Rising Stars: Meet Karrie Ross

Today we’d like to introduce you to Karrie Ross. 

Hi Karrie, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
A bit of bullet points: I’m a Californian, Los Angeleano (1949). My parents were creative and encouraged critical thinking and creativity. I doodled all the time and had great fun but never realized the ‘bigger picture’, never really had a mentor to tell me about it and when it happened, I wasn’t ready. But I kept making art, it was a big part of my life. I got married (1968), my husband went to Vietnam, we moved to Tacoma, WA then to Vail, CO (1973) where I met more artists. Came back to LA and I took jobs in graphic design and started drawing more. My second husband became a mini mentor, he woke me up to another appreciation of what I was doing. I started participating in the ‘art-in-the-park’ art shows for approx. 24-30-ish years (1985-2016) and my graphic design led me to movie posters and annual reports. I eventually broke off the corporate job and took to my own business of book design for indie publishers (2007). And I started selling my art to the decorative/corporate art industry painting repetitions of my fine art. This opened the door to the gallery artworld of Los Angeles where I became very involved. Over a 20-year period, I created curated exhibitions and organized about 14 books Artist Art & Story which documented artists each year with a story and photo of their artwork. I had a bad accident, TBI-concussion, in 2018 and have stopped creating artwork like I used to. 

In 2021 my Cambria, CA gallery suggested I look into the social media app Clubhouse and the subject of digital collectables (nfts to some), and I never looked back. 

The digital collectable/NFT world, Web3, blew me away and I took to it 24/7, invested, and joined some degens that took me under their wing teaching me the ins and outs. I realize now a year later that the year 2021 will go down in history in the digital collectables/NFT world for many reasons. Here are a few I actually recognize. An influx of artists being able to sell their digital art. The culture taking on and making history by aping into the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) Collection of 10,000 collectable tokens that gave the owners IP rights. I bought two, they were my second and third collectable tokens that I bought. This action changed my life and one of my BAYC became the Adidas Ape, Indigo, in October 2021. The crypto world, bitcoin, ethereum, and other coins started to show up more as the people who bought into this economy were becoming of an age to use it and they started with artwork. These people took to Twitter, and it became, at this time, the main interaction for the economy. It turns out that 2021 was a record bull market (I might be wrong) and as we entered 2022 it came with the year for a few months and then turned into a bear market. It seems the nft/crypto world is taking a breather and building strength and focus for what’s next. A fascinating thing is the speed with which it operates… the crypto/technology has a lot to do with this. And the learning and development continues. I feel that within the next 10 years the year 2021 will show up as the beginning of a new world economy and this future is yet to be seen. 

How I got here? I work with persistence and determination, I take risk, mostly calculated, but risk just the same. I believe my experience/situation/history has allowed me to be present to this opportunity and what it offers. I’m here for the change, the brave new world. The attitude of gratitude and support Web3 is looking to create. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The artworld has many moments, it is my hope that any artist/creator who chooses to come into this space will avoid the negativity, entitlement attitude and be able to experience the positivity that abounds. 

I chose to go off the grid, the action of living my life the way I want. 

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I work in the following mediums etc.: watercolor, pen, and ink, collage, assemblage, ceramic, acrylic, oil, wood, digital. 

The artwork I create works using kinetic and metaphor, the ability to move people to change to grow perspectives. 

I ask you, “What is your energy telling the world?” and then I ask, “Are YOU listening?” 

What’s next?
I wake up every day excited to learn more, experience more, and talk with the friends I’ve made in the digital collectables space. I have a lot to accomplish, and it takes every minute to be the it I need to be. I just got an idea this morning that will take some time and I’m ready. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://karrieross.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarrieRoss

Image Credits
EMS