Today we’d like to introduce you to Kayla Ferraro.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kayla. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My love for art started with a coloring book, filling in the lines of each page. Carefully staining the paper and sometimes scribbling them with rage. Tim Burton, Disney and Dr. Seuss books have inspired me since a young age. They submerged me into their worlds which encouraged me to do the same. Being creative allows me to escape into a place where I can be fully present. I fall into a timeless portal, where I travel through the chaos of my imagination. I land in a space where I can explore an endless universe of a higher vibration. I’ve spent hours making a painting to feel liberated from the poisonous memories that linger around every corner of my brain. Polluted thoughts get channeled through my emotions that leave me feeling like toxic waste. The trauma I experienced as a child from the lack of devotion left me with two options: use it to create a passion, or live life feeling hopeless. I chose to keep going. So I searched within myself to find faith.
I refuse to use a vein to forget about the pain or drink a drop of poison to get me through the day. I’ve seen it first hand destroy my family and I wanted to break the chain. I decided to attend CCAD in Columbus Ohio where I earned grants and scholarships from my high school days. I graduated on the president’s list with a Bachelors’s degree in Fine Arts in 2014 on the 9th of May. I moved to Baltimore Maryland after college and made album covers for local bands and rappers. I made commissions from my vision out of ink and watercolor for different collectors. I was chosen to make a limited addition skateboard from a collaboration with Ambush board company and RAW artists. After leaving the city of helicopters and crime, I decided to move to Atlanta, Georgia to make a few more dimes. Hoping to find light in the darkness. I’ve been residing here for about a year. Building my portfolio to continue my career as a freelance artist. I find it easier to paint then to write to explain everything I have been through. My work has spoken louder than my words and I hope that it will inspire you.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No road is ever easy especially when your traveling this journey alone with no map or instructions on how to get through life. I’ve learned that your mentality is your reality and that has guided me to make better decisions to reach my goals. There have been many challenges along the way like the first time I moved to a city. Growing up in such a small town in Pennsylvania and moving to Ohio when I was 8, I had never seen tall buildings other than the ones on the tv. My mother dropped me off at my dorm my freshman year of college and I haven’t looked back since other than to see how far I’ve come. I felt like I was in a movie. I Learned how to survive on my own in a place I had never been to before. I was inspired to travel other places to push me out of my comfort zone. Learning the business side of the art world has been another big challenge.
As an artist you have to manage everything yourself as far as marketing, selling, managing and branding to social media, creating and making a living. I’ve encountered times where I have been takin advantage of as an artist and I had to learn from my mistakes. It’s been interesting to see both extremes as far as attitudes I have received from people. Either they are intrigued of my work or afraid of me. I’ve had individuals want free art or assumed I explore with drugs because I’m an artist. There is a lesson to be learned in everything and I try and focus on the positive and be grateful for what I have. There are no days off and I spend my time continuing to educate myself by taking online classes and reading books. It has helped rewire my brain and reflect on who I am as a person. I’ve seen and experienced a lot of trauma for many years when I was growing up that later on strengthened my hunger to follow my dreams. Gaining knowledge has helped me fight through anxiety and depression which is something I work on daily. It’s easy to get tangled up in the negative but even when the stars are not perfectly aligned I’ve learned to embrace the chaos as it has become my peace. For this life will never be completely absent of uncertainty and turbulence but it may be absent of dismay and hopelessness.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I enjoy making art because it’s the best way I can connect and communicate with humanity. I can record my thoughts and it allows me to reunite with those memories and feelings. There are no limits as far as what particular medium I use. From acrylic to cardboard, from wood to watercolor to crayons and colored pencils. I use whatever I can get my hands on to bring a surface to life. What sets me apart from others is my story and how it has driven me to become the person I am today.
The mind is given to us like a blank canvas and we have the power to paint it how we want. Creating good character is the most valuable thing to me above jewels, kingdoms, and capital. It is something that carries on forever. Everyday I’m chiseling away and sometimes gluing pieces back together. At the end of the day, everyone is a work of art. Putting in the effort to be the best version of myself and not giving up is what I am most proud of. To give you a better overview about my work, here is my artist statement: No fairy tale has a happy beginning. Before the happy ending, traumatic events occur that inspire a narrative painting. A story with emotional and personal imagery is louder than a spoken word.
Every adventure faces challenges but it’s all about how one will shape by it. Through the unpredictable nature of watercolor, the intensity of the abstract stain mimics what the past has left. The black ink outlines the surrealistic landscape that speaks for the hell that exists in a mind. A tale makes residence in one’s soul through the relation to one’s experience; it is a portal for a being to transport through dreams that reality has mutated using metaphors and symbolism. As one travels through the library of narrative worlds, a soul will find the looking glass. In order to understand a story, it must be lived backwards. But to tell it, it must be lived forwards.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I recently moved here so I am still learning the area. Coming from a very small town I think it’s been a good place for artists to grow and start out. I think it’s important to travel and feel out where you fit in.
Contact Info:
- Website: KaylaFerraro.weebly.com
- Email: ferraro.kayla@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/K_a_y_l_a_f_e_r_r_a_r_o
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