We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lee Gavin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lee, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Growing up, I feel it was always instilled in my siblings and I that as Native people we were born with a certain amount of resilience, getting older that resiliency was definitely tested. When I was 15 I had appendicitis and while get it removed they discovered cancerous tumors, I spent about 2 years give or take in and out of the hospital and coming out of that mentally was a challenge.
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 am an artist and photographer, both I feel go hand in hand and going into photography felt like a lateral move from painting, kind of like, the same way I would frame a painting or draw emotion from something I am putting on canvas is the same way I approach a photo. In the past I’ve had a few galleries and provided art for the set of Reservation Dogs on FX, currently I have a gallery I’m a featured artist for in Salem, Or called “Indigenous Northwest” curated by Steph Littlebird, and next month I will be the featured photographer for the Blazers Native American Heritage Night.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Dedication, Desire and Authenticity would be the three things I feel drove me to create most. There will be more no’s in life than yes and it’s your dedication to your craft and desire to create something authentic to who you are as a person that really sets you apart. I would say to people who are early in their journeys to just be courageous and willing to stand behind your work, what you’re making right now is what you have to offer and don’t try to compare your work to others.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
By far the biggest impact my parents made on me was teaching me that art is objective and to keep drawing, painting, singing.. whatever it is. There are always going to be people who don’t like what you’re doing and will even go out of their own way to try and discourage you from creating. My parents always taught me to create for myself and everything else is just icing on top. Being able to create freely without the pressure of needing to be reassured that what I’m doing is beautiful gave me the ability to move with intention on any project I was working on at the time. So thank you to my mom and pop for giving me that freedom.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @miyoxet.arts
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-gavin-483a7b217?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Image Credits
Photo 1
19,20,21 are my paintings
All photos are mine
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
