Art Saves • by Christine Alvarado

“Christine is very interested in art.” “She excelled again in her artwork.” These were handwritten notes my mom jotted down on the pages of my baby book regarding my early years. I was often asked to submit drawings for the school newspaper, programs, etc., and I recall winning an award for a book I “illustrated and wrote” as a young girl. I played the viola for several years but dropped that when I was only allowed to choose one extra course to enroll in and I chose art. In high school I enjoyed calligraphy, and I began to be asked and paid to calligraph wedding invitations. While I did well academically I felt most confident when I was creating art in some form.

A Creative Career Search
When it came time to start thinking about a career, art suddenly became a source of anxiety for me. While I wasn’t discouraged, I wasn’t encouraged to pursue art or any specific career. In fact I don’t really recall being asked what I wanted to “be” while growing up. My family came from working class backgrounds and looking back I think they really didn’t know how to offer any career or schooling advice, nor did I know how to seek it from outside sources. Jobs were a means to pay to the bills, not something you did because you necessarily loved it. I naively began to navigate my way towards my future knowing that somehow art had to be a part that.

I became one of those students on the “extended” program taking years of classes before settling on a major while working and putting myself through college. I enrolled in as many art related subjects as my schools had available in the subjects of drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, jewelry arts, etc. I eventually settled on Graphic Design and eventually Photography as my primary focuses. I picked those majors because I assumed there was a better possibility of getting a creative job with those degrees. But deep down I knew they weren’t my calling.

When it Clicked for Me
Fast forward to 2005. I happened to be channel surfing one day and came across the artist/musician/doll maker Dame Darcy (damedarcy.com/products/dolls.htm) on a craft show demonstrating how to make simple articulated clay dolls. There was something really wonderful about the primitive, yet modern quality to the dolls. I stood there and memorized how she constructed them and started the very next day creating my first doll. As a girl I played with dolls, often for hours by myself, inventing story lines about them in my imagination. As an adult I really never gave them much thought, because they were something from my past. Something about seeing these unique dolls instantly made me see doll making as a new art form, not in the traditional sense of being a child’s toy but as another way of expressing ideas of telling stories via the human form. However I did not pursue this avenue fully just yet.

In 2007, when my son was a toddler, I knew it was time to start a small business from home, knowing that it would probably not become a full-time job until my son was in grade school. I thought it best to utilize my design skills and start a business creating wedding invitations. Upon researching this field I inadvertently discovered artists’ blogs. I kept running across creative people who were doing what they loved as their “career,” in the most unorthodox ways, and their sense of joy, excitement, and originality spilled out from their websites. I noticed that a few were also selling their art on a new online marketplace called Etsy. It was then that it “clicked” for me something inside nudged me to create and sell my dolls. It was the one art form that I had the least experience with but that I enjoyed doing purely for myself. So I shelved the invite business. I decided to open up my own Etsy shop featuring my art dolls in conjunction with a blog about my artwork.

The Non-Traditional Path
Peering through the lens of hindsight I can now see that those years in which I felt I was floundering were not in vain. The courses in sculpture, design, photography, business, art history, etc., were preparing me for a well-rounded life of an artist and person. I think some of us are meant to take the longer, more “scenic,” albeit bumpy, route on the way to what we were meant to do ... the traditional path isn’t necessarily meant for us. I also realize now that I have always been an artist, that it wasn’t a career that I was seeking but finding what I was most passionate about. To those of you who are struggling to put yourself through school, who are working at an unfulfilling job out of necessity, who may not have the full support of family or friends, whose “studio” is the kitchen table, who are artists but haven’t found your niche yet, DO NOT give up. Keep your eyes and ears open for signs of creative inspiration, the ones that stop you in your track and speak to you. Keep doing your art whenever you can even if that means once every two weeks at two in the morning. I believe hard work and determination pay off and you never know when a new opportunity will present itself; when you will discover what you were meant to do.

To learn more about Christine Alvarado, visit dubuhdudesigns.typepad.com/du_buh_du_designs/.

Comments

[stephanie]

Christine,
Thank you for sharing your journey...it is apparent in your beautiful work that you are indeed passionate about your art. Your focus on photography served you as well...the photos that you 'stage' of your work always tell such a lovely story.

nice job here!
x..x
steph

[Merle]

Christine,
Wow! I loved reading your story of how your art dolls came to be. I love all the fabulous details you put into your dolls and have been amazed at watching how they have continued to change as you bravely try new new techniques. I think that all your other art skills take your dolls to another level-your amazing photography which captures them so well and how you do tell stories with your dolls and illustrate them with the props you make for each of these stories. Your art is always a joy and an inspiration to see!
xoxo!
merle

[shona cole]

Christine,
what a lovely read, so glad you found your art path eventually, your dolls and photography are beautiful. it is a shame that younger/high school/collage folks are not given more career guidance, then you would have known that all your art practice and classes were actually leading somewhere and save you some years of angst. but it seems that is the lot for so many of us. I wonder what we can do differently for our kids when they are making life path choices.... we can let them read articles like this one, but then will they really listen? perhaps they still have to learn the hard way?
Jenny, thanks for your awesome site!

[Candylei]

How wonderful to learn more about you Christine. I first saw your art photographs on etsy. I was so impressed with them all. The details on the dresses and all of the extra delights that you use in the photographs. I am so happy you found your niche or it found you. :-) You are such an inspiration.
Thank you!
Candylei