We were lucky to catch up with Carrie Hawkins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Carrie, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
For my entire life, I have always been involved in creativity of one kind or another. Whether it was selling handmade stickers and drawings out of my parents’ living room closet “studio” as a child, or selling handcrafted jewelry to my fellow classmates in high school, art has always been part of my life.
As I pursued a degree in art in college, I churned out the usual studio drawings and paintings, often working in a realistic style. If you gave me a photo of a landscape, animal or portait, I could reproduce it in a drawing or painting with realistic precision. In spite of this, I never felt I had a purpose for making art. I could never answer questions of why I made a particular painting or what it symbolized. I found creatig art for art’s sake frustrating and it left me unfufilled.
While I was developing my art skills, I became extremely interested in local and United States history. I began spending a lot of time at flea markets and estate sales, often bringing home discarded family photos and other mementos. I felt a strong urge to rescue these pieces of the past.
I began to find inspiration in my collections of old things and began using them in my artwork here and there, sometimes creating whole artworks around a discarded photo. Soon I was creating almost all of my artwork using my found treasures. At the same time, I was also creating art dolls and decor in a primitive style, again finding inspiration from the past. I still felt disconnected however, between my found object art and my primitive art dolls. Was a an artist or a crafter? Was my medium fabric, paint, everything?
In 2018, I created my first Ragamuffin Cat Art Doll, using an old wool sweater. I used jewelry from my stash of old goodies, to embellish it. The cats were a huge success at the shows and to date, I have made and sold over 3,000 kitty dolls, each one handcrafted from an old sweater.
As a result of making a lot of kitty dolls, I had a big box of wool scraps. I started incorporating them into my 2D found object artwork. Suddenly everything clicked! I applied my passion for the environment with my love of history and began working almost exclusively with reclaimed clothing and textiles.
Today, I work almost exclusively with reclaimed textiles and other found objects. It’s a satisfying feeling to know I am creating responsibly as an artist.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Art has always been part of my life whether creating, teaching or sharing. When I was six years old, I had an art studio in the living room closet where I would create masterpieces for my mom’s refrigerator. I would then arrange them in a makeshift portfolio and present them to my mom for purchase. I would delight in receiving a dime or a quarter and would excitedly create more masterpieces. Throughout my growing years, I was always encouraged to be creative and never was without an endless supply of crayons, markers and paper. Once I entered high school, I filled my available class hours with art classes and was known for selling handmade jewelry and custom drawings to my classmates.
I enrolled in the commercial art program at Davis College and received my associate degree in 1996. I spent time doing freelance art for various clients and worked for a short time as a freelance artist for the Toledo Zoo. Upon admission to the University of Toledo in 1998, I completed a bachelor’s degree with concentrations in painting and cyber arts. My art style at the time started to shift from digital art media to painting and drawing.
After graduation, I worked as an elementary art teacher for two years and as a substitute teacher after that. After I was accepted into the graduate program for elementary education at the University of Toledo. I focused on pursuing a career in education. Upon finishing all coursework and seeking a teaching position, I was unable to find employment.
As a result, I shifted my focus back to creating art, which has led me right to where I am today. I had a deep yearning to combine my love of history and the past with my ability to express myself through art. I started creating mixed media pieces under the name Scaredy Cat Primitives.
Most recently, I have focused on reclaiming and repurposing damaged clothing and other textiles into my art. In a world of disposable fast fashion, it feels good knowing that I am not adding to the problem and instead am creating artwork from what would otherwise be trash.
I just love how something can tell a story just by its wrinkles, dents, chips or stains. That is what truly inspires my art, to pay tribute to the past and living a much simpler way of life. I love recycling and re-purposing and scouring flea markets and garage sales looking for new additions to my art. In today’s world of excess, it’s important to me to take old, discarded and once-loved things of the past, rescue them form the landfill and breathe new life in them through my art.
I am excited to be getting ready for the upcoming show season as well as participating in local juied shows. In July, I became an international artist with my artwork being displayed in Canada! I am also looking forward to participating with 800 other local and international artists in Grand Rapids, Michigan for ArtPrize 2023. My artwork, “Just Bloom,” will be on display from Sseptember 14-October 1 at Sweetwaters Tea & Coffee Monroe North.
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?
I thnk my most important skill that I have applied to my art is my ability to be thrify. I grew up shopping estate sales and flea markets with my parents, rescuing discarded treasures. I was always the one to find the random old forgotten family photos scattered on an attic floor at an estate sale. I often used those forgotten photos in my assemblege art work, building a story around that particular person. My ability to thrift has also been beneficial to sticking to a budget as an artist. Ask any artist and they can attest to how expensive it can be to purchase supplies as an artist.
I’ve always been drien to succeed in anything I attempt including shifting my art career from part to full-time. I find the hustle challenging. Often, you can find me creating into all hours of the night in order to prepare for an art or craft show.
My third quality as an artist that has been most impactful are my accounting skills. I knew, even back in high school, I would have my own business, so I made sure to learn what I could about keeping my finances balanced for my business. This is important to me as both an artist and small business woner.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
One of the most challenging things about being both an artist and small business owner is finding enough time in each day to get evrything done. As a one-woman business, I am the maker, the hustler, the content creator and the accountant. I am ready to expand but have not been able to take that leap and outsource out some of my duties. I would love to have more time to design and create and even relax!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.scaredycatprimitives.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scaredycat.primitives/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scaredycatprimitives
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-hawkins-4a58382b
- Other: TikTok: @scaredycatartist
