decor magazines.
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I do know there's collage artists out there who will stick
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to vintage magazines and that is cool and it's totally a, you
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know, vibe and effect. But I think that just the way
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I'm sealing them and gluing them and preserving them, newer
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magazines tend to kind of work better for what I'm doing, but
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lots of different ways of doing it.
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We have an original avocado of yours and a couple of friends.
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If you would've, if someone gave me that avocado, I wouldn't have
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known necessarily that it was magazines write up like
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instinctively, which I think is super cool that it looks like
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something that something else that it isn't.
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How did you get started or interested in collage in the 1st
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place? Did you have a background in art
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when you were younger, or what was the path that you took to
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get into that? Yeah, I really loved, I loved
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making art. I took arts art classes in high
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school, took art classes in college, and truly those were
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the classes I probably put most time and energy into.
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And we both went to Madison, right?
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I mean, I don't know. I spent the most time on my art
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classes than anything else, but really did not foresee making
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and doing art being a career path when I was in my, you know,
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early 20s. So I was thinking more digital
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layout, graphic design, which is funny because that would have
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been working for magazines. And now it's like tying it all
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back together. And now I'm using magazines to
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make my work, which is, you know, maybe that is part of the
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reason I'm drawn to using magazines in the 1st place.
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But I'd say that I started using paper to kind of create my work
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as opposed to incorporating paint and incorporating colored
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pencils, which I did do. But then once I started using
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the magazines and having more fun with the magazines, you
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don't have to be perfect. Things can kind of like come
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together by just adding more, more pieces.
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That's when once I started working in magazines, I was
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like, Oh my gosh, I don't want to do anything else.
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But it started as scrapbooking, really.
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So I had a big bin of scrapbooking papers and when,
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you know, there were archiver stores and you could go in and
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buy a bunch of different scrapbooking papers.
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I used to do that all the time. So I do think that my love of
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paper started then when I was doing scrapbooking and then it
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turned into making greeting cards and those I would use
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paper but also kind of incorporate little illustrations
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with them. And then once I kind of went
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full on into just using paper and kind of creating the style,
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I felt like at the time it was really unique.
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And yeah, so I really just kind of went hard into it.
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I was felt like I was doing something I hadn't seen too much
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of so. You you mentioned you were
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taking our classes you but you were thinking something else
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design or something creative but related but not artist.
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Do you remember the first time you said out loud that you were
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an artist? It'd probably be pretty
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recently, to be honest. I mean, I was 29 when I decided
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to really start investing a lot of money into this kind of
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creating. I do a lot of outdoor art shows,
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so that is a whole thing in its own.
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I feel like the way to kind of make money as an artist is to
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either be really big on social media and kind of draw following
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that way to either be in galleries, which long term I
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would love to do more of that. I think teaching.
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There's a lot of artists that do you know, classes and that's the
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way that they're and then kind of the out art show circuit,
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which is the path that I took, which does involve like getting
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a tent building shelving, figuring out how you're going to
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display everything and keep it safe in all different kinds of
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weather. So that cost money.
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And so I think that really when I was starting to just kind of
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really go hard in this direction, I still had another
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job, I still had other ways to make money, but I was like, I, I
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guess I want to do this artist thing.
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I saw other people being successful at it, and I was.
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So maybe it was back then when I was like 30 and starting to get
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into the art show circuit. But now, 10 years later, I would
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say I'm an artist because it's kind of the main thing that I
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do. Anyone any of the coffee people
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listening who've worked in like a food cart or on a coffee
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stand, this sort of thing or outdoors.
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The thing that no one thinks about when they think about
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artists or other businesses is the impact of the weather.
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I actually my my the tent that I use for outdoor shows I
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currently have set up in the yard where we're living so that
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the dog can go outside without getting rained on, which is.
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All the time. But it turned out I just leave
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it now because the birds also like it.
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So I get really, I sit and watch the birds under the tent every
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morning. You mentioned you had other
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careers and other things. I remember you being a travel
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agent, you were working as a trip leader.
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Could you tell us a little bit about that your work with Amber
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Residences now and kind of how you got into that and the
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audience that you're that you're working with that you're helping
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guide on these trips? Yeah.
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So I think I'm going to go back just a tiny bit to maybe when I
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was in my just kind of getting this off the ground, I had a job
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where I was helping folks with disabilities find gainful
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employment. So it was real jobs, community
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based jobs. And I would go around to
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different businesses and say, you know, could you use someone
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to help you on site? You know, this person I'm
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supporting is really passionate about coffee and they want to
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work at a coffee shop. So that was a lot of a lot of
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that. So that was when I got kind of
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introduced to the, I guess, Human Services field.
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Then I was, like I said, decided to start spending a lot of time
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and energy and money to make this job kind of my art career
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come off the ground. So I moved into group homes,
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working in Group homes. But the thing that got me
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applying for that job, the group home job, was that the the job
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description was listed as like group home employee slash trip
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leader. And I was like trip leader.
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What is this? So turns out Hammer, the company
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that I worked for for a really pretty long time, has a travel
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division. Right when I started working at
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the company, I started as a trip leader.
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So I would work in the group homes and then whenever there
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was a Hammer travel trip that went, my boss would reach out to
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me and say, hey, can you be the trip leader?
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So they would kind of pull me out of the homes and I would go
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on these vacations with these individuals.
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So they were mostly people who lived in Group homes.
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They didn't necessarily have to be with our company.
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They might live with their parents but need some extra
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support and they just have to be over 21.
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But yeah, mostly people with intellectual developmental
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disabilities would come on these Hammer travel trips where we are
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going really around the country. And now it's turned into even
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international trips. I've gone to Iceland, the
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company's gone to Ireland. I think they've done London.
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So I do a lot of Disney trips. I've done Las Vegas, I've done a
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couple cruises. And then you kind of go, you
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really, I check out of my art worlds.
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You know, there's really when you're on those trips, you are
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go, go, go the entire time because you are, you know,
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following the itinerary that either my boss gives me or we
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kind of plan. You know, there's a lot of
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wiggle room on these trips kind of what we want to do or the
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weather might change things. So we will, you know, we also
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are passing meds. We're, you know, making sure
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everyone is fed and, you know, we're eating three good meals a
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day and then, yeah, making sure everyone's having fun.
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Transportation, we do rental cars.
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So I had, you know, previously, even to starting the art career
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previous to working in Human Services, I was a travel agent
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right out of college. And so this just this Hammer
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travel division just really felt like it was like connecting with
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a lot of these different things that I had done in my past.
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I had traveled a lot. I had worked in Human Services.
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That that's the part I think, yeah, that's the part that that
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I thought was really interesting.
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Is the audience that you're working with to take on these
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trips. Travelling is challenging
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enough, you know, just for myself, much less like taking
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other people or planning for other people.
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What made you feel like you were the right person to work with
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people with disabilities, intellectual or otherwise, and
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how does that change your perspective of the places that
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you're visiting? By being there with a group of
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people who see the world differently than.
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You yeah, I mean, that's a good question.
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We're all pretty much experiencing it.
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You know, a lot of the same things.
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Disney, you can't really go as a trip leader and not just feel
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stressed the entire time because there's so many people and we've
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got a group of usually that's 12 or less folks that are with us.
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So I do have a team when I go. So I'll be kind of the leader,
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but then we have volunteers that will come who usually I'll have
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a team of either two or three other staff that are helping me.
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But yeah, as far as like, I mean, I was passionate about
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traveling. I had done it enough that I felt
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comfortable leading other people.
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I also am a huge advocate of what my boss of Hammer Travel,
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really when he started the company, his goal was to
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provide, you know, these travel experiences for individuals, but
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without making it feel like a tour or like a school to just
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kind of really give them as much independence as as you and me
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were would want on a trip. You know, we don't roll up in
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buses. We come in a regular car where
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we are doing all the same things that anyone else traveling would
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do, except for sometimes we'll need a lot more like wheelchair
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accessible ramps. But really other than that,
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we're really trying to experience these places in the
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same way. And that's what I love about it
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is that, you know, you're not thinking of this person as a
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person with a disability first. You're thinking of them as a
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traveler first. There's someone who's here to
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see the the places and they just need need someone to kind of
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remind them to stay with the group or, you know, they don't
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need I yeah, and I mean, we divide up too, so that's even a
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bad example, but but. I think, you know, knowing what
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little I know about my wife's work as an occupational
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therapist, she works a lot with autism and other special needs.
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Routine is such an important key to a lot of, a lot of her
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students, a lot of her, her, the kids that she works with.
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And so taking, taking a trip is like the opposite of routine.
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You're creating mini routines for a very short period of time,
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but it is not the same as your day-to-day.
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And so I find the what I find fascinating is the not just the
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willingness to do it, but the the ability to take people of of
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different skill sets and skill levels, organize them enough to
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have everyone be enjoying this trip.
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Maybe everyone but you for brief moments at Disneyland, but.
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In general, getting that matter and.
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Saying, Hey, this is, you know, this is, is the world.
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Do you, this is a little bit of, I hope this isn't a terribly
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ignorant question, but when you are out with a group, do you, do
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you feel that other people are seeing you as a as a group where
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other people are saying, oh, this is like this is a
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normalizing situation or for them, not just for your group.
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I'd say it's maybe a little bit of both.
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I think that, you know, in general, most people will just
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be like, oh, cool, you know, a lot of people will come and be
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like, oh, what you're doing is so cool on airplanes.
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I've never had anyone give our, our group any grief.
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And I mean, sometimes we've got people who have a hard time
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sitting still for the whole trip or you know, who are, go to the
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bathroom, you know, 6 times on a three hour flight or whatever.
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So, but I've, I've honestly, 95% of people in the world either
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don't even really acknowledge us or think that it's cool and
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they've, they're going to give us, you know, a little extra
19:36
grace or, or patience. But there are probably some
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people, I guess who will want to be like, oh, here comes a big
19:45
group. Let's get in there first.
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But that doesn't really happen too much big.
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Hey, I don't blame anyone for trying to get in out of the
19:53
group that is not. I'm not going to get upset about
19:56
that. Hey everyone, sorry about the
19:59
quick break. Thank you for tuning in to our
20:02
show, The Coffee People Podcast. This episode is presented as our
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all episodes by Rostar Coffee Packaging.
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20:37
Cheers. You.
20:41
With the artwork that you're doing, do you find your work
20:45
with, with the travel organizations in the Hammer, and
20:50
do you find any skills or values that overlap into your art, or
20:54
do those two worlds just stay separate for you?
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Or do you find that there's some sort of overlap as you come back
21:00
from a trip and you get back into, oh, I'm an artist now,
21:03
Yeah. Yeah.
21:04
That it's, that's one of your questions that you had sent
21:07
before kind of thinking about the overlap.
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And at first I was thinking, you know, they they are pretty
21:12
separate. It's a good way for me to kind
21:14
of just take a break from the art world and go and do this
21:16
thing that's totally different. But you know, really that's not
21:21
true. I think that staying, staying
21:23
organized and also thinking on your feet is a lot of something
21:27
you have to do in this art world, especially when you're
21:29
doing an active show or, or when you're doing a show, you really
21:35
have to think, OK, you know, now there's this huge tree here.
21:39
What am I going to do to change my booth and my setup to make
21:42
things more accessible to, you know, everyone who comes in?
21:45
In the same way that when you're on a a trip, a lot of things
21:48
come up and suddenly you're like, OK, how am I just going to
21:50
be flexible in this situation and not, you know, yell at the
21:53
promoter of a show about the tree?
21:55
You just kind of have to be flexible and realize that like
21:57
it's not a lot of things you just can't really control and
22:00
you just kind of go with the punches.
22:03
I also think that with Hammer Travel, you know, I kind of said
22:07
this organization is so key, keeping all their money count,
22:12
you know, counted every night, making sure everyone's
22:14
financially on on track and that our group is on track.
22:18
And, you know, that of course, plays into running a small
22:23
business and making sure that you're paying your taxes on time
22:28
and doing all the, you know, paperwork and, you know, filing
22:33
and stuff that you have to how much?
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Of your artwork is business and how much of it is creative
22:40
artwork? I mean, if you could, I know you
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can't just say like this, this percent, but I find that I do so
22:45
much more what I consider the crappy business side of things.
22:50
Then I get to do this part, which is the part that I like,
22:53
yeah. Yeah, You know, right now it's
22:58
the winter and so I don't have a lot of shows.
23:00
And so I've gotten to kind of experiment with a few things
23:03
like these little suitcases which I do want to show you.
23:05
One, they are like air dry clay wrapped in magazine.
23:10
It's more like paper mache, I think, and working with clay.
23:14
And that is something that's totally different.
23:16
It's not really something that I'm going to bring to shows, but
23:19
it's been really fun for the last month to be able to be
23:22
like, OK, this is like me having fun as an artist and not doing
23:25
something because, you know, this is what I can sell at art
23:29
shows. But now that it's January and I
23:31
have to start really thinking about the fact that my season's
23:34
going to start in two months, now it's a lot more like, OK,
23:37
what do I know that people will buy and how, how quickly can I
23:43
make it? I guess does it.
23:44
Matter if you get paid. I mean, you're an artist no
23:47
matter what, but getting paid makes it feel for me a little
23:51
bit like I'm always a little bit worried about that because if I
23:54
don't get paid for something, I can't keep doing the other
23:58
things that I want to do. So when you are working on
24:01
something new, does that ever creep in the stress of going,
24:05
oh, this isn't something that that I'm going to end up putting
24:08
out on the shelf Or I guess how does that impact you?
24:11
I think the first time I was ever given money for something I
24:15
made, it was really shocking for one, but I almost felt like I
24:21
should give them some money back.
24:23
And I still feel. That way, I mean, this morning
24:26
someone ordered a book from me and I went, oh, that's so cool.
24:29
And I want to like, reach out and then be like, you know what,
24:32
you paid too much. Like, let me give you $3 back or
24:35
whatever. Yeah.
24:39
I. Mean I remember the first
24:40
syndrome. Yeah.
24:42
Oh, that is, I mean, every time I open social media I get that
24:46
for sure. But I do remember the first like
24:50
sales of originals that I made at shows that were, you know, at
24:55
the time like $700.00 or something, right?
24:58
And I just when someone bought it, it was like the coolest
25:01
feeling in the world. Like same thing.
25:04
I didn't even. And it is funny when someone
25:06
buys something big. And even now after doing this
25:09
for, you know, 10 years or whatever, I still will kind of
25:13
forget to ring them up because I'm just so excited that they
25:16
just like committed to having this piece in their house.
25:19
And this is such a big investment.
25:21
And then I'll be like, Oh yeah, wait, wait, wait.
25:23
We have to do like the thing where I actually take your money
25:25
from you. Like I am just so bad at that
25:28
because I just get so excited in the moment when people want to
25:32
like support your work like that.
25:33
But but yeah, I mean, I think when I first started doing shows
25:38
and especially when I started traveling outside of the country
25:41
or outside of the states for shows, like I live in Minnesota,
25:44
the Midwest art scene is one thing for sure.
25:47
There's there's people who do really successful here.
25:49
But I went down to Florida and did a couple shows and there you
25:53
see these artists who are, I mean, they are really good at
25:57
what they're doing and they are making, you know, lots of sales.
26:03
And so kind of seeing that and being like, Oh my gosh, this
26:06
could be a really good business. That really was what motivated
26:12
me to really start working harder and, and start making my
26:15
stuff, like, OK, do I start framing it?
26:17
How do I seal it to make things more archival?
26:22
Yeah. Just really thinking like when
26:24
you see other people doing it, then it's like, OK, wait, I can,
26:27
I can make this into something that I can do full time so well
26:32
that. Role modeling, I think, also
26:34
relates back to your work with the travel group.
26:36
I mean, when somebody's out and they see a group of people with
26:41
intellectual disabilities out traveling, taking a vacation,
26:45
they may have someone in their life, right, that is, that is
26:48
going through the same thing. Or they wouldn't have maybe
26:50
thought, oh, we could do the same thing and it might inspire
26:53
them to do that. I always find seeing someone
26:56
else like kind of lead the way makes it easier.
26:59
I mean, no matter what. So that's why that's I find so
27:02
much value in in that part of what you're you're doing for
27:05
your career. Although I feel like you'd
27:07
probably do it even if it wasn't part of your job.
27:09
I just get that. I'm wondering.
27:14
In the, in the time that you've been working, in the time that
27:19
you've been an artist, in the time that you've been, you know,
27:22
working in travel and working in Human Services, how have you
27:26
changed? I mean, are you, do you find
27:28
that you, do you think you're the same person that say I knew
27:30
15 years ago or what has been out of your, your progression of
27:35
Yeah, maybe. Maybe 20?
27:36
Years, Emily. I'm not, actually.
27:37
I know. Probably 20.
27:41
I would say that moving into the human service field, that first
27:45
job where I was helping folks find jobs, was probably the
27:49
biggest shift in kind of who I was or who I am That happened.
27:54
I mean, post college for sure. It just made me more patient,
27:58
way more more apt to start thinking about people's
28:05
perspectives. Like, put yourselves in their
28:07
shoes. Even if someone cuts you off on
28:09
the road, OK man, that person must have a really crappy day.
28:12
Like just really thinking about what other people are going
28:16
through first, because so it's not even the folks living in the
28:20
group home necessarily, but you know, their parents and what
28:23
their parents maybe went through through to get them into this
28:27
this group home. So maybe I'm judging the parents
28:29
for whatever, being late for their pick up time.
28:32
But then, you know, you're like all the work that that parent
28:36
had to do to find a placement for, you know, their loved ones
28:39
move into a group home. But then also the the
28:43
individuals that you support on these vacations, living and
28:46
working in the group homes, doing the employment.
28:50
Yeah. Just really opened my eyes to a
28:52
whole part of the world that I really wasn't that that
28:57
connected with my mom worked in Group or not.
28:59
My mom worked in nursing homes when I was growing up.
29:02
So I knew a little bit about elderly care, but I didn't know
29:05
very much at all about what people were going through when
29:10
they were born with disabilities.
29:11
So yeah, that was a really, yeah, open my eyes.
29:15
And then, of course, going on the trips with folks.
29:18
I mean, it is like, you just see all types of people when you're
29:22
travelling and the good and the bad.
29:24
And I mean, I just this summer did a road trip with Hammer
29:28
Travel down to Branson, which is, I mean, 10 hours in the car,
29:33
I think. I think we did six hours one day
29:34
and four the next day. And so you're just, yeah, I
29:38
mean, being in a car with people, anyone, even your best
29:41
friends for that long, you're like, really start to get to
29:44
know people's preferences. And yeah, they're quirks, I
29:48
guess, things that you shouldn't say, like don't bring up the
29:51
Badgers if you've got a huge Gopher fan in the car.
29:54
So. Yeah, I you're, I'm having
29:59
flashbacks on a a much less noble cause of driving to spring
30:05
break with strangers. In college, so you get you put.
30:11
Something you put yourself in a car with someone for long enough
30:13
and you will find something you don't like about them.
30:17
Hopefully something you like. As well, I'm wondering, is there
30:23
such a thing as good art? That's a funny.
30:27
Question, bad art. Like what?
30:29
What is it for you that, that, that makes you think, oh, this,
30:33
this is art. And I say that to you a little
30:36
bit because you mentioned design.
30:38
I went to school for graphic design and I don't necessarily
30:42
see, think of them as overlapping, even though they're
30:45
very similar. Yeah.
30:48
I mean, there's a lot of digital artists that I see at shows now
30:51
too. So going to school in graphic
30:53
design, I mean that that does translate into a fine art career
30:58
actually, which I never would have thought that when I went to
31:00
college to had I known that, I probably would have gone to
31:03
school for digital art or tried to.
31:06
But hindsight is 2020. But do I think there's anything
31:12
as bad art? No, because I think that there
31:16
are people in this world who will find a place and will
31:19
connect to a piece, even if it is not really something that I
31:22
would hang in my home. There are people out there
31:26
making really good careers selling art that I probably
31:29
would never hang. But they are have found their
31:31
niche. They have found their their
31:34
audience. Maybe their audience are, you
31:36
know, 75 plus people who just really like, you know, lines and
31:41
or whatever, you know, art that maybe it's not something that
31:44
has ever connected to me. When I think back about what I
31:48
thought and meant to be a good artist, it would be time, right?
31:51
How much time someone spends on something?
31:53
Are they, you know, making teeny tiny little cuts of paper, kind
31:58
of like what I do a little bit like, oh, my art's good because
32:01
I spend hours and hours and hours on it.
32:03
But no, that's, that's not right because there are lots of people
32:07
who can make really cool art and it's something that they've just
32:12
mastered their technique and they found their audience.
32:15
And, and I, I have definitely changed my perspective on art
32:20
since I started doing shows and being being introduced to so
32:24
many different artists, even on even on social media, you know,
32:27
I'm fed the kind of art that I like, right?
32:30
So I'm seeing a lot of stuff that I'm like, oh man, that is
32:32
so cool. I wish I could do that.
32:34
You know, it's paper art. It's, you know, time consuming,
32:38
but then I go to these art shows and then that's when I'm really
32:41
seeing all the different styles of art that's out there and all
32:44
the people that are out there buying it and supporting these
32:47
artists. Yeah, it doesn't matter how how
32:51
niche you might think their stuff is.
32:55
What advice would you give to somebody who is aspiring to work
32:58
a career in art and maybe not, you know, at the cafe anymore?
33:02
Or maybe both. Yeah, Somebody who's thinking I,
33:06
I wish I could be an artist but hasn't taken that step yet.
33:10
Yeah. Well, I would say that, and I, I
33:14
have said this actually to, to people in the past, is that you
33:18
don't have to be an artist all in, you know, working at a
33:22
coffee shop, working in Group homes, working as a trip leader
33:26
are all really good ways to supplement that passion.
33:29
And I, that doesn't necessarily mean that your passion is a
33:31
hobby. That just means that it's a
33:33
second, a second way to make money.
33:36
So even if it's doing, you know, Instacarts pickups or Uber, Uber
33:42
driving, just trying to not put to not put all your eggs in the
33:47
art basket right away is one thing that I just, I'm so glad I
33:51
did. I'm so glad I had the group
33:53
homes to fall back on if, if I need it or when, when show
33:57
seasons weren't busy, I would get hours in the group homes
34:01
and, and be able to have have kind of two things.
34:05
So I think a lot of times I see people say, OK, I'm going to be
34:08
a full time artist and then they get to the winter when there's
34:12
not a lot of money coming in. And then they're like, I, you
34:15
know, I'm freaking out. I can't do this anymore.
34:17
I quit. And it's like you just really
34:19
have to push through if you have to get a second job, if you have
34:23
to find other ways to kind of get you through to that next big
34:26
project. Like that is totally normal.
34:29
That is just the world that we live in right now.
34:31
And I mean, yeah, it took, it took six years of doing 2 jobs
34:37
for me to be able to finally be like, OK, I think I have enough
34:40
now or enough like guaranteed shows on my schedule that I can
34:45
like, leave, leave that kind of comfortable, like regular
34:51
paycheck. But I really don't think that
34:54
there's anything wrong with that either.
34:56
Like if someone was in a band, you know, what's wrong with
35:00
having a part time job to, you know, be able to make it so that
35:03
you can do your passion on the nights and weekends, but you're
35:06
able to not like be freaking out about are you going to make
35:10
enough or are you going to get enough attendance or?
35:14
I think I actually, if I'm doing the math in my head as we're
35:17
talking, I made more working at that bar that we worked at than
35:21
I do now. So.
35:24
So then you can always. Step backwards.
35:26
Oh yeah, That was also the first time I ever made coffee for
35:29
anyone, which I'm not terribly good at.
35:32
And if I could go back in time and apologize to every single
35:35
person who ordered an espresso on the Sunday brunch shift, I
35:38
would because my level of training was, here's a button,
35:42
you should press it. And then, Oh my gosh, what comes
35:49
next for you, for your art? I mean, what you mentioned
35:52
you've had a season coming up. How can people support you or
35:55
share what you're doing? Well, I mean, definitely
35:58
checking my stuff out on social media helps.
36:01
I don't. Post as.
36:03
Regularly as I probably should, but I definitely, that's where I
36:07
put things like my upcoming schedule.
36:09
I travel a lot, so I go down to Texas for shows.
36:14
I go to Florida for shows, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin last year.
36:20
So yeah, I do try to get out to see as many new faces as I can.
36:24
Last year I did like Oklahoma City, which was the first time I
36:27
think I'd ever really spent any substantial time in Oklahoma.
36:30
So that was so, yeah. I think that coming to art
36:33
shows, even if I'm not there, is a good way to just kind of
36:36
support artists who's who's this is their jam.
36:39
And they travel a lot and put all their livelihood in the back
36:44
of a car and travel across the country to, you know, show you
36:48
show you their work. So but me in particular, I do
36:51
have a website. It's just M love art.com, which
36:54
is kind of my autograph, M love EMLAV and then Art and Lab
36:59
art.com is my website, so I do sell prints on there.
37:02
I sell placemats of my work, which are kind of fun.
37:08
And then, yeah, I'm just trying, yeah, trying new things, like I
37:11
said. What do?
37:14
What do you drink if you stop in at a cafe?
37:16
Are you coffee? Are you tea?
37:17
Are you anything boba? I am.
37:19
Coffee for sure. In fact, I almost got a coffee
37:23
today, but then I was like, no, I'm just going to get a case of
37:26
spin drift because I'll be able to drink them all day.
37:28
I do love spin drift. But yeah, usually it's just drip
37:32
black with cream for sure, a lot of cream.
37:36
But I make coffee every morning. It's the like thing I my
37:39
favorite thing to do when I get out of bed.
37:41
Coffee. Machine.
37:42
Or do you brew up like a French press or something else?
37:47
Well, don't judge us. We are my fiance and I are very
37:50
excited about what we've just implemented in our house, which
37:53
is we were using a Keurig, but then the micro plastics, right?
37:58
Like we don't need to be drinking the little tiny piece
38:00
of plastic that comes out. So we got this new like pod
38:04
reusable pod thing that you, you know, rinse out and then so
38:09
yeah, we've been on that for probably the last month using
38:12
the reusable pod, which you're definitely chewing that like
38:16
last sip. Like there's a lot of grounds
38:18
that kind of still in there. But it's good.
38:21
It gets me going to the day I do.
38:23
I'm like 1/2 and half. I used to love like coffee mate
38:29
things, but something shifted in my taste buds.
38:32
I don't know what it is. And now it's like pretty much
38:34
only half and half If I had got like any sweetener.
38:37
It just kind of changes the taste of coffee, I think.
38:41
That coffee is meant to be drunk at whatever level you're at.
38:45
And I, I stopped passing judgement on what people drank
38:50
when I realized that what I liked changed every couple of
38:54
years as I got older and as my taste buds changed.
38:57
And it reminded me of these two women that used to come into a
39:01
bar that I worked in, and every Thursday, they would get $3
39:04
martinis. And they were the cheapest
39:06
plastic bottle, vodka and gin martinis ever.
39:10
There are these lovely women in their 70s who had a job at the
39:13
mall nearby. And one day I remember saying,
39:17
hey, let me buy you like a kettle one or something,
39:20
something better than what you drink.
39:22
It's on me. You don't have to pay for it.
39:23
And they both just laughed and laughed and said, it doesn't
39:25
matter. We can't taste a thing anyway.
39:28
And I realized, oh, everyone's at it in the same way that when
39:32
you're taking a group out on travel, everybody's at a
39:35
different stage in their in their lives with progression.
39:38
So yeah. 100% I'll drink hotel coffee when I have to and that
39:44
is fine. I am not above that.
39:46
It's not always the tastiest in their little like reusable or
39:50
disposable cup, but. We'll leave it at that, and I'll
39:55
tell you a terrible hotel coffee story off the air.
40:00
Well, thanks for. Charity, yeah, thank you so much
40:03
for coming on the show and sharing.
40:04
Give me the opportunity to let people know that programs like
40:07
the one that Hammer Residences exist.
40:10
Is there anything that I missed today that you wanted to to
40:13
share well? I mean, if anyone knows anyone
40:18
who might be interested in the Hammer Travel, that's just like
40:21
Hammer travel.org where we have all of our trips.
40:25
They fill up really fast. So whenever the new brochure
40:28
comes out, I want to call right away and get on trips.
40:32
But I definitely check out Hammer travel.org because that
40:35
is the greatest company in the world, followed very shortly by
40:40
M Love Art. Yeah, I.
40:44
That's number two for sure. We love our.
40:47
Avocado and it it does hold up very well.
40:52
I don't know what you shall act it with, but it was over our
40:55
stove for the last couple of years.
40:57
So olive oil splatter, you know, whatever was on steam.
41:02
Yeah, whole deal. And survived.
41:04
Good. Oh.
41:05
I'm so glad to hear that. Good.
41:06
Well, I'm so glad that you thought of me and thank you for
41:09
bringing me on your podcast. I hope that this oh it'll be
41:13
great. Episode for you.
41:45
The. One more time for the sheet.
42:23
Sheet Sheets, sheets, sheets.