We recently connected with Lady Beaver and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lady , 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?
I was told by a therapist once that my greatest strength is my resilience. I have had my heart broken many, many times throughout my life, but as an artist I have been able to take my pain and turn it into fuel for creativity. Art is also therapy and gives me purpose and a life goal that I always carry with me: I want to make as much art and inspire as many people as I can. Much of my art is inspired by human behavior and personal life experience, and my hope is that it brings people joy and makes them feel like they are not alone. My resilience comes from the desire to help people feel confident to be themselves and inspire them to share their gifts and talents.
My mother instilled a strong work ethic in me from a young child, and we would sit and do homework every day for hours together. My father expected excellence from me but was emotionally unavailable, and I was always trying to get him to love me or pay attention to me. Nothing I did was ever good enough for him. He would always come home from work in a bad mood and would end up spending his evenings drinking a beer in bed in front of the TV. My parents had a toxic marriage and would fight all the time, and I was both physically and emotionally abused. The neighbors nicknamed us, “The Screaming Family.” I could not wait to be an adult and have my own life where I would not have to feel trapped anymore. Art gave me a place to escape to within myself and encouraged my creative imagination.
I played trumpet in the high school marching band for three years and was one of the only female trumpet players amongst a bunch of immature boys. I learned how to laugh at all of it and turn the drama into jokes, and I would draw funny comics in high school to entertain my friends from band. They began to look forward to the latest episode I would debut at lunch, and I looked forward to their excitement over the comics and their laughter. I always wanted to take art in school, but band ate up all my elective classes. My junior year in band I was bullied and sexually assaulted by a trumpet section leader and I reported him the band director. The band director said to me, “You’re strong, you can take it.” I dropped out of band the next day and took Drawing and Painting class instead, which ultimately changed my life.
I loved my high school art teacher, who gave me a safe space and would let me paint alone in her classroom for hours after school every day. My art teacher called my mother at work one day to tell her I had talent and to encourage me to pursue a career as an artist. My resilience can also be credited to the amazing teachers that believed in me, who encouraged my talents and made me feel safe and supported. It was because of my high school art teacher that I applied to college as an art major and graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Art in 2006. Another art teacher at UCSC nominated me for a scholarship and encouraged me to go to grad school and get my MFA. Although I did not get the scholarship, it made me realize my purpose which was that I needed to make as much art as I possibly could. I went on to graduate with a MFA in printmaking from Pratt Institute in 2008, where I was nominated for a printmaking scholarship by the chair of the fine art department who was dazzled by my work ethic and dedication to my craft of narrative and humorous subject matter.
My desire to “push the envelope” and make people think can also be attributed to what makes me resilient as well. At Pratt, my artwork evolved into using cute animals as a vehicle to discuss more deviant aspects of human behavior. I enjoyed exposing truths in my artwork that people often dust under the rug or find taboo to talk about. For example, I created a linocut of a walrus husband cheating on his wife and kids with a prostitute while they wait for him at the dinner table. I love expanding the viewer’s perspective with my art and causing people to have an emotional reaction where they actually feel something. I also wanted to inspire others the way that my teachers inspired me. I knew I wanted to be a teacher and pass on the safety, love, encouragement and validation that my teachers had given me throughout my life.
I graduated with a teaching credential in art from Mills College in 2010 and taught in Oakland for two years in an extremely difficult school culture. My first year of teaching I cried a lot and only made art once a week at a drawing night I hosted at The Firehouse North gallery in Berkeley. I was not making enough art and I was depressed and stressed out. My second year of teaching, I committed to making more of my own art outside of school and felt a lot better. Making art was an act of self-love and it helped me to be a happier person and a better teacher. However, I was then asked by HR at my school to take my personal art website down because it might offend a parent. I realized then, I needed to create an art alias because I refused to give up my artist identity. This is when I became the artist persona known as Lady Beaver, who is “cute and dirty in one package.”
When one door closes, another opens. After getting fired at the end of my second year of teaching due to “poor classroom management skills”, I was coincidentally offered an opportunity to be a resident artist at Exhibit S Studios in Sacramento. I moved to Sacramento and did an art residency there in 2013-14. I was inspired to be around other artists practicing my craft again like in art school while collecting unemployment. It was one of the best years of my life and one of the biggest acts of self-love I ever indulged in. This experience contributed to my resilience because it made me double-down in my own art practice and made me realize the importance of being part of an artist community. One of the other resident artists edited video, and it inspired me to write music and start making my own music videos.
After the residency ended, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my career as an artist. My first two years in LA, I was a substitute teacher, made a lot of commission artwork and took improv classes. In 2016, I started teaching art full time at a high school in Koreatown and became a resident artist of The Hive Gallery and Studios in downtown Los Angeles. Both teaching art and being a resident artist of a gallery encourages me to create art and inspire people.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
What is the origin story of Lady Beaver?
When I was around 10 years old, I was watching the comedy movie “Loaded Weapon” with my mom and younger sister. In this movie, there is a parody of the scene from Basic Instincts where Sharon Stone isn’t wearing any underwear, but in the parody scene there is an actual beaver on her chair after she uncrosses her legs. My sister and I were confused.
“Why was there a beaver on the chair?” I asked my mom.
My mom was always very blunt with me about sex and answered honestly. “Beaver is slang for vagina,” she said.
My sister and I laughed so hard that we were rolling on the floor, and I was slapping the ground crying. It was so funny to me! Why on earth would people have animal names for their private parts? People are so weird! After that, I drew a cartoon of a woman on the toilet, her legs spread open. She is strategically holding a toilet paper roll over her crotch, and beavers are shooting out of her vagina. My sister had that drawing taped to the wall of her bedroom for years.
When I was in art school at Pratt Institute getting my MFA, I saw posters for a live performance of The Vagina Monologues and I had a flashback to the beaver. I was inspired to create a cartoon beaver linocut series: a beaver hugging a vibrator, a beaver getting sprayed by a water hose (wet beaver), a beaver getting its stomach shaved with a razor (shaved beaver), and a beaver puking up fish (party beaver). For my thesis show, I made large woodblock relief prints of this beaver series that were each 4 x 4 feet. I screen-printed beavers on fabric and created stuffed animals/soft sculpture that I hung in my show as part of an installation.
A couple years later I was living in Oakland and I started vending my art at the Oakland Art Murmur, which is the first Friday artwalk. It was at the artwalk that I reconnected with my artist friend Danny Scheible, creator of Tapigami, who I knew from college at UC Santa Cruz. He was delighted by my beaver soft sculpture and we exchanged phone numbers. But not everyone was a fan of the beaver. I was teaching art full time to middle school and high school students, and the HR department at my school called me and told me I had to take down my personal artist website because my art was inappropriate for children. This is when I decided that I needed to come up with a separate art alias/persona in order to keep being a practicing artist and also teach kids. But what was my artist name going to be? I called Danny and asked him if he had any ideas and he started laughing.
“I know what your name is,” he said. “It’s what I saved your name as in my phone. You’re Beaver!”
And then I laughed because I knew it was perfect. Well, almost perfect. Beaver on its own felt a little crude to me, so I added Lady, because I am a lady! Lady Beaver; cute and dirty in one package. I am a Gemini, the twins, and balance has always been really important to me in my work. Lady Beaver represents the balance of these dualistic energies to create dark humor. Human behavior has always fascinated me, and I find it extremely interesting that in American culture, we represent our genitalia with animals: the rooster or the cock represents the penis, and a pussy cat or a beaver represents the vagina. Breasts are hooters, or owls. And then there’s all those animal masturbation euphemisms: flog the dolphin, choke the chicken, milk the one-eyed snake, walk the dog, tug the slug, etc.
Actual beavers are artists themselves. Beavers are the builders of the animal kingdom. They change the flow of energy and direct the water where to go through their building of dams. They are architects and designers, and they are busy at work! I relate to the beaver on so many levels and they have become a very important symbol of my identity as an artist.
My artist website is www.ladybeaver.com and I am on Instagram at @ladybeaverart (public), and @ladybeaver (private). Artwork for purchase is available on my Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/ladybeaver or in person at The Hive Gallery and Studios in downtown Los Angeles. I have music on Spotify under Lady Beaver, and music videos on YouTube on my Lady Beaver channel. My TikTok is @ladybeaver and mostly consists of silly dance videos where I am manifesting joy and connecting with my higher self. Dancing is a way for me to stay present and be in the moment. As the lyrics explain in my song, “Why I Dance,”: Improvising movements in the moment unrehearsed, keeps me on my toes, one with the universe.
I curate a video shorts night at The Hive Gallery and Studios where I feature videos by about 20 artists that are around 5 minutes or less. The next video shorts night is on Saturday, June 3rd after the opening party at 10:30pm. I will be debuting my new music video and song, “We Are Artists,” at the show! It’s free! Come as early as 8pmn to enjoy the art show beforehand and check out my resident artist wall. The Hive Gallery is located at 729 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90014.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities that have been most impactful on my journey are having confidence, a strong work ethic, and resilience. The advice I have for new artists is to believe in yourself. Every person has his or her own unique style and perspective of how they see the world. As an artist, people will come for you and there will be haters, but take it as a sign of success. Convert pain and hate to self-love and creativity. By working on your art, you are channeling God and fulfilling your purpose of sharing your gifts and talents with the world. What has been impactful for me on more of a conceptual level is drawing out at least 4 quick thumbnail sketches before starting any new project. Even if you think you know the idea you’re going to do, draw out 4 quick sketches of ideas anyway. The last idea you come up with might be even better than the original idea! And finally, I have to advise everyone everywhere to journal in the morning every day. This idea comes from the book, “The Artist’s Way,” by Julia Cameron, and is about overcoming writer’s block/artist’s block. She suggests free-writing 15 minutes every morning in order for you to figure out what your priorities are, vent, plan, and bug yourself about what you want to get accomplished. The idea is the more you bug yourself about accomplishing something, the more likely you are to actually do it. Journaling first thing in the morning helps clear out the garbage in your mind so you can focus on your priorities. It is the most important self-care tool in my life, and I find it extremely beneficial to check in with myself every day. Meditation is also a great way to check in with yourself and relieve stress. Exercise, eating healthy and getting enough sleep is also important for your mental, emotional and physical health.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Yes! I just finished taking my third After Effects class online with School of Motion. I would love to collaborate with other artists on music videos and shorts doing animation, live action, sketch comedy, green screen, puppets, stop-motion, etc. The sky’s the limit! I write music on Logic Pro with my midi keyboard and play trumpet and piano if anyone wants to collaborate on music. I can act, sing, dance, improvise, be silly, do voice acting. Let’s make stuff! I also co-curated a Banana themed art show in February at A Blank White Box gallery in Highland Park and had a total of 57 artists in the show. The show had a very successful turnout and I realized that curating shows is also a strength of mine, so if anyone wants to curate a show together and has a location in mind, let me know! Also, one of my life goals is to show my art in a museum. Does anyone out there have a connection or advice to make that happen? Message me on my private Instagram account @ladybeaver or email me at [email protected] for any of the above. I look forward to meeting you!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ladybeaver.com
- Instagram: @ladybeaver and @ladybeaverart
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/ladybeaverart
- Twitter: @ladybeaver69
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LadyBeaver
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ladybeaver
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1kiEOdOvuB7asWdFBDDKVg#_=_
Image Credits
Lady Beaver photograph by David Reyes
