Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Raymer.
Rebecca, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
The first time I felt completely comfortable with a group of people was when I went to the Art Institute of Atlanta when I was 21 years old. I didn’t get a degree there, but the experience blew open my self-perception as an artist. When I started at Georgia State University eight years later, I couldn’t pass the core math class for my major and had to keep taking it. When I’d filled all the other requirements for my degree without passing math, I took art classes to keep a full course load. I never got that degree, either, but gained a lot of experience, technique, and knowledge as an artist.
I love creating – there is nothing that heals and reenergizes the soul like creating. I am a writer first and foremost, but as a visual artist, my media are primarily photography, collage, and yarn. These are my most rewarding means of creating, and they keep me sane and grounded.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I have always been a writer. My parents got me a typewriter when I was around 7 years old, and I set up an office in the closet under the stairs. Writing has always come naturally to me, largely because of the massive lengths of time I dedicate to reading. Although I have written a novel and a memoir, my experience as a movie reviewer and entertainment journalist connected me with the film industry in Atlanta. I just finished my first feature-length script, and am currently working on a short film script. I’ve directed and written two short films, and that is what I was born to do. It has been comforting finally figuring that out in my 40’s.
I write what I know, and what I know is a lot of pain. In addition to writing stories of struggle and overcoming adversity, I maintain my mental health by knitting and making collages. I discovered my love for collages at the Art Institute of Atlanta. Years later, I was reintroduced to it as a form of art therapy, and I have found it very effective.
I learned to knit about 11 years ago, just before getting sober. It is an integral part of my sobriety and overall peace of mind. I haven’t gotten too technically astute at it, but I make a lot of scarves and baby blankets and give them to people I like. I’ve recently started making bags by knitting each section and then sewing them together.
My photography is a purely therapeutic practice. The events of my life have been terribly difficult, and the damage done in my childhood continues to have consequences I must face and accept on a daily basis. My reward for continuously acknowledging and processing tremendous pain is the ability to see beauty all around me, and that is what I photograph. I love digital photography because I can take an image and enhance the beauty of it in a way that makes it easier for others to see.
The ability to connect with others through what I create, and to make others feel less alone in their own pain, is fantastically rewarding.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
As an artist, I suppose I could define success as the joy of creating. But I’m also a human, and an American, and I do include cultural and financial achievement in my definition of success. The very heart of it all, though, is discovering who I really am through creating. I hate being vulnerable, but it is the only way to finding peace and meaning in life. I have found art to be my best vehicle of vulnerability. The ability to create anything at all – to transfer something of my soul into the concrete world – is what it means to be successful in the purest way possible. I would love to be able to financially support myself and my family through what I create, but regardless of material success, nothing can reduce the value of peace that comes from creating.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have a slightly outdated website with links to the books I’ve published, as well as to one of the shorts I wrote and directed for a web series pilot. I post on Instagram almost daily, as well, and love connecting with people on Twitter.
People can support my work by buying my books, following me on Instagram and letting me know what they think of my photos, and by connecting with me on Twitter.
www.rebeccaraymer.com
Instagram & Twitter: @rannray
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rebeccaraymer.com
- Instagram: rannray
- Twitter: rannray
Image Credit:
Rebecca Raymer
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