We recently connected with Hannah Claire and have shared our conversation below.
Hannah, 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?
How do I keep my creativity alive? With the world the way it is today, all the darkness and sadness I see, hear about, or maybe even experience that can be a bit of a loaded question for a lot of us. Creativity can be a fragile thing. It can be fickle. It can come so swiftly but then evaporate just as quick. Sometimes without even giving us a choice on how it chooses to ebb and flow. I won’t lie I have months, sometimes even years, like many of us, where my creativity seemed to be absolutely nonexistent. Times where I let so many of my personal struggles in life and with my depression deplete all my artistic views. I won’t ever claim that there’s an easy cure all answer for everyone when it comes to keeping the creativity flowing. We are all different so what works for me obviously isn’t guaranteed to work for all. For the most part I have been very lucky to have been blessed with a very overactive imagination. I usually have so many ideas constantly flowing through my brain, so it can be hard to decide which to pick next. There have been some times during my adult life that my exuberant brain backfired on me. Instead, making me unable to create anything at all. Getting stuck in these internalized loops of doubt in my self worth, my struggles, my talent, and my ability to keep going. Like so many of us have experienced, my mind made me feel like a fraud, an impostor that didn’t deserve to have any recognition for her work. At one point in my early twenties I had gone several years without picking up a single art suppl, too immobilized by my own vicious thoughts. Finally I started to remember that art had helped pull me through so much while growing up. It helped me process so much trauma and loss I experienced. Art allowed me to express things I couldn’t find the strength to voice. It gave me a way to leave overwhelming emotions on the paper or canvas so that they didn’t stay buried inside me. As I remembered all those things I realized that’s what I needed to do again. Not only to keep my creativity alive but to give me a way process those horrible days, the struggles, the mental battles and in a sense keep myself, my soul alive. Instead of running away from myself, I would find a way to transmute all the pain, heartache, failures, depression, and anxiety into art. Take what was once dark and turn it into beauty and light.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Well first and foremost I am a freelance artist. I am from Des Moines, Iowa where I was born and currently reside but I also spent many years growing up in the Pacific Northwest as well as several summers traveling all over the united states with my father and siblings. I love to create vibrant and unique works of art mixing realism with a bit of abstract. I mainly use acrylics and watercolors although I do occasionally use other mediums and venture into other styles like charcoal portraits and my current fun project of creating mini Halloween terrariums. Though art will always be my biggest passion and a big dream of mine to pursue, I am also a mental health tech, and a huge advocate for breaking the stigma against mental health disorders and struggles. My next big venture I am working on will actually be mixing my passion for art and my desire to help others find the courage to speak their truths and no longer hold shame about mental health struggles or diagnosis. I will be creating a few paintings and drawings to visually represent the internal battles and invisible struggles that so many of us have to face in silence while so many others in this world refuse to make room or hold enough compassion for our voices to be heard. I want to showcase this mental health awareness series alongside my series of influential women portraits to not only represent the duality that many of us are capable of but also to take the opportunity to speak out against the stigma of mental health and help open more eyes. Too often we are expected to reach and celebrate our success without ever acknowledging the struggles and failures we had to overcome to get there. Without darkness their is no light and without some sort of struggle, failure, or rejection there is no perseverance or true drive to reach the success that you have hoped for. In order to truly appreciate the amazing successes we may experience or witness we must embrace the existence of the many obstacles individuals have had to overcome to reach their goals, I want to present this duality of paintings and drawings to help educate the next generation or two of girls about the determination, and power we possess especially when we come together in a common goal. I also want to help them see that none of them ever need to feel afraid or ashamed to speak up or speak out about the experiences they go through along the way..
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?
Oh goodness, this is where I always get caught up in my thoughts. I strongly advocate about others speaking up for themselves and for those who have trouble speaking for themselves. Especially when it comes to giving credit where credit is truly do. That being said, I still struggle a bit when talking about myself in the sense of qualities or accomplishment. I guess I could definitely say one of my most important qualities is my perseverance to keep striving and working towards my goals. Any artist knows that in order to reach your goals or opportunities you will end up facing lots of rejection along the way and so you must not let it discourage you or make you lose faith in yourself and your abilities. Many would probably say one of my most important skills would be my creative insight. Obviously as an artist that is highly useful but I would like to say that one of my most important skills in my empathic ability to view others and the world around me. It allows me to connect to people, animals, and the world around me on a deeper level than many others. I am able to think about myself in someone else’s position or struggle to see things from different views instead of just my own. My third most important thing I would say lies in an area of knowledge. While I am not a trained expert or ever claim to be, all of the experiences I went through in my life with trauma, anxiety, and depression gave me a well of knowledge of how it feels going through mental battles, overwhelming pains and facing what seems insurmountable unknowns. It’s help me understand how burdening these struggles can seem and how easily it can push an individual to dangerous extremes that sometimes no one even sees coming. It’s also helped me understand how truly devastating this stigma our society has built against mental health issues can be to individuals experiencing them and the loved ones struggling to find a way to help or left in the wake of losses that might have been avoidable if more people felt more comfortable and safe voicing their pain and asking for help.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
My biggest growth in the last year has been in my career as a mental health tech. I’ve always been one to encourage people around me speak up and have tried to be a voice for those that can’t find their own but honestly I never thought mental or behavioral health would be the avenue I would take in my career choice. Nor would I have imagined how much meaning it would hold or personal growth it would encourage in me. The different aspects I have learned about so many different mental diagnosis and the behaviors that can be exhibited after experienced traumas. The ways I’ve learned and been trained to handle and cope with behaviors and trauma responses hasn’t just allowed me to help patients but to help myself find ways to heal pieces of myself I wasn’t sure would ever be truly possible for me. The individuals I’ve met and the ways they have trusted and confided in me has made me cherish others in deeper ways. Letting me see new hope in this world. It’s helped me see that no matter how dark the world is there will always be a glimpse of light somewhere. That when you can’t see the light it’s ok to sit in the dark for a while just know you never have to sit there alone.
Contact Info:
- Website: www..hclaireartz.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/HclaireArtz
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hclaireartz/
Image Credits
My personal was taken by Violet Photography of @violetcreativephotos
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
