Today we’d like to introduce you to Casie Palilla.
Casie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t an artist. I never went to school for it but it’s been a part of me since I was a kid. Lots of things inspired me as a child. Coloring in school, Richard Scarry books, the caricature artists at Disneyland. Then you get into Mad Magazine and doodling on homework…the inspiration list and skill just grew with time. Music is a huge part of my art when creating, along with nature, movies, traveling, people watching, love and of course my own wild imagination.
In 2014, I started teaching part-time at an organization called KIDS ARTS. It was a nonprofit that provided free art classes to kids. This totally changed my life as an artist. This was my schooling. It kept my brain busy with art project ideas and I really connected with the kids because of their honesty, wonderment and apparently, I have the same mentality as a five-year-old. I also connected with other art teachers, which led to other awesome opportunities. I started doing studio shows on my own and then came across the VC ART MARKET which is a group of talented artists that do an outdoor art market once a month in downtown Ventura. Every second Saturday of the month. I’ve been doing the art market for four years now. It’s a great group of people who are like family and I feel so lucky to be a part of it.
I’m now *coughs* 42 and it’s only in the last five years I’ve actually publicly shown and sold my art on a regular basis. I have a super lovely supportive artistic husband and loving family but it was my own personal growth along with the internet that helped me get to this point. Now I finally feel like where I’m supposed to be as an artist and that’s really exciting. There’s a lot more I wanna do and will do, so….here we go.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s definitely been smooth. I think the struggle is just discovering who you are as a person/artist and that being unique and different can be awesome. Now, the struggle is time. Never enough time…but I think that’s pretty universal.
Please tell us more about your art.
I make art. Happy art. Most of the time. I want you to feel the opposite of how you feel after reading the news. My specialty is cardboard. I paint a lot of portraits on recycled cardboard. It has a very earthy look to it.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment is every art show I do. Every time someone says, ‘I like your art’ I wanna high-five the seven-year-old me and say ‘we did it!’. Also, anytime I can treat my husband and I to burritos with what I made from art is very satisfying as well.
Pricing:
- Original art: $20-$200
- Prints: $5-$10
Contact Info:
- Email: goghcase@yahoo.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/casieart
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/casieart
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CASIEart
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