We were lucky to catch up with Chris Limeres recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Chris , you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
My generosity originated from seeing people who suffer and are barely holding on or who don’t have the ability to get basic assistance and dignity in their lives. I remember seeing a lot of this when I was growing up in Alaska. When I transitioned into Anchorage, the city located in central Alaska, I would walk home from school and see the inflation of homeless communities that filled the streets with people who were battling morality and health. Much like other distraught communities, many were good people who had been wronged. I always wanted to pull myself towards helping others in general, so it’s my duty when creating artwork to tell a story to raise awareness of the cultures, emotions, and admiration that this spinning ball in space holds within. My generosity also comes from seeing hardworking individuals in the education system like my teacher, Mr. Crawford. I mentioned him before, but he’s been instrumental in teaching me and other school peers to give love, support, and understanding through our actions and the creative work we carve out around us. To this day, I remember the graduation on the day we departed from that wonderful place. I felt rejuvenated and powerful, and that’s how I feel many years later into my adulthood. Showcasing my art in various states and around the state of Colorado, I feel privileged and confident to tell artists and non-artists the context of my artwork and to showcase the imagination woven into the fabric of my clothing and illustrations to find a connection and to let them into my world, which to me is generosity.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
So I really want to kick off this question by jumping into a new clothing product launch that is focused on MesoAmerican culture. This is a subject that I’ve been developing for some time now, and the whole outcome of this is to show the importance of our origins and how they reflect in different parts of the world. With this subject, I wanted to share the imagery of pre-Hispanic America: pyramids, lush jungles, ancient gods, and language. As a child, I was always taught to see the world through other people’s lenses: how they spoke, acted, and what their experiences were. That’s at least how I saw it. In school and through outside literature, I was educated about Norse, African, Middle Eastern, and many other cultures and identities. In the end, it left me wanting to dig deeper, and this particular clothing series is the first of many cultures that I am focused on educating and capturing both myself and others in. In the end, the thing I desire most is business and how that can be pushed in a positive direction away from the corporate environment to make it genuine and full of love, whether it’s through the brand identity, products, or people’s perspectives. I want to craft a unique artistic expression through myself and the business. Limey Limerez, for the audience reading this, know that I am poised towards pushing creative concepts and giving viewers the best version of my imaginative landscape through design, subject, and material. I have visual spectacles in my head, and I want to push them towards the world.
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?
This is a really well-put-together question that stumped me for a second. At the end of the day, I don’t want to act like I’ve got it all figured out; there’s a lot of internal work that I’ve had to do to get me to a point of success on my artistic journey. The one thing that’s aided me in my path to fulfillment when it comes to knowledge is always seeing from someone’s perspective. For example, when I was starting fresh with commission work and offering illustrations to clients, one of the hardest things was getting them to be clear and concise on how they wanted their design to come out, and then seeing how they envisioned it in their mind. I would often get frustrated at the fact that they would constantly beat around the bush and never get their point across. Seeing from their side made a big difference because I would really sit down with them and try to figure it out rather than retreat from it all. Another piece of knowledge is realizing that you can’t make free offers for customers, right? I remember I was vending at this art show in Denver and multiple people went up through the eight hours I attended and asked how much this shirt was. I replied, “$55.” Almost every response to that was them turning away and then asking, “Can you make it free?” I don’t have cash on me and my Venmo account isn’t working like the situation unfolded into. No matter what I do, I can’t fix their viewpoint, so that’s something you’ll have to have the knowledge to navigate through, and it takes time. If you are early in this process of attaining certain skill points to set yourself forward, my main piece of advice is that the main way that you can improve on getting through these challenging situations that I just mentioned is to really work on your communication and how you understand where the other person is coming from. During this, also practice being firm in your body language and words, but put that firmness into how you conduct business, especially when someone is being difficult.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
One book that’s played a pivotal role in my development was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. This book, like many in the series by C.S. Lewis, really pointed out how one who considers themselves normal can reach a higher power and potential. He used lots of symbolism to convey this, but the whole goal was to make readers think that there is a reality in which I can rise to greater heights and use that to change the world around me, whether it’s through my actions, words, or productions. Now on to the impactful nuggets of wisdom, the first being that the main characters, Peter, Edmond, Lucy, and Susan, lived in a war-torn country. They were programmed with trauma and suffering, and they had to flee all of this and leave behind a considerable foundation. When they stepped through the wardrobe into Narnia and went on the grand journey to restore peace and defeat the evil witch, they became kings and queens, fought in many battles, and changed the fate of this world. The wisdom that many gained as well as myself was that the battle uphill to reach a point of victory in your career or in life in the end is met with an altering amount of change that can set you apart from your older self. The ending of this book, as many know, is that they left this realm and stepped back into reality, where they were considered ordinary and without all this status and authenticity. Another piece of wisdom was that when you go to your Narnia, such as a trip or accomplishment, make sure you take the lessons and moments from that time and bring them with you and apply them to the world. For me, it’s art. I channel my inner Narnia when I create an illustration I’m proud of or a clothing design that I think is intriguing, and I try to gain wisdom from that.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://limeylimerezillustration.com/
- Instagram: @limeylimerez_creations
- Twitter: @LimerezLimey
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJZdBrHSb8yw8Du5tFqx6dA
- Other: Clothing Store https://limeylimerezthreadz.com/
Multi Faceted Products https://www.zazzle.com/store/limerez_creations
