Let me start by introducing myself. My name's Setsuna. Its not my real name, but a Japanese variation on my real name that I started using when one of my asian friends had trouble pronouncing the "r" in my actual name.
I'm a nursing student way up in Canada. I don't live in an igloo, but I'd be willing to give it a go. I've always had two loves in my life: science and art. In school, I usually got straight "A's" in chem and bio, but I also drew extensively and was involved in Jazz with my trombone and classical with my French horn.
Later in life I reluctantly dropped the trombone when school got too hectic, although I never stopped drawing. Then, when it came time to pick a career, I had to choose between my two passions. I was strongly encouraged by half of my family to pursue the arts, including encouragement from Mel Heath, a prominent Albertan artist who helped design on of the quarters for Alberta. The other half of the family insisted that medicine was the way to go. I chose.
Why medicine? Because although I may have artistic talent, I knew I didn't have near enough to propel me to the very top of the vast artist's heap. Art is a cruel world and only 1 out of every few thousand actually gets to a place where they can make it into a business lucrative enough to be their only job. I didn't want to be a "starving artist" working a department store by day and moonlighting as a painter by night. Medicine, on the other hand, is much more guaranteed. Not everyone appreciates artwork, but anyone can really love a nurse when they've just broken their leg and they need tending to. And the money is good. Hate to say it, but its there.
Nonetheless, there was always a gnawing at the back of my mind, ever since I started nursing: I need express the artsy fartsy side of myself. There's not a lot of "self expression" allowed when it comes to doling out medication. So I started to doodle. A lot. My physiology notes are riddled with weird creatures and flowers from the far corners of my imagination. And then people started suggesting I try and sell my sketches. Some even suggested I bring some of the to life in the form of plushes. And that's where the soon-to-be-created Clambake comes in.
Clambake is my company. It sells weird and beautiful artwork by myself, not to mention even more bizarre and fantastic plushes. I'll be using Blogspot, Facebook, Etsy, Flickr, DeviantArt, MySpace and IndiePublic to showcase my work, and when I get it up and running, I'll post the link so stay tuned.
In the meantime, think of better stereotypes for Canadians than those that involve the cold, beer and "Eh." Eh?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
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