We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shawn Huckins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Shawn, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
I haven’t overcome my imposter syndrome, but I am slowly chipping away at it. I don’t know if that feeling ever goes away. I am comfortable with the fact that the majority of artists feel the same as I do, so there is a reassurance that helps me cope with being a fraud.
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 an artist with a focus on figurative painting. In short, I replicate 18th century paintings and superimpose (also painted) contemporary fabrics over the figures to obscure the identity of the sitter. This series, titled ‘Dirty Laundry,’ began during the covid pandemic. While we were all stuck in the house, I began to paint the patterns of my wardrobe to create little, abstract paintings. That soon evolved to combining the fabric paintings with 18th century portrait replications (which I was already known for) and the birth of ‘Dirty Laundry’ took shape. This leaves us wondering what is hidden and what might be revealed should the fabrics fall, but also probes on how our perception of these subjects might change once uncovered and which subjects we’d prefer to be.
‘Dirty Laundry’ gives us the opportunity to question the security of our own concealments. What are we concealing from ourselves and others? What would it mean for the parts we conceal to be exposed? How would others react to our dirty laundry?
Fourteen new paintings from the series will be exhibited at K Contemporary, Denver from June 24 to August 5th, 2023.
In addition to creating this body of work, I am also in the process of building a studio I designed (along with a house) in Southern New Hampshire. I’ve been working in a spare bedroom for my entire professional career, so it will be nice to have a bigger, ‘real’ studio where I can experiment and take on more ambitious projects. The new studio will be completed Spring 2024.
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?
One: very cliché, but you need to work hard. In order to become good at anything, you have to do it over and over and fail multiple times. I have created many bad paintings, but you learn what not to do and grow with each horrible painting created.
Two: everyone goes through self-doubt. It’s a natural part of the process and ebbs and flows like any other emotion. Embrace it, learn to live with it, and it won’t cripple you where you can’t work. If you’re not in the mood to paint, do something else in the studio. Catch up on emails, organize your paints, make some artwork that’s completely different. Just being in the studio will help you overcome self-doubt and artist block.
Three: have fun. If it’s not fun, it will seem like a chore and like a regular ‘day job’ versus a career.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
They never questioned me choosing to be an artist. They suggested I do something in addition to a degree in the arts (ie, graphic design, architecture, etc), but they knew since I was a little kid that being creative and working with my hands was my path. I tried courses in graphic design and architecture, but I never really enjoyed it as much as painting. I decided to officially pursue painting my junior year of college and just thought it would work out somehow. Not sure if I was being naive, but I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted to do.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shawnhuckins.com
- Instagram: @shawn_huckins
Image Credits
Images courtesy of the artist and Jean-Michael Seminaro.
