On Pushing Yourself And Painting What You Know: Catie Lewis
Every year, bbatx curates a monthly residency highlighting the work of 10 to 15, Texas-based women and nonbinary visual and musical artists that create work and perform in our programs. As we move to take our programs online, we’ve partnered with Bumble to launch a digital version of The Residency. From now through November 1, 2020, you can tune in for weekly mixes, visuals and workshops from 16 women and nonbinary artists and DJs.
Today, as part of the series, we’ve got an interview with Austin-based visual artist and muralist Catie Lewis. In conversation with bbatx committee member Liz Whitington, Catie chats with us about the inspiration she draws from the creative community in Austin, how she expresses her connection to Filipino culture in her art, and how she creates stories behind her work.
ABOUT CATIE LEWIS:
Catie Lewis is a self taught artist + muralist living in Austin, TX. She fills her pieces with bold colors and intricate lines, shaping compositions around chaos and simplicity. Her lifelong dreams include beautifying walls worldwide, opening a bright yellow cafe in Siargao and helping other young womxn to be fearless in pursuing their passions.
Tell us a little bit about how you came to be in Austin and how you got into creating artwork. :) How did you get to this path?
After living in Charleston, South Carolina, for a few years, I was looking for a change of pace after graduating from community college. Charleston was a beautiful city but lacked the diversity and opportunities I was looking for at the time. Everyone I knew there raved about Austin and said I would absolutely love it! So after a week of convincing, I found an apartment and signed a lease!
Once I got to Austin, I was immediately inspired by the colorful murals and weekly art markets around the city. A few of my coworkers vended their own art and encouraged me to get back into painting and sign up for a market! I started off with the Frida Fridays ATX market, and I’ve been doing way more art ever since!
Out of all the cities you could have chosen, what made you pick Austin?
Austin feels like a small town but is a larger city. One day I googled the best city to live in for a millennial, and Austin came up as one of the best cities. After doing more research, I found that this city had great food, a creative community and it was priced comparable to Charleston, SC. I felt like I needed a change, and Austin just called out to me. Prior to moving here, I kept getting signs that I needed to be here, so I felt like it was the city that I needed to be in for this chapter.
You mentioned that there was a brief time in your life when you completely lost touch with your creative side. How did you find your way back to your creativity?
It was very important for me to get back to creating and my creativity. When I was in South Carolina, I was in school full-time, had a full-time job and a part-time job—which left no room for anything else in my life. I didn’t have any time to be creative, so I left it on the back burner to focus on things that I thought were important at the time. After moving to Austin, I felt like I got a fresh start. The city has such a rich colorful creative scene with markets, murals, spaces and artists. It inspired me to get back to creating. The community also encouraged me to pick it up again and supported me to succeed as an artist. The creative scene is so diverse while also giving you your own space to create and experiment.
You have a wonderful wide range in your work—from complex paintings, murals, one line drawings, portraits, gouache, as well as textiles such as bags and shirts. What inspires you to create these various disciplines? Are they all inspired by similar concepts that are different interpretations, or does each medium come from different inspiration?
Being self-taught, I really have to try all the mediums and techniques to find the ones that I connect with. I find it easy to paint botanical things, and I am still learning to paint people, so I am practicing working digitally to enhance my ability with portrait painting. For me, my inspiration depends on how I would like to see my inspirations in my work within the various different mediums I use. My work can take me ten minutes to ten hours to make—from minimalistic to complex—both which I love doing and feel are beautiful. This year, I am working on combining portraits and stories to create things that tell more of a story. I am really excited about this new focus and vision for my work.
You are looking to build upon your practice and experience with more meaningful projects and explore the stories of people who make up this community. What community are you interested in exploring, and why does it speak to you?
This year, my goal is to research and do deeper dives into the process of creating the story behind the pieces. Also, my goal (good thing about quarantine!) is to dive deeper into the process of creating. I want to focus on making portraits and scenes of going to the Philippines from three years ago. I was adopted and went back during my senior year of high school. I will always carry that experience of visiting my birth family on this lush jungle island. Visiting my family was a huge turning point in my life and developing a love for them and developing a connection with the Philippines. I was the most comfortable I felt when I was in the Philippines and want this to be more reflective in my work. It was always something I wanted to explore deeper—expressing these feelings about the culture of the Philippines with my art and painting—so I am exploring that medium and concept. It is also a way to challenge myself mentally while I am painting, and I am excited to explore this side.
My end goal is to move back there and live because the lifestyle is different. You do not take anything for granted. I yearn for that life, and the only way I can communicate these feelings is through my art and painting. This was always something I wanted to explore deeper. Exploring that medium and concept—and challenging myself mentally while I am painting.
You recently completed a residency at Deeds Not Words, a community that focuses on calling young people to action for issues regarding gender equity such as reproductive rights, sexual assault, equal pay and so much more. What was this experience like? How did that impact your creative process or work?
Deeds Not Words is a wonderful community whose mission statement resonated with me and inspired me to do more meaningful projects. That group of women blew me away. Being with a group of women that are driven and all focused on their role in the community while still working together as a team had a tremendously positive impact on me and my work. Their passion inspired me. It made me realize that I can try to make a ripple effect with my work and I can change to push a conversation about whatever I think needs to be talked about through my art.
As an artist, how important is it to also be an entrepreneur and maintain the business of your art?
It is a very important balance, but it can be very hard to balance the business side and the artistic practice. You need the business side to sustain your artistic work. Everything costs money, so you need to be able to do bookkeeping, taxes, your website, etc. so that you can sustain yourself. I had to shift how I talked and interacted with people and clients so that I could maintain business relationships and keep everything organized. I am self-taught, so I have to fight the imposter syndrome as I am always learning both the artistic and business side. It is very important that I am always learning and pushing myself. It has taught me to be confident to go for things that I want or need, even if I do not get it. Sometimes it is about going through that process, because it is all a part of the learning process.
What impact has this time of crisis had on you and your practice?
COVID quarantine has definitely put a huge question mark on what it means to have a business during a super challenging time for everyone! It’s hard to push sales, products or commissions as someone who has slowed down financially to others—knowing how crazy this all is in everyone’s lives. On the art side, though, quarantine is a lifesaver. I’m definitely fighting anxiety and lack of motivation half of every day, but the other half I’m just going at my new project and experimenting with my paints! I feel like I kind of wished this sort of free time into existence back when life was normal and I was too busy to make personal art. :)
