Inspiring Conversations with REBDUCE of ARTWATERlife

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebekah Sechrist / REBDUCE.

REBDUCE, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin? 
Peace and infinite blessings, I’m REBDUCE, and I’m dope af. I am a super-talented WOC artist from Wyoming who is following my dreams and advancing accessible arts and culture in Los Angeles. Here is how I went from showing my art at popups while juggling a career in marketing to forming nonprofit ARTWATERlife and creating platforms for diverse artists through our Five Dollar Art Party experiences. 

I’ve been an artist my whole life. My artistic practice is balanced between creating dope art and building pathways for human connection through ARTWATERlife’s growing community. My skills include studio arts in many mediums, event production, curation, partner sponsor relationships, communications, graphic design, and community building. I have a bubbly personality, and I am unapologetically myself, similar to the empowered women I create in my artwork. 

My art celebrates divine feminine energy with themes of liberation, duality, empowerment, and nature highlighted with soft swirling forms and abstracted figures. My artwork pays tribute to freedom, symbolized in my spontaneous lines. My scribbles are lightning bolts of energy inscribed like spells with watercolor, marker, and ballpoint onto paper, canvas, and walls. 

As a young artist, I realized that access to art is limited, and being low-income, I felt it first-hand. At the same time, I witnessed how giving people access to art can improve their lives. In the 90s, Mrs. McHattie furnished my high school with a full digital art lab by writing grants in her spare time. She introduced a burgeoning art form to a tiny town of 50k residents. Over the decades, she impacted thousands of students’ lives and provided new career opportunities for young folks. Now, with my nonprofit ARTWATERlife, I am having a similar impact. 

Although I was inspired as a teen, it would be two decades before the stars aligned for me to pursue the dream of providing accessible arts. I studied Fine Arts at my hometown college, then moved to LA, where I had a 14-year-long career in marketing while I developed myself as an artist REBDUCE. My work was shown in LA’s underground art scene. I did pop-ups, exhibitions, curations, and residencies. I’ve illustrated two books, painted murals, and did commissions. 

In 2016, my health declined due to the autoimmune condition MS, Multiple Sclerosis, which I had been diagnosed with six years earlier. No longer able to work at a traditional job or do exhibitions, I reset my life. I gained degrees in Graphic Design and Museum Studies. I prepared to pursue the dream that Mrs. McHattie inspired so many years ago: to use art to change the world. 

In 2022, I fully embraced the dream when I founded nonprofit ARTWATERlife and began hosting Five Dollar Art Party experiences where multidisciplinary artists gather to uplift public art. Our vision is to empower one billion people to implement creative practice in their lives. Studies show communities with accessible arts and culture do better in outcomes across the board including in health, economics, and education. Access to art makes us more connected and more empathetic and elevates emotional intelligence. Science has proven the benefits engaging in the arts has on brain function. Creating and experiencing art of all kinds promotes neuroplasticity, improves imagination, and enhances creative problem-solving skills. Art is a powerful force that I am harnessing through ARTWATERlife and the Five Dollar Art Party to elevate our collective consciousness, enhance wellness, reduce suffering, and empower us to design a better existence. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Funding is a big challenge facing nonprofits. For WOC nonprofits, it is even more challenging, with a shockingly low 0.5% of foundation charity dollars going toward Women of Color, according to a recent Ms. Foundation report. Changing the world requires financial support, which for WOC nonprofits is a towering hurdle. As a strong, resourceful woman, I approach hurdles with awareness and optimism. Foundations are slowly trending towards being more equitable and inclusive while I’m constantly elevating my fund-seeking skills. We are growing our network to gain support for ARTWATERlife and the Five Dollar Art Party so we can continue providing access and improving lives with art. 

Being a Multiple Sclerosis patient comes with a nuanced set of physical and mental health challenges. Combined with being a solopreneur wearing many hats, it is imperative that I include wellness practices in my routine. Protecting my peace is vital. I stay balanced, eat healthy food, exercise, I create art, and I adore my sleep. I use creativity and connecting with other humans as fuel to propel my work with ARTWATERlife, encouraging folks to make art and make life better. 

Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about ARTWATERlife?
ARTWATERlife and the Five Dollar Art Party are an oasis of accessible public art in Highland Park, Los Angeles. We unify various cultures of this gentrifying area of northeast LA through shared celebration of diverse art. Over five immersive experiences, we have featured more than 200 artists, musicians, muralists, and small businesses, highlighting women, BIPOC, LGBTQAI+, neurodivergent, and underrepresented folks. Each event is an art supply drive, allowing us to collect over 50 lbs of art supplies to give to underserved communities. These experiences happen at historic La Tierra de la Culebra Art Park, founded thirty-three years ago by Tricia Ward, who I am elated to have met and call my friend. It is a dream come true to reclaim this art park for its intended purpose of activating public art. I am honored. I am grateful. I am on my path and living my dream. Through my nonprofit ARTWATERlife and the Five Dollar Art Party, I am advancing accessible arts and culture in Los Angeles and the world. 

Our next experiences are 4/20, 6/29, 9/28, 12-6 pm, 240 S Avenue 57, LA, CA 90042, artwaterlife.com 

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Compassion is key to successfully advancing my mission with ARTWATERlife and the Five Dollar Art Party to elevate art for wellness, human connection, and social change. 

Joining in shared creative experiences creates compassion, connecting us in our humanity and opening pathways towards understanding and healing. 

Pricing:

• Five Dollar Art Party Vendor Space $50
• Live Artist / Nonprofit Vendor Space $0 sign up by 3/1

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artwaterlife.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artwaterlife/

Image Credits
Mayra Cortez
HeidyPots
Manuel Sumulong
REBDUCE
Crisjan Amisola
Kevin Ortuno