Today we’d like to introduce you to Breana T. Carmona.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I have gone through a lot of lifetimes to circle back in art and rename myself an artist. I began with Photography, asking for a 35mm Barbie camera from Santa in the second grade. Ever since then, I have always felt photography was nothing short of a miracle. Chemicals coated on paper that pause time? Mostly taking photographs of friends’ documentary style, I then moved to portraiture and medium format.
In college, I began exploring other mediums. Both 2D and 3D work with drawing materials, painting, and collage, and then move on to public design and foundry.
Needless to say, always exploring, always learning, always doing something with my hands.
Post graduation from UCSC, with a B.A. in fine arts, I traveled. First reaching as far as Thailand and Japan, then other countries such as Belgium, England, and the Netherlands.
I began a lasting journey into the healing arts, becoming certified in massage therapy and reiki, which supplied my ability to create art when possible.
During this time in my life, there was a lot of transitions were happening behind the scenes, and I found myself back in school, this time learning how to become an early childhood educator. I feel this time was very important for healing and growth, self-confidence, acceptance, and love.
After living in Santa Cruz, CA, for ten years, I finally moved back home to Los Angeles. It was then I began a deeper connection with my family and ancestral roots.
Since that time now, nearly ten years ago, I have gained my associate in early childhood education, and I am almost certified in Welding herbalism and working towards a certificate in ceramics.
I have been houseless and traveled all throughout the United States with my Camera and my dog Pata.
I feel incredibly blessed to be here today and to be able to recognize my talents, and I hope they can represent my experiences, memories, loved ones, and self, meaningfully.
Alright, 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?
Life isn’t always linear, and my life, creativity, and circumstance-wise, hasn’t as well. In the last decade or so, I have lost family members, folks that helped me along the way. Whom in many ways. still do.
I think losing my maternal Grandmother, Dolores, really messed me up. I was in New York the day she passed, and I feel as though I never received closure from it.
The elders in my family were the pillars, and it feels as though my family weakened by their departures.
Mental health and addiction are battles in my life, both within myself and from those around me.
I more or less had a breakdown nearly 8 years ago and began traveling with a friend of mine. I was inspired by that lifestyle to buy a van the following year and travel in it. (where’s my Oscar Nomandland)
Moving into it was easy, traveling and letting go of structure and social pressures easy. Nearly 32 states, and after a few years of being ok, the road returning back to the city was difficult.
I fell into a deep depression and struggled for a while to adjust out of it. I was at a very low point living in my van in front of my parents as people my age were purchasing their first homes and starting families.
Never being able to conform myself, I was able to, with the help of many friends and family, move into a beautiful studio with my partner and puppy.
Landing a job at the local community college as a ceramic’s studio worker and now preschool teacher, where my 3-year-old nephew attends. I finally feel as though life and work balance has finally smoothed out.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work with clay currently the most humbly sucking at it sets me apart from those that think of it as a quick and easy way to make money. It’s old, one of the oldest modalities to exist, and I have a deep respect and reverence for it. I also work now with stained glass, alongside metal works from welding. Currently working on getting a generator for a studio space to weld. My goal for the next year is to combine these modalities and have works of art that are interactive as well as convey a message. I am proud of my heritage and the strong line of artists and women I come from. My family is never too far from my thoughts or my work, and it’s my job now to harness in all of these loose ends.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
In a few years, I will be turning 40, if I am blessed to. In the time between now and then, I have several professional goals as well as personal goals that directly involve my creative talents. I will write several children’s books on select topics, as well as start a memoir. I will have collaborations both in and out of gallery spaces, and I will paint a mural or two. Taken welding and clay to deeper areas, ridden motorcycles, ran a marathon, and shown gratitude always.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @screechingbreseal
