Meet Yvette Underwood | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yvette Underwood and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yvette, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
My pursuit of an artistic career comes from a long history and passion for creating. I grew up, creating art and painting and loving anything to do with expression of my creative self. I found a number of different ways to express my creativity through the years from shopping garage sales and buying old furniture, stripping them, painting them or staining them and then selling an artistic piece, to painting and expressing my creativity with all forms of mixed media on canvas and different surfaces. I realized eventually that I have to create, and I know that I do this for fun and I do it for release and I do it as a way to express inspired moments that I experience, or memories that I have. There’s just something about immersing myself in the process and losing myself along the way until I have expended the passion and energy that I feel within to a point where I’m satisfied and ready to stop. It’s definitely a creative release for me and I love it!

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.
For me, art is a conduit for expression. It’s a natural way to emote my feelings, dreams, hopes, memories and purpose. If I’m stressed or frustrated, or if I’m recalling something from my past, or drawn to express beliefs, I can do that through art. Much of my art is expressing the relationship between brokenness of spirit and the resilience that brings us out of that. Like everyone else I love a story about human suffering where struggles are overcome and victory emerges through hard work, resiliency, and hope. This captures the essence of what my art is about. I paint to achieve weathered, decayed, and distressed aesthetics with sometimes vivid expressions of color and movement. The energy of of something broken, or old, or decompensated emerging as beautiful and mood driven inspires me a lot. I worked in the field of psychology for 25 years and movement from a broken spirit towards hope and healing was the focus of much of the work that I did. The reality is that most of us have experienced traumas in our lives and have overcome them, to some degree. I am excited about translating that to canvas and my hope is that my work would touch someone and create a healing connection with them! The idea of doing that makes me most proud as I explore my creativity.

I haven’t been painting that long actually. In spite of taking several art courses through the years I consider myself a self-taught artist. I pursued psychology in college but have always continued my love of painting and creating. The difference is that I spend a lot of time creating these days as I wind down a long career as a therapist. I came to a decision in my life at some point where it became a priority to me to do the things I love, make memories of things that hold great meaning to me, and to fill my life with those things. Since that decision I started painting in all of my free time, and then I elected to post my work on Instagram and then created my website as a way to share my portfolio of work. Since I made those decisions I’ve had the opportunity to receive great feedback, meet some wonderful creators out there, and share in this passion that I love so much! The lesson I learned from all of that is to look at success in a completely different way. Typically, through the years I used climbing the ladder, pay increases, kudos and accolades as the yardsticks by which I measured success for myself. I learned that doing what I love, expressing that love and passion, sharing it with others, and committing to that is now my definition of success. The recognition and achievements that come along the way are fantastic and validating and so meaningful, however, I always remember why I’m doing what I do. Because I love it and that’s what drives me!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I wanted to show friends or family a good time in Denver there are so many places and things to see, wonderful food options, but I think I’d definitely have to take them to the Denver Art Museum – they have such beautiful exhibits and that’s a wonderful way to get the art conversation going for sure! I’d even venture out on an art tour of some sort – maybe take them down to the Santa Fe Art District and check out all the murals and street art, or over to 40 West where every surface is covered in art! We’d end at some gastro pub or wonderful fusion spot to eat since Denver has so many fantastic options. Attending the many galleries in Denver is always fun, and even attending a night where we could create art, sip wine, and then find a great spot to finish the evening talking about our creations and our inspirations would be great! I might even be able to get them to head over to Boulder with me to check out their glorious art scene and get a hike in while we’re there!

Being from the rural town of Grand Junction on the western slope of Colorado I’d take my friends or family to the Art Festival if it were October. But most definitely I’d take them to The Grand Junction Art Center just to see the beautiful local art there, and then we’d head downtown to walk Main Street. There we’d find 32 outdoor sculptures being displayed in a permanent outdoor exhibition and visit all the Main Street galleries along the way. After working up an appetite from walking we could end the day by stopping at Moody’s Lounge and enjoy their yummy parmesan truffle fries! All that walking might entice us to go to Glenwood Springs Yampa Spa and go spelunking or steam inside the caves until we’re starving and then head to Slope & Hatch for an awesome salad!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I love this opportunity to give a shout out to the people that have supported me because without them I wouldn’t have achieved many of the milestones that I set out to achieve for myself when I started painting. The love and support of my daughter Chanel has been a key factor in boosting my confidence as I took many steps to learn how social media works, and with ideas on marketing, etc. Without her unending, sometimes daily cheerleading of my ideas, my work, and my choices, I wouldn’t have reached some of the goals that I set for myself. I have also had the great fortune to interact with a fantastic group of artists, a community of sorts, on Instagram, who have championed my work, provided me feedback, given me guidance and direction on steps to take as I pursue getting my work in galleries and art shows. Without them I wouldn’t know so many things and the knowledge they imparted saved me years of struggle and learning probably. For them, I am hugely grateful and will absolutely pay it forward as I move along in my creative pursuits. I also joined a fantastic group on Facebook called Art Element where upward of 5,000 members share art and many other creations, exchange feedback, support, guidance, and that never-ending positivity with each other. It’s a wonderful way to get your art out there, let it be seen, so I encourage any creative heart out there to join that supportive group!

Website: yvetteunderwood.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yvetteunderwoodart/

Image Credits
All images are created by Yvette Underwood