Meet Xochilt Ruvalcaba

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Xochilt Ruvalcaba a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Xochilt, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

I definitely pull strength and resilience from life experiences throughout my childhood and young adulthood. Used to think a in frame of mind where I came from up from nothing but as I’ve begin to look in a different perspective. I now realize that even though I had minimal material Opportunities as a child and went through very much trauma. Each one of those experiences allowed me to gain perspective,each moment to help me to teach myself the tools I will need later in life.

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?

Honestly, I still wake up every day over the last four years and just trip out. Not one day goes by without me, sitting in moments of gratitude for the experiences I get to live as an artist. Even though I’ve always been a creator, even as a small child, making art, knowing that Art was the love of my life and many ways also, my savior, I never thought that it was possible to make a living full-time off of Art. Looking back, I know that a lot of that lack of confidence came from going up in such a traumatic environment and needing to focus on basic necessities of survival. It’s not very often that children are told that they can grow up and be a professional artist, especially when Your parents themselves are struggling to survive. I do believe that creative and artistic natures are innately built into us and definitely passed down generationally. My mother and my father were both creatives, my mother being a creative and my father being a musician. So when I began the journey to attempt to sell my work, I really had to pull strengths from deep inside, who I felt myself to be
, who I know I could be and move forward in an unbridled fashion with faith. I began to realize that I was the only one stopping myself and when that really clicked that’s when it all began to move forward to put me where I am today as a full-time artist, making a living of selling my work and sharing the experience with others. I had just obtained a grant from RACC TO HELP STORE MY WORK AND GIVE ME A LITTLE BOOST FORWARD. I HAD A ACCUMULATED OVER 1000 PIECES OF ART THROUGHOUT YEARS OF CREATING. With all of that work sitting in my family, encourage me to try to sell my work . MY VERY FIRST MARKET THAT I DID WAS IN A SMALL BUILDING WITH FIVE THE OTHER VENDORS, I LOOKED BACK NOW AND I REALIZE THERE WAS SOME REAL MAGIC IN THAT ROOM. I HAD SUCH A REAL EXCITEMENT TO SHARE MY WORK AND ON THAT DAY I MADE ABOUT THE SAME AS I WOULD ON A GOOD DAY WORKING TWO JOBS AND RESTAURANTS, IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I WAS ELATED . Looking back I know that that doesn’t seem like very much money at all, but to me it showed me that I could do this. I could bet on myself and all I needed to do was to continue to share my work and create work. I have always been very dedicated to my studio hours, but also upon starting this journey, I worked two jobs. One at a time I quit my jobs and began applying that work ethic to my studio time. Anytime I’m concerned with income from my work, I really tried to take it down to the basics in my mind and remind myself that as long as I continue to create, the universe will take care of me and continue to offer me the opportunity to share my work. From there I Follow through. For me, it’s been this amazing exchange between myself and the universe. I feel strength, pulling from my past my dreams and my future. I truly believe that years of manifestation supplied me with faith and strength to believe in myself make scary choices that I needed to make. I began doing markets in 2020 and Have gradually increased each year the amount that I do. If someone would’ve told me that I could be making six figures plus selling Art that I create I would’ve told them they were crazy. But that mentality is what kept me from haveing the courage to sell my work. we have to believe in ourselves. We have to promote ourselves. We have to gift ourselves opportunities, especially if we come from families where opportunities do not come easy. I’m often asked why I don’t have an online store. I am working towards that option But as of now I prefer to sell my work on a one on one basis and I love to make my artwork accessible, as of now all my work is original one of one pieces I feel like often people are priced out of the opportunity of owning original art. had I had the experience of my family owning artwork or exposing me to the world of art, It would’ve been an absolute gift. I do believe that owning an original art piece is something that most people never get the opportunity to do and I feel like I’ve made a change in the market, I make my work accessible to people, I often even let people pick their price. It becomes a process of engagement and connection. I would say over 50% of my buyers are people that I’ve never owned original art to me accessibility, matters representation matters. I know that there is a need for Art to be accessible because the community has showed me by coming out to support my work. I have sold over 3000 pieces of art in the last four years. Incredible right?! My dream is just to continue to expand and share my work with more people. creating some type of platform to sell my work online and eventually offering prints but as of now, if you purchase my work, it’s always one of one.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Oddly, I think one of the Qualities I have as an artist is kind of unique. I do not critique myself often. I allow myself to create art very instinctually without judgment. It doesn’t mean that I don’t connect with one piece maybe more than the other or maybe even dislike an aspect of a piece of work. If I could give an example of some of the thought process, someone once said to me “xochi, if you had an ugly baby wouldn’t you still love it?!” Of course, my response was yes it sounds like an odd way of thinking about it, but it really makes sense. Everything that we create is such an intimate part of us and I love all that I create. I remind myself that each piece is a piece of myself, my story, my history, my dreams my family. It doesn’t mean that I am not continually looking to evolve. It just means that, as an artist, if we spend a lot of time critiquing ourselves, I believe that it Hinders and sometimes halts creation. It can redirect our mind in negative ways for me that has never been beneficial. I feel like that quality has also led into my second quality, which is I am quite prolific. I have always had an abundance of Imagery in my mind. I remember maybe six years old, sitting quietly, closing my eyes and having an abundance of many flashes of images. I always had endless ideas, whether it pertain to painting or sculpting. Not critiquing myself has allowed me the freedom to express myself and create without boundaries. For me, it always revolves back to the creation and expression. Art has been my truest form of communication I feel like. That has been very beneficial in my growth as an artist. I would say my third quality as I have always been a very hard worker. I have been working a job since I was a child and I take much pride in knowing that I am a hard worker and dedicated worker. My father worked for many years in the fields, working very hard, and I always reference my privilege and how lucky I am for the opportunities that he has provided me , never having those opportunities for himself . I have taken that perspective of making sure that I am consistent and dedicated to my work. I spend many hours in my studio. Most importantly, if I’ve learned anything as a working artist is that we must allow ourselves the time to be creative. I feel like everything else falls into place when you gift yourself that opportunity.

What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?

Currently, I feel like my number one challenge is learning how to balance all the other work It takes to be a full-time artist and have an income off my work. when you dream of working as a full-time artist, you forget that you also have to be a photographer, promoter, bookkeeper, Social media specialist, organizer…so many things. I am very dedicated to my work, but this year I have a goal to overcome the challenge of not having an online platform to sell my work and organizing the business aspect of my work. that has been the most difficult for me. But I’m excited to overcome these challenges and to further grow my business, offering my work to an even larger audience hopefully this coming year.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Xochifineart.com
• Instagram: Xochilt.art
• Other: [email protected]