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Meet Zuleka Grant of Zuleka Art in Downtown

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Zuleka Grant.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Zuleka. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m Zuleka, a passionate artist who was born and raised in Atlanta, I took an interest in art at the age of five. Growing up, I was constantly surrounded by creativity from both of my parents. With a mom who was a sketch artist and a musician of a father it was only natural that I would end up being one. Almost every day after school my mom and I would have these drawing sessions draw together, and she would draw sketches of my siblings, flowers, and buildings. It was so intriguing, and I remember saying to myself that I wanted to become good like her one day, but the road wasn’t easy, I often found myself getting frustrated that I couldn’t draw as good as her, but through it all she always encouraged my artistry.

Fast forward to about age 11, I got into a lot of creative endeavors and drawing wasn’t something I did much. On one particular day I remember looking for a video on how to create something for my dollhouse, but to my surprise I ran into a video on how to draw a cartoon character, out of curiosity I clicked it and was literally captured, and that became the spark of my personal art journey. My early artwork consisted of pencil and color pencils portraits.

Every day from then I came home from school to draw and follow along with the tutorials that I saw. After about four years of on and off practice, I promised myself that I’d never stop doing art. I started filling up so many sketchbooks, but I gradually wanted to try something new, so I got a cheap paint set and started painting the backgrounds of my art with paint. By 18 I transitioned into doing a full piece in paint.

I thought long and hard about attending art-school or maybe just trying to follow my dream without school. After a bit of weighing the pros and cons, I took a leap of faith and said I’m doing this either way, I got a job, started my social media to display my work, and now I do commissions, original works, and sell prints of my art.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nothing worth having comes easy. It’s crazy that you ask this, because lately I’ve been in “artist block” simply meaning no creativity and struggling to put paint to the canvas. It’s something I’ve always dealt with, but I’ve never had it last so long before, it’s been about six months. Life’s been hard with everything going on, but I know in my heart that I love to paint and this is just a phase. All in all, it’s a part of life. It’s going to be really high highs and really low lows, but you Will come back stronger eventually. “Minor setback, for major comeback” Stay Hopeful!

We’d love to hear more about your work.
I’m a self-taught painter and I specialize in acrylic and oil paintings! I guess you can say I’m most proud of the first steps I took to make this business come to life. I felt like the highest was telling me it’s possible for me to be an artist, but I was so doubtful. I decided to take a leap of faith which was posting my art online and attending art-shows! I’m a very shy person so while that seems small it is huge for me, and took so much in me to do those things. I am so happy I just gave it a try and believed. I believe what sets me apart is my ability to stand for what I believe and not worrying if I’m alone. This ties into everything, if you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything. I am trying to live this in all aspects of my life, but especially in my art. I want to create purely from my heart and not focus on if it’s trendy or not.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment I’ve had was when I was at the Black Girl Art Show and I hadn’t made much or any sales, and I was getting a little discouraged but I didn’t give up. A little later this guy walks up to me, and says hey how much is that original up there of Andre 3000? I told him my price confidently and he says I want it and sent me the money right there on the spot! What’s so funny is he told me that my confidence in my work and price is what really made him want to support. I was very happy and It was my first time ever selling an original at a show! Definitely one of the best moments.

Pricing:

  • Outkast Painting : 2500
  • Goodie Mob Painting : 3000
  • Dedication Painting : 950

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