Bailee Wren on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Bailee Wren. Check out our conversation below.

Bailee, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
I’d say the number one way I can lose several hours of my day is by going outside and looking at plants and bugs. I garden in my spare time and it’s been a huge inspiration for my work. You can usually find me squatting somewhere and taking a picture of a caterpillar or a beetle to look up later and probably draw. I used to often take “yard walk” breaks where I’d destress in nature, but now I have to usually save those for after work since I can get carried away with a creature scavenger hunt.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Wren, I’m a freelance illustrator and graphic designer currently located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I work part time for an app called Planter where I create various pieces of media for their gardening app. When I’m not working for Planter, I usually am hired by other companies to make apparel, stickers, or prints.
Something unique about me is my autism and my deep love for nature. Although I’m adept at a various range of subject matter, I’m often creating work centered around flora and fauna. Usually half of my time working on an art piece is studying my subject matter so that I feel it’s represented properly. I can get in my head about accuracy sometimes, and I’ve really been working on being looser and focusing more on the essence of shapes rather than getting everything to match.
I’m currently brainstorming a piece that I’d like to make about my city, highlighting the amazing creatures and flowers found in Upstate, South Carolina.

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Although I’ve always been an artist, I wasn’t diagnosed with autism until I was well into my 20’s. A big portion of my life has been trying to fit in and appear “normal” around people. I’ve been told I didn’t do the smoothest job at this.
I’ve always been fond of the world around me, but didn’t grow up in an environment that nurtured my desire to learn about science. Upon getting my diagnosis, discovering myself more, and allowing myself to be interested in the subject matter that I had pushed to the side, my love for the world and creating blossomed.
It’s been a tough journey, and I’m still figuring out things about myself and working on unmasking every day, but I feel like I’ve really settled into my identity and what I like to do.

Before this I was confused, sad, and I constantly felt like an alien. It felt like I was putting all of my effort into trying to be like others but doing a terrible job at it. I didn’t know what to talk about, I would just let others talk to me about their lives and interests and I would listen. It feels nice to be able to talk about myself now. I feel like years worth of emotions and interests have been bubbling up out of me and it’s been scary and exciting.
I don’t think anyone would have labeled me as “quiet” in my lifetime. But it definitely feels like I have a direction I’m heading in now rather than just waiting for someone to tell me how to act or what to find interesting.

What fear has held you back the most in your life?
The fear of failure. I feel most people can relate with this. Whether it’s socializing, making dinner, or creating a piece of art, it’s terrifying to think you could mess it all up. There’s a quote by Winston Churchill: “Perfectionism is the enemy of progress”.

I believe one of the most important things you can do is “make the thing”. It doesn’t have to be good, you just have to create something. Growth comes through practice and pursuit, not by staring blankly at a canvas and wishing you were someone else or capable of something you’re not. We have to fail to grow and that become less scary the more we do it.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Unfortunately, yes. I say “unfortunately” because I really struggle with being professional in a capitalistic society. I treat everyone very similarly as social hierarchies don’t make sense to me. Which doesn’t sound bad until you’re calling your boss “dude” or are maybe talking about bugs too much in a job interview (it’s me, I do that).

I worry this can make me seem “less qualified” for positions since our society has a very narrow viewpoint for how we view professionalism. Me talking to everyone as my equal has often been seen as a sign of disrespect. I mostly put myself in positions now with likeminded individuals who understand that with me, I am very professional in what I do despite coming across as casual.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
I’m definitely not doing what I was told to do, an art career was very much warned against by my family. I also don’t believe anyone is necessarily born to do anything in particular (except for perhaps a few geniuses in their craft). I believe life gives us our circumstances and we wiggle through that while also finding out who we are and that’s what leads us to our careers. I don’t think there’s a single correct answer for anyone when they decide what to do for employment.

I love being an artist, I worked and continue to work very hard for this career. I’m very passionate about it and am happy with my choice in pursuing it most of the time.
Something else I’m passionate in is science. I often wonder if conservationism or a biology would be my career if my childhood were a little different. Although I was interested in science, that interest wasn’t very fostered. I believe that subject was just outside of my parent’s scope, and frankly I didn’t have a very good education. I didn’t know what “science” really was, and now that I do, I’m obsessed with it. I was often alone in my room and drawing for most of my childhood. That passion was fostered much more in my environment and became the most likely scenario for my career (especially after trying to go to college for several others and quickly losing interest).

Funnily enough, my older brother got his PhD in molecular biology. What about his personal upbringing and who he is made that the right career for him? Who knows. Lot’s of things probably.

We can’t change the past, and I could certainly go back to college now if I wanted to. But I love art and want to continue doing it. There was a lull in my career for about a year where I was concerned I made a mistake, but it never made me stop trying and that shows that this is the right career for me. Born to do it or not.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wrencraftt.art/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wrencraftt/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/bailee-wren-4146ba137/?skipRedirect=true