Doug Kennedy, Me, Kerry Krouse, Marshall Rainwater
When I was 19 years old I started hanging out with artists, writers, musicians, and designers. At the time I wasn’t producing any work of my own, or even really conscious that I’d surrounded myself with creative types. I spent a lot of time hanging out in my friend’s studio watching him paint, flipping through magazines that I’d never heard of before like I.D. and The Face, and observing what it was like to be a working artist, even though I didn’t realize I was paying attention.
When I think back on my own creative journey, this is where it really started – 1989-90. This is when I stopped wearing pink, quit my sorority, and met a whole new group of tattooed, pierced, and mohawked friends who were trying out “alternative” lifestyles. My own creative contributions at this time existed of spending way too much time partying with my friends, smoking a lot of cigarettes, and imitating the lifestyle of Pamela Des Barres (on a much smaller scale). My creative friends were doing this too, but were also immersed in their work. I never gave any thought to what I could do creatively.
There are times that I look back on now and kick myself. Like when Doug, Marshall, and I went to meet Doug’s author/illustrator friend for drinks. Marshall and I were just talking amongst ourselves, as always, because we were the most interesting people around. Now when I realize that I was having drinks with and could have been talking to and learning from one of my favorite children’s book authors/illustrators, I just sigh. But again, that’s not where I was at the time. I wouldn’t have even known what to ask.
But this is where it all really started. I was drawn to writing and fashion editorial design even earlier in my life, but 1989 and the early 90s was when I became immersed in new music, new people, and new ways of living. Years would pass before I’d create anything that I felt really proud of or send out for possible publication, but this is the beginning.
We all start somewhere. And it may take a long, LONG time before anything comes of it. The way we live our lives and the people we surround ourselves with will reveal new parts of ourselves for us to explore and discover.