Meet Minnie Lucas

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Minnie Lucas a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Minnie, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?
There are different ways I keep creativity alive. I’m always looking at art and learning about different artists. I don’t look at one specific genre or era either. It’s important to look at different types of art to keep an open mind so you’re not staying in a rut. I’m always interested in learning new techniques when creating as well. This past year I’ve been taking a printmaking class at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. I have learned so many new things and it has encouraged me to experiment more with my art.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I create art because I find it to be very therapeutic. It’s my way to relieve stress and anxiety. Lately, I’ve been working on projects that’s about my mental health. I want to share my story to help me heal and hopefully it will help others who have been in similar situations.

The first series I created about my mental health is called Self. I photographed self portraits and double exposed flowers, leaves and paisley. After printing the photos I dyed them different shades of green. Green has always been my favorite color. In this series it resents freedom. I finally feel free from my father and I’m free to be myself.

Recently I finished a series about how controlling, psychologically, and emotionally abusive my father is. I wrote down everything he’s said that’s affected me, took a photo of it and double exposed self portraits. I wanted to show emotions of frustration, anger, sadness, and anxiety. That’s how I have felt in the past while being around him. With this project I wrote down everything he’s said with a dark pencil on a large piece of paper. I filled up the page then erased it. I kept adding layers and erasing it. The words wouldn’t erase all the way due to the dark pencil. These are the words and stories that go through my head constantly. Once you say something then it can’t be erased. People usually remember the negative memories more than the positive ones.

I’m currently working on a collage series about my stress dreams. They occur when I’m feeling very anxious over something. I decided to start creating collages of them because it’s very theraphic. Eventually I want to create a dream diary with all of them together.

In the future I hope to see these pieces on display in shows. I currently have a photo from my series Self on display at Zanesville Museum of Art in their 77th Ohio Annual Exhibition, Another photo from the series was also on display at the Ohio State Fair this year. I have a lot more project ideas that I hope to create in the future.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The best advice I’ve ever gotten was from a teacher at CCAD. He told me to make sure you have a life outside of being an artist. It’s okay if you’re not creating everyday. I’ve heard advice from other artists who have said to create art every single day. I don’t think that’s alway possible because life happens. It’s okay if you’re not creating everyday. You’re a human first.

Other advice I have is to not be afraid to experiment and try other mediums. Sometimes we only focus on one medium or subject and we get stuck in a rut. When you only focus on one thing it’s easier to get burnt out.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I think it’s important to take breaks when needed. When life gets very stressful I put projects aside that are more thought out. During this time I create a lot of abstract art to help reduce stress and anxiety. When I’m mad about something I create what I call rage art. Basically I play punk or heavy metal music loudly and draw along with the music. Sometimes I draw lines or I stab the paper. It’s a good way to get a lot of anger out. I take my anger out on paper that way I’m not taking it out on other people. It’s also okay to take a break from art all together if you need to. Your mental and physical health comes first.

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Image Credits
Minnie Lucas

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