Today we’d like to introduce you to Allyson Bode.
Hi Allyson, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Although I have found a home here in the Orlando area, I am not a Florida Native. Originally, I am from Conway, Arkansas, and moved to Florida in February of 2017. Just like many things in life, it was not a direct path that led me here. In Arkansas, after graduating from Hendrix College with a BFA in Fine Arts and German Language, I sought out job opportunities within the arts. For a while, I was able to teach art classes at a local after school academy, and although the work was very rewarding, there was very little opportunity for growth within the job. After a few years, my spouse and I moved to Little Rock where I worked as a bartender and volunteered my artistic skills for the local community theaters. Theater and performance have always been a passion of mine, which is how I stumbled across the next road in my journey: special effects makeup. I became fascinated with the world of sfx makeup and particularly enjoyed how the process utilized sculpture and mold-making, two skills I learned to love while pursuing my art major in college.
This new interest became the catalyst that lead me to where I am today. In 2015, I made the decision to attend a trade school for sfx makeup in Pennsylvania. Upon graduation in 2017, a job opportunity in scenic design brought me to Orlando. I worked briefly with that scenic design company before transitioning to a position as sculptor and mold-maker for a bronze foundry in Sanford. Bronze casting was another process I had fallen in love with while in college, and I truly enjoyed creating sculptures that went out to locations around Florida and many other places in the U.S. I spent a little over a year working at the bronze foundry before scenic design pulled me back. In 2018, I returned to my original scenic design company for a chance to work along side some friends and fellow sfx graduates. My second time with the company led to wonderful experiences with my sculpt and mold team, but did not provide me the opportunities for career growth I was seeking. In early 2020, I decided to pursue another job within scenic design, this time signing on with Universal Creative.
I choose to believe the Universe reveals challenges as we are meant to face them, because the week I was set to start my work with Universal, the pandemic shut down the parks. I had spent years chasing my artistic career goals only to find myself with a blank slate. My ultimate goal had been to one day build a career from my own creative work, and quite suddenly, that timeline was right in front of me.
My work as a freelance artist and small business owner has grown and developed in many ways over the last 6 years. I attend art festivals and comic conventions selling my artwork under my business, SoulSpeak Studios, and I have had the opportunity to return to teaching as well. I started teaching with the SoBo Gallery’s Technique Tuesdays after moving to Winter Garden in 2021, and now teaching has become what I am most well known for within my community. Teaching has always been a passion of mine, and I am delighted to get to share my knowledge and experience with so many people. Apart from teaching at SoBo, I have helped start a secondary Technique Tuesday class for senior citizens in the Winter Garden area through a program called Vibrant with Healthy West Orange. Helping seniors bond and socialize while expressing their creativity has been truly rewarding. When I teach, I focus on the experience rather than the final result, and my projects are meant to give a sense of play and joy without any pressure to achieve a particular end result. I love it when my senior students tell me about showing their artwork to their grandchildren and receiving praise and admiration for their work. I might not be anywhere near where I expected to be when I first moved to Florida, but I am truly grateful for where I am currently on my journey.
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?
I wish I could say it has been a smooth road getting to where I am today, but the truth is, it has been filled with twists, turns, and bumps the entire way. Finding a fulfilling job in the arts is undeniably difficult. I enjoyed a lot of my time in scenic design, but the work culture is very demanding and draining and offers little in terms of creative expression. Despite the hardships of that particular work environment, I am extremely grateful it brought me to Florida. The transition to self employment has been exciting and challenging, but Orlando has been a wonderful place for me to explore this chapter of my life. It offers a rich and lively arts scene with plenty of opportunities to not only to get involved, but to thrive. In many ways, my home state is still growing in the arts, but Orlando has been great from day one.
In the wake of all that was lost in 2020, something I gained was time to recover from burn out and a chance to explore my own artwork again. I tried several freelance avenues before finally settling on a few corner stones of a new work identity. Today, I operate mainly in the capacity of art instructor for both individual lessons and large groups, and sell my own artwork as well as and take commissions. I have experience teaching all ages, from young children to senior citizens, and I adapt to any artistic skill level, whether experienced or complete beginner. My classes are primarily mixed media techniques in both 2D and 3D formats, and I focus on creative expression rather than replicating a particular result.
This balance of work has finally led to the fulfilling art career I had been seeking, but as much as I love being self employed, I haven’t escaped the effects of a struggling economy. Buying original artwork is often a luxury most cannot afford, and selling originals has become even more difficult with the surge of Ai generated images flooding online spaces. Artists are constantly battling algorithms oversaturated with Ai content that diminishes our visibility and devalues our skills. The past few years have been rough on artists, but I am beginning to see a silver lining. The novelty of new technology is wearing off, and people are seeking real work over ai prompts. Advertising work as “human made” and “no Ai used” is now the hallmark of artist integrity, and this rejection of outsourcing creativity to technology will hopefully lead to a modern day renaissance for artists and art lovers alike. In the mean time, I do my best to create original artworks that are accessible and affordable to everyone. I feel very deeply that art is what connects us in the human experience and should be enjoyed by all.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My art journey has been influenced by many things over the years, including a background in theater and performance which led to my skills in special effects makeup, prop making, and set building. I still freelance doing this type of work when commissioned, but more often these days it is the source of inspiration for my creative process. I work primarily as a mixed media artist, taking my skills in fabrication and exploring them in unconventional mediums. My themes and subject matter also tend to lean toward theatrical narrative and whimsy. From ethereal and beautiful, to dark and disturbed, I let my ideas flow in all directions.
One of my favorite techniques started in 2020 when I used my sfx makeup background to do life casts of some of my friends’ faces. Life casting is a process using materials like body safe silicone to create a mold of someone’s body part, such as the face, and then using that mold to create a copy in a different medium like plaster or resin. This is often the first step in the process of making prosthetics for film and television. In my case, I used the life cast of my friend to create a sculpture that launched an entire series of artwork I still create today. This particular sculpture featured my friend’s face cast in epoxy clay, hand painted, and mounted on resin cured fabric. The sculpture hangs on the wall like a ghost or a mask with attached veil. I submitted the piece to Beautiful Bizarre magazine for their art prize in 2020 and became a finalist in their sculpture category.
The feedback for my work was really wonderful, but the one thing people kept asking was if I planned to make smaller versions to sell. I am all about making artwork more accessible and affordable to everyone, so that request set me in motion to create versions that could reach a broader audience. I have been making these small, mixed media sculptures for six years now and I still love them. I make a handful of new ones every year, each with a unique look based off the fabric chosen and how it drapes. They each get a hand painted face and a name, and they go with me to every show until they find their person. I like to think of them as little spirits that resonate with our inner creativity and it delights me each time one finds a home.
Another art style I have developed and come to love is a mixed media technique combining layers of ink and charcoal on book pages. Reading and writing are also passions of mine, and having artwork where words are a prominent feature excites me. Some of my favorite pieces have been created using thrifted thesaurus pages as well as pages from a dictionary of historical slang. The paper gives me a great base mid-tone color, allowing me to easily achieve a full range of value from the blackest ink, to the brightest white highlights. This technique also invites the viewer to come in close and spend time exploring the piece, reading the words and shaping the surrealist narrative.
I’ve never been afraid of letting my artwork be weird and different. I like how my style separates me from mainstream artists and often leads to wonderful social interactions when people respond deeply to my work.
Any big plans?
My plans for the future grow and change all the time, but now that I have found what works for me as a self employed artist, I plan to cultivate my current path and place in my community. The Vibrant program with Healthy West Orange is reaching its one year anniversary and is growing and expanding, and I look forward to growing with it. I have truly enjoyed getting to know my senior students over the last year, encouraging them to explore their creativity and play with the possibilities of artistic freedom. I am also proud to say they will have their first chance to display their artwork in an exhibition at the SoBo gallery in Winter Garden starting October 1st and going through November. Teaching will always be a part of my future, and I have been asked by several people in recent months to teach art projects for small groups as bonding activities and friendly get-togethers, so that will be something I plan to develop as well.
I am still creating and exploring my own art forms and styles as well as participating in shows, festivals, and gallery opportunities as they come, but this year I have needed to adjust to a different kind of work life balance as my partner and I welcomed our first child to the family. Motherhood has been its own unique journey, but integrating my identity as a working artist and parent has been particularly challenging. One such challenge has been that of constantly being inspired to create, but having very little time and energy in which to do the work. I am figuring things out as I go, taking everything one day at a time, but the transition has not been easy. One incredible advantage I have though, is a very strong and supportive community that helps out and allows me the flexibility to continue teaching and creating with my son along with me. Things are constantly changing, but I can genuinely say it is all moving in a positive direction.
Pricing:
- Original mixed media artworks of various sizes offered at affordable prices, some as low as $10
- Open for commissions, price negotiated per project details
- Private individual art lessons: $55/hour
- Group art workshops: prices negotiated per project and number of students
Contact Info:
- Website: https://soulspeakstudios.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulspeak_studios
- Other: TikTok: @SoulSpeak_Studios
