Shelley's Interview on Shoutout Social

In January 2024, I was approached by a Website out of San Deigo for an interview about my path as a Designer and Artist.

Here is some of what was shared in the interview:

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We had the good fortune of connecting with Shelley Sophia Crawford and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shelley Sophia, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
From an early age I was inspired by art and loved making art, I always knew I wanted to be an Artist. I was fortunate to attend a very creative alternative High School where experimenting with art was a large part of my studies. At this time I also apprenticed with a master mask maker and makeup up artist, who inspired me in the knowing it was possible for a woman to have a career and business doing what she loved in the arts. I became determined to make art the way I resourced myself in the world, and I was fortunate to have roll models that encouraged me in this direction.

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Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I am a Digital Artist, Graphic Designer, and I also design Websites.

I guess to be straight up with you, I never intended to be a Digital Artist. Originally I loved painting, drawing and working with flowers and clay and using my hands to create art, I also loved making collages, and I used to spend hours cutting images out of magazines and organizing them into envelopes thinking about the visual stories I would explore bringing the images together in a collage. In my early life I always thought I would be a crafts person or fine artist. But this was also the early 1990s and pre internet boom.

In about the the mid 1990s, when the internet just started to tick up, my husband and I bought our first computer, and the following year we bought our first apple computer. He had this amazing visionary capacity to see what was ahead of us, and foresaw, what was just about to happen with the internet and so we both started taking online classes in Digital Media Design, and that was my first introduction to Photoshop and basic Website design using coding etc. About a year latter of studies, while living in the mountains of Colorado, I created my first website, in trade for two pairs of Handmade Moccasins. And I have been creating Websites and Graphic Design ever since.

Although I came into the world of “Digital Media Art” rather by chance and out of necessity (and by desire to have a pair of moccasins ), somehow grace has carried me through, to where now making art and designing digitally is actually quite a powerful medium for me.

Since 2008 I have been making different series of what I call “Digital Alchemy Collages”, Integrating my love for collage art with my skills in photoshop and this has really been a fun blending of mediums with some interesting results, and its also been a great skill which I have applied to designing interesting Web banners for my clients websites, flyers etc. My collages are also my medium for expressing and sharing with the world some of the insights and mystical ways I see the world and love as our greatest medicine is always at the foundation of my message.

Another thing I enjoy about Website & Graphic design, is that I have to use both the left and right sides of my brain, I have to be very strategic and logical and at the same time very creative and innovative, as well as have skills in connecting with and tuning into my clients and what their design needs are.

I love helping people and finding ways with compassionate listening to help them share and shine their gifts, so the process of working with others to emerge their visionary message, hone their business goals and get clear about their marketing objectives are all woven into the process of creating a website or graphic design project. This has become a very fine tuned part of what I do in my work and I love it!

I feel really proud that as a woman artist I have been able to create a business that reflects my values and allows me to serve others, using not only my technical skills but also my passion for creativity and my artistic eye.

I am excited about the Digital Alchemy Art I am currently creating and inspired by the constant challenges the “creative impulse” invites me into. By nature “Art” invites us into growth, there are always ways to keep evolving and improving as an Artist. This is especially true in the world of Digital Media as the technology and the expectations of the online marketing world are always expanding.

My current aspiration is to be finely attuned to the evolving edges of this creative environment while at the same time staying true to my personal design esthetic and values. My commitment is to the deeply intuitive and creative listening I have with my clients and supporting that process of meeting their marketing objectives in a fun, meaningful and beautiful ways, that empower their journey and process of emerging their work into the world.

Although, I came to being an artist in this way a bit “by chance”, I can honestly say I love what I do and feel very fortunate to use my gifts to support and work with others in creatively empowering ways. My biggest dream at this point is for my personal Art and offerings to also have a meaningful and inspiring impact in the world.

The journey to where I am now as an artist has been circuitous, and I see what I have become and what I do as a synergistic fusion of all the elements of myself as an artist and mystic, exploring what is possible and meeting my world in creative ways that produce beautiful results.

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Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

Oh wow, there are so many it is hard to know where to begin. I have been thinking about this theme a lot though recently, about how important it is to acknowledge our mentors and our teachers in life. I actually just started a Substack Blog, called “Musing of a Rose Indigo Artist”, where I am going to be writing about the amazing mentors I have met on my journey as a woman artist, and the stories that have shaped me into who I am today.

I think foremost I have to thank and acknowledge my High School Art teacher and dear friend Betty Mayther, who taught me a lot about Art and especially about art as a modality healing.

I also would like to thank my friend Raylene Abbott who is an accomplished Author, Artist and Mystic who has also taught me many wonderful things.

Now days, my teachers are also my clients, I spend so much time deep in the creative process helping people emerge their work and the look and feel of their online presence, and this has been a tremendous learning ground, for me as an Artist, Designer and Business woman.

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