Follow Your Passion

If I had not followed my heart, I would have been an accountant instead of the full-time artist that I am now. Granted, I would have been making more money than I do now, but I definitely would not have been happy.

Despite my wondrous time in art school in my teenage years, I eventually went to business school due to the encouragement of my family to study economics and pursue a career of numbers, cubicles, and monotony. It was there that I decided to take the first of many risks, or rather leaps, starting with immigrating to the Big Apple from Estonia, a small, traditional European country in order to embark on my artistic journey. It was in NYC that I received my degree in fine art and worked as an art consultant for the next decade at a nonprofit organization helping people with mental disabilities, as well as leading arts-in-crafts programs at the New York Public Library.

Community outreach and support is very dear to my heart, and those jobs allowed me to foster and further creativity. They allowed me the opportunity to inspire the appreciation in others that was inspired in me all those years ago. Many of the individuals I taught had no prior experience with art. At first, I introduced them to artwork and different styles of art from afar, showing them physical examples by taking them to various museums and galleries across the city. If my own life experience has taught me anything, merely being told to do something will not produce a passion, interest, or wanting to do it. In fact, such pressure could lead you to rebel against it; once again speaking from personal experience. In order to actually inspire someone to do something, you have to give them the tools to like it on their own. This is what I did. I then introduced my students to art materials they could try themselves, like watercolor and acrylic paint, beads, yarn, clay, repurposed/recycled objects, textiles, wood, plaster, etc. From there we made photography, collages, various sculpture mediums, textile art, crochet and weaving creations, jewelry, and more. With my teaching style I witnessed the genius interest flourish in front of my eyes, and it was seeing their eyes alight from creativity that made me feel confident that I made the right choice all those years ago.

It was a special delight to work with the individuals who specifically requested to remain in my art class over the eleven years of my employment, a few from my original classes. Watching them progress from having no art experience to getting their works exhibited publicly outside the organization was the highlight of my career, despite any personal achievements. I thus came to realize that my notion of success consisted of the spreading of knowledge and seeing that knowledge bloom into passion.

However, along with many other individuals in the art field, my employment was affected by the global pandemic. In a small way, that fateful moment before I booked my flight decades ago prepared me for the past year because of one thing- it taught me that the future is uncertain and we must thus make the most of our present. Despite my current financial situation, I want to continue my positive impact with my art projects. I would like to propagate my teaching experience on a larger scale, utilizing the digital space to make educational art videos accessible to everyone with an internet connection. I want to reach those who feel isolated, unmotivated, or even discouraged, and help them foster the joy of creativity.