We recently connected with Thomas Bell and have shared our conversation below.
Thomas, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
As an artist I find it very important to constantly take in everything around me in order to keep my creativity alive. Not only visual elemnts but information from all the senses. My artwork is usually improvised in the moment and everything I feel at the moment will find its way into my work. I started out as a musician and studied Jazz Performance in college which is where my improvised approach comes from. Being both a visual artist and a musician also allows me to tap into different types of creativity. When I don’t feel particularly inspired to create visual work I can turn to music as a way to continue creating everyday. When the inspiration for visual work comes back I still tend to feel that I haven’t had a creative block or lull in my work even though It might have been weeks since I last made a visual work. My visual work also includes a multitude of different styles including acrylic painting, encaustic, mutlimedia collage work, assemblage and ceramics. This also allows me to tap into different types of creativity which goes on to somewhat influence all my works as a whole
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I began studying music at age seven. I took guitar lessons and played trumpet in the school band for a few years before I switched from guitar to bass. I took as many music classes in high school as I could including concert band, choir music therory and jazz band. I studied jazz performance at Berklee College of Music and ethnomusicology at Florida State University. It was while attending FSU that I first ventured into the world of visual art. Since I had no formal art training I basically just started experimenting with colors and started reading all I could about various mediums and techniques. For most of my 20’s I was a professional musicain and a visual artist as a side hobby. In 2003 I moved to NYC and found myself playing quite a bit of music but also started exhibiting my work in various exhibitions. In 2006 I was one of 3 artists that founded the Bushwick Open Studios in Brooklyn that has since become the largest Open Studios in the United States. This experience was my first taste of organizing and curating creative events and I was hooked. The following year I founded the artist run nonprofit Spead Art. That began a whole journey of curating exhibitions, hosting residencies for other artists and learning what it takes to run an art based non profit. I gained more administration experience as the Director for the dance based non profit Center for Performance Research in Williamsburg Brooklyn. In 2012 I moved to Detroit and relocated Spread Art. At this point Spread Art became a 501(c)(3). We bought a building in the Woodbridge neighborhood and hosted over 150 events per year including, music, dance, performance art, visual exhibitions, theater, artist talks panel discussions and more. We hosted 3 artists in residence per month including international, national and local artists. As the executive director I had one of the six artists studios that were in the building. I found it very gratifying to be able to bring so many artists together through the residency program and to be able to curate music and art events whenever I wanted. I learned so much about running an art based non profit through that experience. After almost 10 years of running Spread Art and years of creative memories, I passed the torch when I stepped down as Director in 2017. I moved to St Petersburg Florida in 2018 and quickly found myself an art studio in the Warehouse Arts District and began creating more visual work. I participate in exhibitions regularly and have recently begun vending at various events and art fairs. Currently my focus is on becoming a full time artist again and building my vending opportunities and brand.
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?
Having studied jazz improvistion, I feel that the ability to adapt in the moment has been one of my strongest skills. Not just being able to create in the moment while improvising on my instrument but translating that to other areas. My paintings are usually created by reacting to what is already on the canvas and I tend to work rather quickly while the inspiration is there. The ability to improvise has come in handy dozens of times while producing an event, hanging an exhibition or running a live show. Problems come up and solutions need to happen usually with limited time. The ability to not know what is going to happen next and remain focused with quick reactions or decisions has bailed me out of almost every scenario possible when it comes to producing live events or festivals. It also comes in handy in everyday situations quite often. Knowledge of how the business works is extremely important for a professional artist. I have been fortunate in that respect through my non profit admin experience and through curating music and art events. While knowledge of the business side of art does not really come into play that much in regards to creativity, it does allow an artist to make more informed descions to get their work to the people.
As an artist with multiple disiplines I can draw from many perspectives. For me personally, I feel that is is important to be as diverse as possible. Visually I work with many different mediums, styles and disciplines. Each one taps into a different part of my creativity and that helps my work from getting stagnent. Musically I have always played many different genres of music. You can learn something from every style of music and that in turn helps you become a more complete musician.
As for advice, learn as much as you can about everything. Not just your chosen art form but other forms of art as well. I listen to just about every style of music there is from orchestral to jazz to rock to dance to electronic music to rap to latin and traditional musics from all over the world. Take everything in and learn to appreciate all forms of creativity.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Space! From 2006 to 2022 I was fortunate enough to have large studio spaces which allowed me to work on large scale canvasas and projects. For the last two years I have maintained a small home studio which has drastically reduced the size and scale I work in. I began to concentrate on smaller visual works which I was not used to doing and now have built up sizeable body of work. Having smaller works led me to vending in my 10 x 10 booth at art events and fairs which has not only gotten my work in front of more people but also led me to begin printing smaller canvas reproductions of my larger works. I also purchased a pottery wheel after taking a ceramics class in 2023 which allows me to have another creative outlet for smaller works.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.thomasbellartist.com
- Instagram: @thomasbellartist
- Facebook: tdbellarts
- Other: Facebook twin72 – inside thomas bells brain
