We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jesse Aguilera Escalante a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jesse, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
I wouldn’t know where to pinpoint it out, but I’d like to say I’ve always been optimistic. Always knowing that there are two sides to every story, and it’s okay to have failures. Somehow having the outlook that everything happens for a reason, and that everything will be okay.
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?
An FX artist who started out at the age of 13 wanting to create a mask seen in the film The Purge. The mask used in the movie was rare and difficult to obtain. When a few popped up on Ebay they were always beyond my personal budget. Having little to no money as a young teenager really wanting to attempt to recreate it, I saved up my holiday and birthday money to buy supplies for mask making. A decade later, I work for a company called Immortal Masks. I’m also a performer for Knott’s Scary Farm and on my free time I create FX masks and perform with Southern California’s sliders, Decayed Brigade.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three qualities that have been impactful for me would be, patience, self-discipline, and being creative. I’d say having patience is key to just about every situation in life. Not everything will go as planned. Being impatient could lead into a lot of mistakes and mishaps. Having patience is also key for learning the art of self-discipline. With self-discipline, you can save yourself time and possibly even money. It can teach you to how to overcome procrastination and meet deadlines with ease. Understanding self-discipline allows you to have more willpower be more expressive and creative in your own art. I believe by getting the difficult tasks out of the way first allows me to be more creative because knowing I’ve completed the tough part in the process sets my mind at ease and motivated to design. Being creative is not just a physical form of art. It could also be establishing beats for music or concocting a new scent for a candle. Thinking alone is creative, and if you feel like you’re not capable, change the perspective. Look at it from a different angle. It won’t be obvious at first but with a bit of patience and self-discipline, you’ll see the bigger picture. And that’s art.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
When I start to feel a bit overwhelmed, I like to start a new sculpture whether it be designing it by talking to friends and family about it or beginning the process of clay sculpting. Sometimes I feel the need to exercise and how I get my exercise is by sliding at Chapman Sports Park. Sliding is a scare tactic that utilizes your full body, it’s throwing your body willingly on the ground, with the proper sliding equipment. It’s an intense full body workout that can be used for scaring at haunted attractions or stunt performances like the Decayed Brigade slider shows. Honestly whatever makes me happy and motivated to keep moving forward is what I tend to gravitate towards.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/__polite_leader__/
Image Credits
Trey Yasger, Nikki Knight, Nelson Molina
