Your Career

[Valeri]

Hi I'm Valeri and I'm in Ms.Capelet's Gr12 art class. Since I'm in
grade 12 that means I have to start applying to universities and
collages. Although I am still not sure what to take and if I should go
into visual arts. I was wondering how did you know you wanted to be an
artist? Did you have anyone that supported your choice to be an
artist? And did you ever consider being anything other than an artist
or is that solely what you wanted to be?

[LauraLee K Harris]

Hi Valeri,
Growing up I had art all around me; my grandmother painted, my mother drew
and my father created as well. It was in this environment that I began
drawing, painting, getting recognition in the various schools I attended for
it was virtually the only subject I did well in besides English. It was
later that I expressed an interest in art but my Mother dissuaded me saying
one could not really make a living in the arts unless they were a Graphics
artist...So I drifted into computers and eventually became a Computer
Programmer in COBAL, programming applications on huge NCR mainframes. When
I met my husband in 1981, he convinced me to continue painting. When my
grandmother passed away I began painting with the Oils I had given her. When
I got pregnant, I decided that I wanted to stay home and raise my own kids,
because growing up, we didn't have that stability both geographically by
moving almost every year and by my parents who both worked being
entrepreneurs, they had their own business and that required a lot of their
time. I took that stay at home mom opportunity to re-engage my art and
began again, having my first solo show of Portraits in 1988 at a Café in
High Park called Butler's Pantry.

I began OCAD in 1988 as well, while I was pregnant with my first son, and
while still working, Programming at an Insurance Company called Gerling
Global. But I hated the process of debugging programs although not minding
the language part of the vocation. This was the beginning of the CREATION
part of my life in 1988; as a mother and an artist and found it to be the
most fulfilling part of my life. My advice to many of the youth is to do
what you love and what you are good at because then you will never feel like
you've worked a day in your life. Yes the art world is hard to make a
living at AND IF I did not have the support of my husband, I would not be
where I am today. That is a given.

Finding someone that believes in you is half the battle in believing in
yourself because most of life is spent second guessing yourself, the other
parts are hard work and struggle. Most people give up on their dreams too
early on in their lives and they spend the latter part of their lives
lamenting that "I used to be able to paint" or "I used to write quite well"
but over time they forget what their dreams were or what they loved doing.
I say don't forget your gifts the Creator has given you. Honour them by
doing, that is the only way to give back to the Creator and then He rewards
you. Oh, and the other thing I wanted to be was a dancer. I love dancing.
Long answer but this was my journey into the arts,
LauraLee