Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Pasqua.
Hi Julia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I have been making art since I was 3 years old. My mom used to have to take me to preschool early to make sure I would get one of the easels or I would cry and want to go home. I started creating in my style about 10 years ago and started selling it only 4 years ago, so a lot of the art I made was just for myself and my own survival for about 6 years. I sold my first piece of art in this style on accident actually. I was working in a photography dark room and the girl I was working with wanted to buy what I was drawing. I was honestly absolutely shocked! I always thought my style that I had found was too off the wall for other people’s taste and was making it for me only. After selling that first piece, I realized that maybe people would like it so I took a chance and invested in my first show. To my surprise, I sold out of almost half my inventory at that first show so I said to myself, “Maybe this is something more than for just me.” It has been a trip ever since. To me, I am now two people almost – the artist and the one who sells it. But it has been such an amazing 4 years of being able to experience a different aspect to my art and breathe new life into it by sharing it with others. I have found the more vulnerability I am brave enough to show, the more that people actually connect with my work!
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?
Oh gosh. I don’t think it is ever a smooth road. I think if the road is smooth, maybe you aren’t taking enough chances. And even then, life throws a rock at you every once in a while. But long story short, no it hasn’t been. I had that first show that sold half my inventory at and I think that may have been the universe whispering to me “you got something here.” But it has been anything but smooth from there on. There are so many challenges with running your own business and the constant pivots you have to be ready for. It’s not just get up and go to work. It’s having to predict markets and human behavior and what people want and need. It’s waking up to new challenges you couldn’t have even seen coming. And sometimes those pivots are tough.
For example, when I first started, most of my inventory was prints and canvases. Well with the changes in economy and lifestyles, people started to downsize and I heard more and more, “I don’t have any room left on my walls.” And honestly I didn’t either! So how could I expect other people to if I even didn’t?! I therefore reevaluated my whole inventory and tried to find other ways for people to be able to interact with my art. This is when I started making more wearable goods instead or things that help people in their day to day. That way, my art can still be in their lives.
But there are always going to be challenges. I think that’s the point of life: to learn and grow from obstacles along the way. And with owning your own business, it is sometimes a different challenge every day. I think I could write probably 8 paragraphs of details of struggles that have popped up over these 4 years, but the details of each of them isn’t the overall point. The overall point is not quitting. Sometimes I still hit a wall trying to figure out what the next step is, but it’s just about continuing to try over and over again and learning more along the way. My current favorite quote is, “The only true way to fail, is to quit.” So everything else on this “non smooth road” is just a learning experience of how to do my business better, life better, and how to be a better me. Sometimes it is wearing and exhausting and my mom will remind me, “you chose this life!” and that is the hardest part honestly. I did choose it. If I didn’t care about it so much, I could just walk away, but this is more than just a job, this is my soul so no matter how hard it gets, I just keep going.
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?
So all my work is actually made from Sharpie and Wite-Out. I digitally take it in and just touch up the tones and do minor fixes and then print it. This is my least favorite part honestly is explaining my process to people because a lot of people don’t understand it or it turns them away from my work sometimes when they learn how I do it. But it’s what makes sense to me. I discovered this technique about 10 years ago when working in retail and just doodling on the job and messing around with the supplies that were behind the counter, but it just all of a sudden everything clicked. I can work in the positive and negative space at the same time. I can use techniques from my print making background with lines and textures, but I can work quicker than with carving. The process sometimes confuses people, but nothing has ever been clearer with creating for me. It was like, all of a sudden, I found the language I could speak. The messages and feelings I tried to convey in art my whole life were suddenly speaking the way I wanted to through line and shape.
In the fine art world, this meant I didn’t fully fit. Everyone was looking for “an original”. And my “originals” are only a step in my process. They’re layered and grimy and the Wite-Out isn’t intentionally placed if that makes any sense. But the “originals” are more of like the printing plate in printmaking. Where it helps make my final product but it looks very different to people than the final product. I would even try selling them as “originals” and people would look at me like “that looks nothing like the final product”. So the “original” being a digital file is the easiest explanation, but people don’t always love that either.
I had to come up to the conclusion that I am just not going to fit everywhere, but I was not going to stop making art in the way I wanted and made sense to me just because it didn’t fit into the structure of how fine art is typically sold. So this is also when I pivoted into finding other places where my designs could be appreciated.
My style is definitely unique and I always say it’s like blue cheese. You either love it or you’re like “oh my gosh what is that send it back to the kitchen immediately .'” And I am honestly totally okay with that. It’s an acquired taste, but it’s authentic and it’s me and I couldn’t be prouder of anything else, but to be able to say that. So it’s all about just finding your audience sometimes.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Ooo luck is a tricky word. That goes into more existential questions for me. I’m honestly not sure if I even believe in luck. Sometimes things happen in the universe that I can’t explain, but also good and bad things will both always just happen no matter what – sometimes for seemingly no reason. Or maybe it’s what energy you put out into the universe, it will also give back. I think maybe it’s more of a manifestation than luck. I believe if you believe something enough, if you can visualize yourself there and you work hard for it, that anything is achievable. I think what people miss sometimes with luck and manifestation is that hard work has to be a part of it too. Yes sometimes things magically happen, but not without you putting in the work to help it. You can beg to win the lottery, but you also gotta buy the ticket.
But I also want to say that I would be no where without the group of people that I have behind me. I try to emphasize it every chance I can. I am in no way a one woman show. I would not consider myself lucky, but I do consider myself extremely blessed. I am so grateful for the group of people who have believed in me from the start and continue to believe in me even on the days I don’t believe in myself sometimes. The people who have invested in me both time wise and financially. The jobs that my family members have taken on to help me get to my dreams. My friends, my support system, the people that I love. I couldn’t do ay of this without the amazingly talented group of humans that have stepped up and become a part of Lilith’s Attic with me. I truly feel like the most blessed human being for the people who surround me, love me, support me, and cheer me on. The wonderful customers who have come in to my booth year after year, supporting and being genuinely excited about my work. I try to thank each and every one of them every chance I get. Because of all of them, I now not only get to create my art for a living, but live this dream I never even saw as possible. I cannot be more thankful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lilithsattic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilithsattic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilithsattic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsYzqsQWr6LS_eTiWQjU6Ag
Image Credits
Personal Photo:
Thomas Pinyati @tomfauxtography
Additional Photos: (everything but the tarot decks and the phoenix drawing)
Gabi Alyse Photography
@gabialysephoto
Additional Photos (Tarot Decks and Phoenix Drawing)
Shot by myself.
