We were lucky to catch up with Ileyna Witenstien recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ileyna , sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
Struggling with my mental health has always been apart of me ever sense i can remember. I was diagnosed with biological depression at a young age so that is something that I have to overcome everyday. I am very grateful to have the best family that is on my team and has done whatever they can to help me. From therapists, to different kinds of therapy ,to doctors, medicine, and so much more. I was at my worst in high school ( as most people are) and that was probably the hardest time in my life for me. Depression wasn’t just apart of me it consumed me and really,it was my identity.
In high school I had a very special person in my life tell me (my therapist who I love dearly)I need to draw how i feel. I’ve always had the hardest time putting into words my feels and emotions so putting my feels into a drawing unlocked something inside of me. I didn’t focus on making “good art” I focused on getting that feeling out of head and onto paper. So instead of having a writing journal, i had a drawing journal. I would draw how i felt and add the time and date so i could show my therapist exactly what i was feeling at a specific time. . That would help the conversation get started and I could talk and show her what was going on inside of my head.
As time went by, I continued drawing my feels in my journal and then add my emotions into my art in my high school art class. I did of a lot of this for my AP art class portfolio. When I went to college for art i started making these big paintings of me that described a feeling that i felt strongly during that time of creation. I used a lot of color to express how i felt. In the beginning, the paintings expressed pretty dark feelings and over time they began to feel a bit softer.
As an artist and a person I know that i have to express my feelings through art. I used to have the hardest time talking about what was going on inside of my head. Then I would put all that noise in my head onto a canvas. overtime, i have gotten better about talking about my emotions especially because im a high school art teacher and I want to make sure my students know that they are not alone with anything they are going through. I have worked so hard to tame my depression and i think i finally have. I will always put my truth in my artwork so look for it there for it.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Professionally, I am a working artist and an art teacher. My day to day job is a high school art teacher. I am currently in my 3rd year of teaching. I love teaching art to high school students! Sharing my passion with my students is what I love. Being a high school art teacher is truly my dream job. I know that most people would be surprise to hear that. Being a teacher is incredibly hard and extremely hard work but worth every bit of it!
It is very important to me as an art teacher that i continue my own art and make sure that my students know that as well. I want my students to understand that you can have a career with art whether its as an artist, teacher, graphic designer, architect and so much more. I also want my students to know that I am an artist along with being a teacher. I practice what i preach and i want my students to see that first hand.
I like to say that i’m an art teacher by day and an artist by night. Typically, if I have a show I have go to school that day and then go set up for the show that same day. It can be hard to make my art a priority but it’s something that i continue to work on everyday. I take a painting class at The phoenix Center for the Arts so that I carve out time to paint at least once a week. This helps me make time for my art and also makes it so im surrounded in a space with others adult artist as well.
Right now with my art my focused on making products from my art that is excusable to everyone. I make stickers, prints, pins, mugs and more out of my work so everyone can have a little taste of it. I do a lot of art shows in down town phoenix and I mostly do my selling there. You can purchase my products through instagram as well!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The three most impactful qualities or areas of knowledge that I found to impact my journey are to have a support System, continuing to learn as an artist, and to surround your self with like minded people.
Having a support system when it comes to the arts is very important. Being an artist can be hard because a lot of people can be working against you and shutting down your dreams. People say you can’t make money being an artist or it’s not a practicable Career. People have even told me that being a teacher…but having people on your side will block out the people working against you. . I feel incredibly lucky to have a supportive team and having people encourage and push me to have a career as an artist and art educator. Having people in your life come to all of your art show and evening buying your art is truly special.
As an artist I have always taken art classes. From taking art in school to taking classes outside of school. No matter how good you think you are as an artist you can always improve on your skills or even learn something new. After college it took me a while to realize that I really missed taking art classes and I eventually started taking classes again. I started taking ceramics to help be become a better ceramics teacher. I would take painting classes to get someone else’s view on my work. Doing all this has helped me keep up with my skills and get perspective from other creative people.
Surrounding your self with likeminded people can help keep you on track and also feel like you aren’t alone in what you do. For insists, I have two friends from college and all three us are art teachers. We make it a priority to get together at least once a month to do something like a happy hour so we can vent and support each other in our teaching careers. We talk about our days, we share lesson plans, we get ideas from each other. We also do art things together like a wheel throwing class or craft together. It’s a must to have people on a similar journey with you in your life.
One reason I like taking art classes is because im around likeminded people. It’s good to create on your own but being around other creatives can help your art tremendously. Someone may give you a suggestion that you would have never even thought about. Or being around other people creating can give you so many more ideas for your own work.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
The most impactful thing my parents have done for me is support me. My parents are my biggest support system and they have been that way since day one. Whatever I wanted to do or be they have supported me. Whether that was a sport I wanted to do (or didnt want to do). A school I wanted to go to or an idea I had.
My parents helped me become the artist I am today. They got me involved in art classes and in art programs outside of school. They helped me start selling my work by helping me get involved in shows and helping me make art prints to sell.
My parents supporting me in my mental health journey helped me become the person and artist i have always wanted to be. . They told me it was okay to express my self through my art whether It was the good the bad or the ugly. Most parents probably wouldn’t hang up a giant painting on their daughter screaming in their living room but my parents did.
Contact Info:
- Website: Ileynaluart.com
- Instagram: ileynalu_art
- Facebook: Art by ileyna Witenstien
- Other: Linktr.ee/ileynaluart
Image Credits
Cory Otterstrom
