Today we’d like to introduce you to Grace Pisula.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Grace. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Definitely. My story begins around the time I started driving more than 10 years ago! I enrolled in After School Matters, an after-school apprenticeship program which exposed me to the world of art. Design and photography courses held downtown helped me to build a foundation of collaboration and social awareness. It also introduced me to professional photographer Robert Gigliotti, who became my mentor for the next 6 years.
Athlete turned artist, I reveled in the new world of media. This was a good time to be coming of age as an artist. Commonplace technology exploded. Social media took over the web and tools for creative expression were becoming more and more accessible. I began to explore ways that these technologies were being used and the implications of new technologies in a rapidly growing industry.
College was an opportunity to explore this vast world of ever-changing media landscape. With a desire to learn about film production, I travelled to Hollywood to take classes in Directing, Post Production & Editing, and Line Producing. The Hollywood Semester was an invaluable experience, not only for the content of the coursework, but for the network of working professionals I met during my short time in Los Angeles.
I participated actively in the filmmaking process through internships with Dick Clark and Paramount Pictures. Rather than reading scripts, I storyboarded animations for online media and worked in marketing – and though they asked me to stay, I returned to Bradley to finish my education.
I returned to Chicago with my new degree, and Hollywood dreams lingered for a time. I immersed myself in my rediscovered home environment on the Northwest Side of Chicago where I found a thriving artistic community. Today I am a freelance multimedia artist & director of photography proud to serve my local Chicago community through photography, video, graphics, and animation services.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not always. Going right into freelance was an easy choice on the surface, but not easy to live by. The first couple of years were extremely difficult. I had many clients who were asking for many different things. Being fresh out of school I had no idea what to expect so I ended up doing everything! On the side I learned bartending to make ends meet when business was slow. Needless to say I learned A LOT in those short years.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Grace Pisula Multimedia Designer & Director of Photography – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I am a one-woman art house specializing in creative services which include photography, design, video, and animation. What sets me apart from other photographers, illustrators, filmmakers, and animators is that I really am mastering all these forms in hopes of achieving a higher understanding of how these mediums can be used to create new and interesting art and product.
I am a total techie and am always exploring new and emerging media like 360 video and virtual reality. It fascinates me how these two technologies are changing the way we learn and experience the world. Have you heard “The medium is the message?” Ultimately, all these various forms of digital media speak to one thing – and that’s human experience. As a creator I am experiencing my own relationship with the [logo/design/photograph/model/video/animation] all while visualizing the end product and its placement, and thinking about how it will be perceived in the eye of the public. Having a rich foundation of media has made me better at understanding how we experience media. I believe this is why so many of my clients, once they discover me, are always coming back to GPtheDP. 🙂
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
While I maintain my freelance status and am always taking new work – I am also in development of my first ever original web series. The series is called Sweat Local, and it is a manifesto on what it means to thrive in a local community as an artist. You could say the inspiration for the episodical series has a lot to do with my story. I’ve also been volunteering for an arts advocacy non-profit Northwest Arts Connection https://www.facebook.com/nacchicago/. In the last two years this group has opened my eyes to how much art and culture there is to experience on a daily basis. I hope to capture that with this series and get people excited about exploring their communities, visiting their local businesses, and supporting their local artists. There is currently and open call for artists of all kinds! Visit www.facebook.com/sweatlocalchi to learn more or e-mail us directly at sweatlocal@gmail.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.gpthedp.com
- Phone: 7733166352
- Email: grace@gracepisula.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gpthedp/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gpthedp
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/gpthedp
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/gracepisula
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