We recently connected with Dina Cadavid and have shared our conversation below.
Dina, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
My family! I have a 7 year old daughter who I have raised immersed in arts and crafts since she picked up a paintbrush at 12 months old, and was painting with acrylics by 14 months old! Some form of art has happened in our home almost on a daily. I have considered myself an artist since I was young. Be it from painting, to photography, to being a musician and singing, pastry arts, or my art business called Lifeboardz, which are resin photo memory boards. I met my husband 11 years ago, who is also a visual artist and musician, and music was our glue. We both play guitar and sing, and started playing music around our town as a duo, and over the years we formed an eight piece band know as The Evolution! As a mother, I find myself exhausted, and definitely have days where it’s very hard to motivate to be creative. A lot of the time I have a feeling of having a creative burst, and the need to create something, and I just don’t have the energy to accomplish it. I spend a lot of time following other artists, and children’s process art teachers on social media, who share their ideas with the world. This actually really helps spark my creativity, and want to create amazing projects with my daughter. It’s rare that I spend time on my own artwork these days, its just all about my kid, and doing art with her is where I find peace.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Most of my life I have worked with kids. Starting at a young age, I was a mothers helper, then became a babysitter, camp counselor, song leader, pre-school teacher, and a nanny. When I was 12 my Uncle gave me his guitar for my birthday, and I taught myself how to play it. Music and art were a very large part of my teenage years, that helped facilitate tough times. Today, that is still my world, being a musician, artist, and a Mommy! Every child expresses themselves differently, but I truly believe that children give our world hope! It’s important to give them these tools to grow. Whether it’s a paint brush, a musical instrument, a blank pad of paper and pen, a computer, dress up clothes, a camera, hammer and nails, etc…fostering their strengths and letting them fly! Right before Covid hit, I was teaching a mommy and me process art class out of my house. I only got to do one, four week session before the world shut down. I dream of having my own studio one day to be able to teach process art to children. Currently I am the creative art director at a local nonprofit E•ƒ(ec), which is The Education Foundation of Eagle County, where one of my positions is teaching children music and art at summer camp. It’s a blessing to be able to teach these kids how to play the ukulele, sing, be creative, and just watch them be free! www.efec.org
I started my own art business a handful of years ago called Lifeboardz. I have been working with resin since about 2004, and finally decided to do something with it. I started out collaging particle board and pouring resin or them. Over the years they progressed into a nicer product, and Lifeboardz was created! They can be for any occasion, as long as you want a permanent piece of artwork for your wall! Weddings, babies, and realtor gifts have been my biggest sales with Lifebaordz, but can be made for literally any occasion! I paint abstract on the side that I also seal in resin. www.lifeboardz.com
Music has been my world my whole life! I can hear a song, and it will bring me right back to a specific time and place in my life, good or bad. Stage freight was a real big deal, and in the early 2000’s when I was living in Boulder Colorado, my friends made me a bet to sign up for open mic night. No one had ever heard my song writing before, let alone had I ever even sang in a microphone or infront of anyone! Spoiler alert….I won the bet and I performed! Eventually from there, I was a regular at a specific restaurant/bar that had weekly open mic nights I attended. Those people there became like family, and still friends with some today! Currently living in the mountains of Vail Colorado, I now play in an established 8 piece band that my husband Mauricio and I formed over the years. We started off as a duo 11 years ago and called ourselves Living Being, where I sang, played guitar, and eventually taught myself the ukulele. Slowly we built a large band called The Evolution! I don’t play much guitar anymore, just enjoy singing, playing ukulele, and some percussion. Mauricio is the true heart of the band, the one that writes all the originals, and leads everyone! We are currently in the studio recording an EPK that soon enough the world will get to hear, and we are very excited about it! What a fun process it is to be in the studio recording! www.theevolutionlive.com
Along with everything I mentioned above, being a Mother is my full-time, unpaid position! It’s the hardest, and the most rewarding job however! I remember when I was a babysitter around 19 years old, I babysat regularly for a family that had this extra room right off of their kitchen. There was nothing in it, except all their children’s artwork from school hanging on the walls. I distinctly remember thinking, ” One day when I am married with kids, I will have an art studio in my house, that will be the most amazing room of the house!” Well, I basically accomplished that-our loft is an art studio, but our entire house, every inch of every wall is an art gallery…mostly of our daughters incredible work! The artwork that my child has created from such a young age up until now, is truly mind-blowing! I was creating projects with her far beyond what was age appropriate, but it was never a negative approach. She has always loved every second of every project, and it’s called process art for a reason. The outcome doesn’t have to be pretty, or even have an outcome at all…its about the process! Creating art with her has been this amazing creative outlet for me, and just so much fun! I never imagined the amount of art supplies I would accumulate stacking up shelves to the ceiling, but I have to admit, it’s impressive!
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?
I think having an open mind helps a lot. Life will ebb and flow and it helps to be open to changes without too much disappointment. Growing up my dream was to be a famous photographer and live in NYC. I ended up going to art school in NYC where I specialized in Photography, but ended up not finishing school, leaving NY, and traveling instead. The travels brought me to Boulder, CO to be a preschool teacher, which later brought me to culinary school specializing in Pastry Arts! I wanted to do wedding cakes, until I made a wedding cake for a friend, and never wanted to make one again! The pastry industry didn’t last long for me, as I got injured on the job. I think resilience, being open minded to changes, and having a love for what you do and want to do, are all key players.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I think this can go both ways, and I see it both ways. Obviously if someone has a super strength in an area, they will excel and shine in what they are doing. For me personally, my whole life I have always had so many interests, and good at things, but have never felt like I am truly amazing at anything. There are things I am good at, and so many things I enjoy, but I just don’t see myself excelled and amazing at one thing in particular. It’s still in question-What are you going to be when you grow up? I feel like my life’s purpose is to be a Mom, and here I am, being a mom. Day’s of feeling like I’ve totally failed, and others like I totally won at being a Mom! I think there are positives in both, having a single strength or being more well rounded in multiple areas.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theevolutionlive.com
www.lifeboardz.com - Instagram: @the.evolution.live @lifeboardz
- Facebook: @the.evolution.live @lifeboardz
