Meet Esther Myong Hall

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Esther Myong Hall a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Esther Myong, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

It’s not easy. I moved from being in arts education, administration and owning my own creative based business to working that 9-5 stable income job in the healthcare system. It doesn’t mean I gave up on being creative or that I am done with the arts. After pandemic and raising a baby to now a ten year old boy with my husband I needed something stable.

I have to say the struggle with being creative started before then when I had my own business. I owned a yarn store, I was always helping other people to be creative and think outside of the box. When it was my time to do something, it would just feel like work instead of joyful play.

My solution was to take a step back. Even though I went to the Art Institute of Chicago for college, I went back to the drawing board and took online classes. I picked a medium that was new to me and just started there and worked through the demos and assignments to just still keep my hands and mind moving without the stress of having to exhibit and apply for shows or competitions.

The big thing was I made time for this. I blocked out time knowing that I would have at least an hour every evening when my son was winding down for bath and bedtime that I could sit in the hallway with my lap top and watch my video and sketch or paint along. I set small goals for myself so that I would feel accomplished with my time and not like I was falling behind.

A big help was also connecting with other creatives in different fields both fine art and working/business arts to hear other people’s struggles and victories and how they are also working through creative struggles. Being an artist is a very lonely endeavor. You can find a few people to talk to but it’s hard to find a group of peers like I had in school to deliberate and critique. I felt very fortunate that someone had set up bi-monthly meetings for creatives where I was able to connect with other artists such as Suzy Ultman and Yao Cheng.

I have two books I also fall back on a lot when I need a kick in the butt Mighty Ugly by Kim Werker and Find your artistic voice by Lisa Congdon. I go back and forth a lot about making for the sake of making and making for a purpose. These books put me in the perspective of returning to the joy of it all and recognizing my own style and that I shouldn’t feel pressure that my art doesn’t look the same as those demos or I went off the rails and didn’t even follow a prompt. They help me to own my creativity and personality.

I would say my daily dose of creativity right now is sketching, I changed wallets to something that will always include a fountain pen with a fun color and A6 sketch book so I am never without a source. Even if it’s not a drawing but words or phrases in my head it’s a creative outlet. As a part of that I started to do a daily journal again, so even when I don’t have time to make/draw I can feel creative in how I recorded my life moments. I also made my own space where it is always clear and ready for me to either open my journal and begin or pull out a sketch book to create. I make that true in my sewing spaces too. If my materials don’t have space/room to live than I feel like I haven’t made the effort to keep it in my life.

It is weird that I came from a fashions sculpture background and now I am much more aligned with writing and watercolor. I still splash around in the fiber arts but that has taken a backseat at the moment while I explore how to enjoy with without making a garment.

Currently my goals as I said are to re-enter the creative world. I make small goals for myself such a doing a craft/arts show once a year either solo or with a friend. Enter into at least three exhibitions. Write for at least one artist supply grant. I never want my CV to have a gap in it again how Pandemic and having a child forced me to. It is entirely possibly to continue to be creative when your job isn’t in that field. I have even found some other groups of creatives through work that exhibit together and I participate in those.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Well what I do for work currently is a Hereditary Coordinator, it is a very niche admin position where I work as a patient liaison and research assistant in a clinic that specializes in Hereditary Gastrointestinal Syndromes. I love my job, how it is appreciated and impacts the patients lives and their families in a positive way. This research is already leading to decreased cancer rates and options for families with hereditary syndromes to avoid passing it down to future generations. Although it isn’t creative it is good humanitarian work that feeds my soul to put a positive footprint in the world just as being a teacher did.

What I want to eventually go back to is an educator in the arts. I used to teach Continuing Education and Summer/Saturday morning youth art classes focused in fashion design. I did that for almost 10 years with the Columbus College of Art and Design. Then as things happen in academia, since I didn’t have a masters I was seen as no longer qualified to teach and forced out. A sad representation of arts education is that you can have a MBA and teach college level arts but the experience of a working artist that travels and exhibits regularly with galleries, clients and collaborates with large companies is simply not enough.

So this is where my healthcare job and creative job collide for my future. I work at large university hospital that has benefits that will allow me to work towards a Masters in Arts Education while still working fulltime. Sure it will likely take 3-4 years but nothing comes easy and there is nothing wrong with the long term goals as long as you don’t let them engulf you and I can par it down into little accomplishments along the journey to keep me going.

What I love most is using my skills to help people through research or finding their own joy in art. For me art belongs to everyone and should be accessible to anyone. If it’s not bringing you joy, change your medium, change your peers, change what success looks like to you. There is no reason to let others or your own anxieties hold you back from something that can be so freeing. Maybe you aren’t an artist in paint and canvas, maybe it’s in written word, music, assembly, flower arrangement, curation. There is something creative in everyone and my love is to pull it out of people and see that ah-ha moment of joy when they realize it too.

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?

Time management – No matter what you do in life this is so key that you do not get overwhelmed. Making attainable goals in attainable time frames will make you feel success in everything. Even putting in time to sleep as a goal for 6-7 hours seems silly but it is important to find that time to rest undisturbed so you don’t get burn out.

List keeping – So many creatives are flooded with activity and we can get a bit distracted. Having lists is the only things that keeps me afloat. I make them small measurable and attainable tasks just like time management. One of my favorite fall back methods for list making is using the Eisenhower Matrix. This is where you divide your list into overlapping categories of urgent, not urgent, important, not important. Something that is important/urgent means that you need to get it done that day. Important/not urgent is something you have to get done but maybe not today.

Communication – If you can not communicate your ideas you will find it very hard to move forward. Maybe you aren’t someone that is great at small talk, but are you eloquent in the written word. If you can communicate to someone that you prefer to text, or email as your main platform then go for it. As long as you know how you best communicate. At the very least be able to communicate your elevator speech about who you are as a person and maybe part of that is also how you are shy and like to keep it short and sweet. There is nothing wrong with honesty. We are diving into a much more diverse and understanding world. If for whatever reason that communication piece is a barrier for you in work or collaboration maybe that’s a sign that you need to find something that works for you. Being overwhelmed and full of anxiety will outshine what your true potential is so either work your way around it or if it’s your goal to be in that position work on yourself to attain that particular communication goal.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

For me personally when I am feeling overwhelmed I need to take a step back and do what makes me feel meditative. That would be Muay Thai. I am just the kind of person that loves to train and can leave all my problems and feelings at the door. I know not everyone loves to punch, kick and fight so I suppose the easiest answer is exercise till your body feels it. When I have expressed everything physically I feel that I can step back and look objectively at what was really bugging me while resting. Was it a big problem or a little problem? How can I break it down into pieces that I can successfully overcome or what would success look like to me to feel a little less overwhelmed. If it’s a big problem then who can I reach out to for help? Do I need cheerleaders or peer critics to help me alleviate these feelings? sometimes I go to both because even the hard critics can give me answers. Sure a cheerleader feels good but will that really help me resolve the reasons I am overwhelmed?

That all takes me back again to my list making and using the Eisenhower Matrix to put it all in perspective.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tornangel.wixsite.com/portfolio
• Instagram: torn_angel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EstherMyongHall
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tornangel

Image Credits

Stylist and Makeup Artist – Erica Stewart, Photographer – Matthew Alexander, Chip Willis