We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lorraine Bubar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lorraine, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
My optimism comes from nature which is very resilient. In this moment of time, it is hard not to get depressed about environmental destruction and human conflicts all over the world. As an artist, I feel some responsibility to make a statement about what is happening, so I focus on illustrating the beauty I see in nature and also the conflicts in our urban landscapes. I personally feel more optimistic if I start my day with an “awe moment,” which can be noticing the colors of sunrise, a flower growing from a crack in the cement, a hawk sitting in my tree, or a monarch emerging from its chrysalis. I spend as much time as I can in the outdoors. I capture those awe moments and majestic landscapes in my artwork. Being optimistic does not just happen, it takes focused work. I think about the little choices I can make every day to make the world a better place for all living species and the environment, because everything is interconnected. I engage with the beauty and resilience in nature through hiking and art.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a painter who cuts my work out of paper, illustrating the beauty of nature and also conflicts in our urban landscapes. My technique connects me to the heritage of papercutting that exists in many cultures around the world. I love to travel so I like this connection to a craft that exists in places I have traveled such as Japan, China, and Mexico. The handmade papers I use in my work are created in places I have hiked, including Nepal and Thailand. Through my artwork and love of the outdoors, I have been lucky enough to be an artist in residence in many National Parks, including in Denali in Alaska, Zion and Capitol Reef in Utah, and Lassen Volcanic National Park in California. Living in these parks for two to four weeks has given me a chance to see a lot of the flora and fauna and represent the experience in my work. I try to capture the experience of being in such unique places which will hopefully encourage others to go there and also to work to protect these places and the species that reside there.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first is gaining the confidence to be your authentic self and stop listening to the internal and external critics. I do believe that expressing oneself in a creative way adds to the quality of one’s life, but everyone has to find the thing to do that they enjoy. Then one has to work constantly at it. I have found this out from running. I run marathons and I found that to do that many miles, a person needs to enjoy it, then work at it, and then have the mental frame of mind to overcome the mental and physical obstacles. I apply that to my work and life. First, my artwork brings me joy–the process and the end results. Then I work at it constantly. The mental part is to believe in yourself and let all the skills you acquire and experiences you have influence what you create. I utilize the skills I acquired through the numerous art related jobs I previously held, including working in the animation industry and teaching art, and all of my life experiences in nature and traveling around the world in my art. I learned to let my art reflect who I am.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
I love to read and am always influenced by books. I started this interview talking about optimism, so it brought to mind Jane Goodall’s recent book, The Book of Hope. It is filled with so many impactful nuggets of wisdom. Jane Goodall has been a keen observer of nature, from the chimpanzees in Tanzania to watching the natural world change and people demolish many places. Yet, she remains hopeful. In 1991 Goodall created a youth program, Roots & Shoots, that has expanded to 10,000+ groups in over 100 countries where young people are taking action. The biggest lesson in this is to make some impact every day and choose wisely what impact we make. I would like to think that I live by this wisdom.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lorrainebubar.com
- Instagram: lorrainebubarartist
- Facebook: lorrainebubar
