Meet Dorian Epps

 

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

Dorian, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I get it from my communities, my family and the opportunities they pushed me towards.

Around the world, there are too many stories not being shared due to lack of interest, resources, and censorship. It is my job as an artist to breakdown those barriers and continue promoting the stories of those who aren’t heard yet. I can’t give up until I do that.

I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. Most people there are down to earth, but also gritty. You have to be willing and ready to work harder than the next guy. It’s a city built by immigrants and steelworkers who wanted to provide for their families and my family was determined to pave a path for my generation. To this day, the drive that I have and the kindness I seek to spread within communities is because of Pittsburgh.

I’ve always had lots of respect for my grandparents and my parents because of those sacrifices they made, and kindness they would show unconditionally to others. They showed me that even with limited resources and knowledge that I can challenge the systems and ideas in place.

I am able to thrive with minimal resources and create pieces of art from literal trash — something that most people wouldn’t be able to execute without having of the resilience and curiosity they instilled in me. I am telling the stories of these objects that are seen as trash or scraps and giving them new life/a new meaning.

As I continue this dive into my career, the biggest thing I can add is that I am not resilient for myself alone. I am resilient for who comes after me just like my parents, and their parents before them.

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, always loving basketball, but I wasn’t always the best or the coolest looking on the court. It wasn’t until I was in high school when I could dunk, and I actually started talking to colleges about basketball that I saw how much it had played a role in my life. When it was all taken away by an injury, I was left confused and wandering.

In order to battle the depression and isolation that I was feeling, I turned to art. My teacher, Miss Martin had provided a safe space for me to explore what my mind was capable of creating. Shortly after I got accepted into Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and decided that I wanted to go for industrial design.

In 2020, while attending RISD, I had discovered my love for making footwear. I had limited resources during the pandemic and decided that I would attempt making footwear out of recycling bin materials. This led to explorations that helped me discover my passion for sportswear and streetwear.

At my thesis showing, the displayed shoes were an instant hit. I had created such an unconventional looking shoe that it had drawn in the attention of everyone around. Nobody had seen recycled materials utilized in this way before to prototype or conceptualize.

This was the birth of Blacktop Market. I knew at this moment that I wanted to create spectacles for people to be an amazement of the creations in the stories being told. I want to build communities around creative and highlight the importance of art within our cities and culture.

I wanna make products that make people happy and benefit the community. Currently I am working on modular fashion and exploring the transformative aspects of sportswear. This means I want each article of clothing or accessory to do more than its intended use. Follow along on instagram if you wanna see the journey!

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

Adaptability:

As long as you know the mission you have to achieve, you can achieve it. Even with bumps in the road and distractions along the way the only thing that matters is what are you able to do in the now to create the path that gets you there. Being able to adapt means being able to make the most of any situation and that versatility has gotten me a long way with my creative journey.

Community-Oriented Approach:

Without community I would not have support. I can’t achieve the goals I have of effectively creating change in my city without being out in the city and engaging with the people here. Talking to them and discovering what problems they have is a major skill that I had to develop in school. I want to prove to them through my work ethic and relationships that I have a passion for helping them.

Staying Rooted:

Time and time again, I find it very tough to not return to my roots for the things that originally inspired me. The 12 year old version of me is the one that initially had a hunger to explore the unknown and challenge the norms of the art world. I’m able to stay innovative and creative and curious because I try to always remember that childlike willingness to try everything and anything even if I was bad. There’s beauty in the process and in the learning.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

As I tell most of my friends, I would much rather be a jack of all trades than a master of one.

When it comes to being a creative, I feel there is more room for opportunity and discovery in making improvement in areas that aren’t your strong suit— or rather being versatile in the ways we chose to learn to create.

I see knowing multiple mediums and skills like a river, while some see them as steps. With steps there is the notion of getting the knowledge then moving onward and upward in one specific area. The skills I acquire I use almost as a constant flow of ideas and experiences to inform the past, present and future.

In doing so, my work feels more grounded. It has the potential to tell stories that are beyond surface level. This is a result of me being well versed in other subjects that I can apply to whatever I decide to create.

My work in mosaics helps me with my patchwork fabrication. My love of basketball helps me design better shoes for athletes. Each story and experience informs the next.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Dylan Conrad
Stephanie Alvarez Ewens
Zaiir Talmadge
Tim Sullivan

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