Meet Josh Scheuerman

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Josh Scheuerman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Josh below.

Josh, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

When I started out creating as a child, there were no critics to judge or evaluate my work, it was just art for art’s sake. Throughout my early adolescence I kept doodling or creating with no agenda to make it a career or even take art classes. When I turned 30 I actively pursued painting, buying paint and canvas and just started with an idea. That idea turned into my first art show and then a gallery show to my first mural. That was all within the first year of painting. Over the next decade reality set in and the true hard work began. Getting rejected, not selling my paintings, having meetings wich never when very far and so forth. The crux of being an artist, but not making any financial reward off of my work. However, that decade also taught me to host my own art shows with friends, try to fake it until I made it and be persistent with creating with the goal to get better. That confidence to call yourself an artist has to come from inside, it will never come externally unless someone feels it internally first and no one can do that for anyone else. It’s one of the most important distinctions one can get to as an artist. Call yourself one and others will as well.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I grew up in Utah with a single, working mother and had a lot of free time on my hands to create and imagine my own little world. I didn’t know I needed glass until the 7th grade, so I kind of lived in a foggy existence until I could see the definition of trees and mountains, but I think that time spent helped me create what was in my head at the time. When I turned 30 I started painting after having a decade in the action sports, promotions I wanted to do something different. This took me another decade to quit my job at the time as a graphic designer and pursue art/murals fulltime. I am now 6 years on this new journey and finally understanding it was all of those others experiences in my life which has helped me when I feel overwhelmed or self critical. It’s just art, but it has to come from inside, that fire that burns is a personally pursuit first before it can be a fulltime job. I’ve completed several large murals over my career and worked with a lot of exciting companies and clients and have smaller prints, canvas for sale and look forward to making more large scale public art in the future.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Determination
Self confidence
Networking
Early on in any career I think it’s important to learn as much as you can from your peers or others in the same field of work. This can be co-workers mentors or online information/blogs about a given topic. The determination to see things through, especially when their hard will always reflect a positive outlook on one’s character. It’s okay to fail, I would like to believe it’s actually more important to fail and keep trying then to get discouraged and give up. That’s what sets entrepreneurs, musicians, artists and the like from reaching their goals. You never know what’s going to happen if you keep going, but everyone pretty much knows damn sure what’s going to happen if the quit.

My philosophy as an artist has always been to create for yourself first and see where that goes. If it’s not working in one aspect, which gears, try another method or create something else outside of ones comfort zone. As a creative, you could have a degree and I believe that is one path to be an artist, but it’s not the only way. I don’t have a degree in anything but high school although I’ve attempted to obtain one from three different colleges over the course of five years and just have one algebra class to finish said degree. Having the paper may be important for some, but I think my work ethic and body of work are more important at this point. Having the confidence to see projects through and create without the insecurity of others is more important then creating to be popular. That’s like putting the horse before the cart as a known metaphor. Be an artist and call yourself one before others will follow suite.

One of the best advice tips for any creative is to network in-person. If you’re a musician, show up to the local shows and meet others who also have the same passions as you do. Support their shows and their music and hopefully they will also in turn support yours. As an artist, I attend other art shows, gallery opening and mural festivals. I’m always available to talk with other artists who have questions and I hope to do the same with them. There is a wealth of knowledge out there and it’s important to meet people, have a conversation and promote others. It’s reciprocal and in the end it’s better to have a community which cares about and promotes each other than trying to be the lonewolf in a situation.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

I was commissioned to paint a mural in Tonopah, NV a couple years ago and in the application process my mind was on something else, or I was tired from painting already and missed the dimensions for the artwork for the project. I only had a week to get the mural done and after driving out there I found the was was double the size I had already allocated for the week and supplies. From 40′ to 80′ and double the height at 25′. I started right away with buffing the wall and then getting to work. Half way through I was delirious, frustrated and fully overwhelmed with the scope of the project with the limited time and resources. I had a phone call with my mother and mentioned all of that and her reply was, “…that sounds hard, but you’ve done hard before.” That was it. After that one sentence I thought back and I have done hard before, we’ve all done really, really hard things, either personally, emotionally or professionally and it’s worked out. Maybe not how one had imagined or thought possible, but it was true then and it’s true now. When I get overwhelmed I calm down and think, ‘I’ve done hard before’. It really does have a calming effect. Another mantra I repeat often to myself is, ‘Be Kind. Be Brave.’ It’s gotten me through some very hard times and has the meditation effect of calming down. Be kind to yourself and others, but Be Brave when things get hard, and they will be hard, so be very Brave and kind.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://joshscheuerman.com/
• Instagram: @jscheuerman
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessejoshjames/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshscheuerman/
• Twitter: @scheuerman7
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoshScheuerman

Image Credits

Bryant Heath
Cezaryna Dzawala
Landon Hale
Nick Kenworthy
Josh Scheuerman