Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin Barrett.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My story starts with being raised in a very large crazy family. I was lucky enough to be the youngest of 6 older siblings and the daughter of two healthy, happy, married parents. I feel beyond privileged for the upbringing I had. I was always super into making weird clay creatures or painting on the walls of my secret closet hiding spot as a kid, but I never took any of that (or anything I did for that matter) seriously. I think being an artist is not about having secret talents or being born with natural gifts. I think it is the drive to do something and to do it well. I never really considered myself an artist until my senior year in high school. I had a really amazing 3D art teacher my junior year, Gerry James, and I thought he was the raddest dude ever. He was fun, skilled, and filled to the brim with compassion and continues to this day to build a supportive and safe space for students to accept themselves and have the freedom to be expressive. I started to look at the art world in a totally different way. It felt more about a unique sense of community rather than just being a person who can draw a really pretty picture. After high school, I went to a community college, Harper College, for 5 semesters and changed my major 3 times while I was there. I loved creating but got caught in the trap of thinking I had to use my creativity for career purposes only, so my major gradually went from English to graphic design, to art education. While I was at Harper College, I met another amazing artist teacher dude named Jason Peot. He has an insane passion for conceptual, political, controversial, conversational art, (and impeccable craftsmanship) and it inspired me to think more critically of my own practice and what I wanted to do for and with an art community. He showed me how to physically and practically build larger and out of materials I never would’ve thought I could possibly use. He pushed me to dive deeper into the “why” of art making rather than just the “how”. I owe him some serious credit for where I am now. I would’ve still been an English major if I hadn’t met him. After Harper, I transferred to SAIC where I then switched my major one last time to Studio Arts. I studied there for 5 semesters and graduated this past May 2018 with my BFA. Rewind a year….in the spring of 2017, I met another really rad artist dude, Charlie Megna. Charlie started and ran Peanut Gallery for almost a decade. He, Sara Engimann, and Jessie Oleson had been the main people running Peanut when I first started hanging out there. After a few months of making a mess in their shared studio space, I officially joined the gallery/co-op, had my studio there, and slowly learned how to run the space and events. Charlie was the last original member of Peanut Gallery, and this last January he decided to retire the name and start on a new chapter of his career. This left the remaining co-op members with an amazing opportunity to start fresh with the knowledge and experience we gained from being a part of Peanut. We rebranded and now run the space as Happy Gallery. My studio is there in the back, shared with 5 other awesome artists. It feels like my journey has just begun, but I cannot pretend I got here on my own. I feel incredibly lucky and thankful for having this as an opportunity and knowing all the people that inspired me along the way.
Please tell us about your art.
I feel like I am still figuring it out. I hope I never fully figure it out, though. The confusion and constant drive to be better is what keeps me making. I’ve worked in ceramics, paintings, photography, video, woodworking, glass blowing, and jewelry making. I mostly consider myself a painter though. Lately, I’ve been making paintings and sculptures that represent energy in a physical form. I was making very intuitive, expressive oil paintings for a while and they all felt very energetic and it made me think about the process of making in general. Any artist I have ever met shares that same energy I feel. This unknown force is keeping us busy and productive, to some degree at least. I wanted to give that energy a physical form that is somewhat recognizable but also still somewhat ambiguous…just as the energy feels to me. I think they are kind of funny but also trying to be serious, just as I am in this wild dance we call life. Maybe eventually they will transform back into more abstract marks or shapes. I love the feedback I’ve been getting of “What are they supposed to be?” “Is that a snake? A volcano? A hot cheeto? A butt worm? Ham?”. The confusion means people are thinking and trying to understand and that’s all I can hope for as an artist is that people are thinking or perhaps trying to see something in a new way. It’s hard to have expectations of what I want people to take away from my work. I just want them to feel whatever they feel and maybe use it to make something themselves.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
I think any artist is successful if they can call themselves an artist. To be able to find some way to make money to sleep somewhere at night, feed yourself, and still have time and money to support your own art practice is a success in itself. I think there are two really important qualities to being successful. 1) dont be a shitty person and 2) push yourself to be better and to do more. I am far from an expert and have a buttload to learn still, but these are two things I feel have gotten me to where I am now.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Since my studio is in the back of Happy Gallery, most of my work is there! Come to an event or stop by during open hours and check out the space and the studios. I post painting updates pretty frequently on my Instagram @gllooowwww and I also have a few paintings up at Ipsento (coffee shop on Western Ave.). I am really excited about what we are doing at Happy Gallery. We have a new art show up every month, and throughout each month we host a bunch of events like fundraisers, music shows, poetry nights, and drawing nights. We’ve created a very chill and safe space for any and every one to hang out at and have an open door for constructive conversations. I am super excited to see where we can take it and how we can bring more people together. For gallery events, follow us on IG @happygallerychicago 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: erinbarrett.space (this website hasnt been edited in almost 2 years but will be very soon I promise!)
- Email: erinbarrett.art@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/gllooowwww
- Other: www.instagram.com/happygallerychicago
Image Credit:
Erin Barrett
