We recently connected with Maribeth E and have shared our conversation below.
Maribeth, 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?
The short answer is to just keep surviving. I find creative inspiration everywhere, sometimes in the most unexpected places. An idea could come to you from a conversation with your barista, an annoying ad on TikTok, your friend venting to you after a long day, something cringy your aunt shared on Facebook, or re-watching a cartoon from your childhood – good or bad, you really can find inspiration lots of places if you look hard enough.
When you see or hear ANYTHING that sparks even the smallest inspiration in your brain – write it down or put it in your phone notes. The length of my notes app is absurd and disorganized, but I would have lost track of very many ideas if I hadn’t quickly stashed them in my notes app. A lot of those things don’t become a full-fledged piece until a few months or years after I scratched them down. Some never will, and some will become mutated into something totally different when I go back to them. With that said, I find a lot of creative inspiration in my old work. Sometimes “recycling” ideas into something new makes them even better. So, if you can’t find external inspiration – try and find it internally!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been both very creative and very ADHD as long as I can remember. I went to college for art, dropped out, and left my creativity dormant for a few years due to not believing in myself. In early 2020, right before the pandemic, I started dabbling in visual art again, and did something I always wanted to do: got stickers of my designs made, and started selling them.
I soon moved from social media-only sales to an Etsy store, which as of today has 635 sales. After starting out with stickers and some original art pieces, I’ve since made t-shirts, patches, pins, jewelry, keychains, tote bags, and probably some other stuff I’m forgetting about. With my fleeting attention span, I’ll produce a large amount of something specific, and then move to something else. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes I feel I should narrow my work down, but part of the satisfaction of creativity for me is exploration.
Stickers are probably what I’m most well known for. I draw inspiration from nostalgia, cartoons, my city (Memphis, Tennessee), leftist politics, conversations with my friends, toys, and many other corners of the world. I give away almost as many stickers as I sell, and seeing them pop up in random places is one of the coolest feelings in the world.
Right now, I’m working on a few potential new designs for my store (and the upcoming holiday season). I’m also venturing into self-publishing my poetry and writings for the first time. I’m *almost* finished with my very first zine that’s set to go live on my Etsy on November 8th. I’m also prepping for a few in-person craft markets coming up – including the Memphis Punk Rock Flea Market on December 8th, which is my event!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Resilience, persistence, and intuition are all qualities I find myself utilizing in my creative works and life in general. Sometimes – most times, in my experience – the things you put the most work and love into end up being the least popular. And many of the ideas I came up with and executed in 10 minutes end up being incredibly popular. Frankly, that can be discouraging, but I also use it as fuel to just keep making more things.
In my opinion, technical skill is overrated. Skills can be learned, but true creativity can’t. I’m no master artist, but I’ve still found success with my creations in the right corners of the world. Part of the reason I didn’t create for so long was because I’m not great at drawing and don’t seem to improve as quickly as other folks do. You don’t have to be “good”, you just have to be you. Be genuine and authentic, and you will find yourself enjoying the process so much more.
And, especially if you aren’t “good”, you will piss some people off. That’s where the persistence and resilience comes in. There will always be some amount of naysayers, but if your work is authentic to who you are, the right people will love it. You may even find that those naysayers give you inspiration to make something new out of spite.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I’m always looking for like-minded creatives of all types to link up with, even if we just end up being mutuals on Instagram. I haven’t done a lot of collaborations, mostly due to my own disorganization, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do more and more recently. As long as you aren’t a fascist, we will probably find something in common.
I’m also always looking for potential new vendors for the Memphis Punk Rock Flea Market! I’m one of two organizers of the event, and this year will conclude our first year hosting it. We aim to have 3-4 markets a year, and I’m always looking for new makers to feature. Ensuring that both the vendors and the attendees have a great time is super important to me, and it’s always worked out so far!
Instagram: @maribethmadeit (usually the best way to get ahold of me)
Email: maribethmadeit@gmail.com
Other links on my website at maribethmadeit.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maribethmadeit.com
- Instagram: maribethmadeit
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/wLsnyF62dBza8dXw/
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
