Meet Elke Reva Sudin | Artist & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elke Reva Sudin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elke Reva, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Being creative is inherently a risky business. I tend to say, “if it was easy, everyone would do it.” To stand apart you have to go outside of the norm. It may be more difficult to find what works but when it works it’s your own and fits your personality and lifestyle, it’s that much more fulfilling.

I think that with taking risks, it’s all about silencing self doubt and being your own biggest fan. Mindset is extremely important. Providing yourself with affirmations that challenge that bully in your head. Risks are just opportunities that haven’t come into fruition. You just have to get out of your own way, follow the roadmap and trust the process. The path may be uncertain but being attuned with yourself and a sense of purpose helps. Along that journey I lean on my supporters, my spirituality, and my creative outlets such as sketching, and designing, to get me through.

I believe in taking risks to show others what’s possible so that they may be empowered to make it themselves. If you are living life in support of others, it makes putting energy towards yourself and your goals seem more important. You have to fill up your cup to show up for other people. At times, that means doing the thing that scares you in order to accomplish what you set out to do. New frontiers happen outside of your comfort zone so sometimes it takes one step to get that momentum going.

A professional risk I took was that when I first started my company Drawing Booth I didn’t have many resources at my disposal but I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to draw and create everyday. So I pursued my passions and looked for their intersections. I love being social while making art. So people at parties became my muses. I didn’t even know how the technology would work together even though now it seems so obvious. I decided to invest in equipment and bought myself an iPad and a pressure sensitive stylus. I didn’t receive full support about that decision but if i didn’t invest in myself then, I would have never founded an international company.

As my lawyers remind me, there are risks in every aspect of business, but besides liability and financial risks, the type of risk that entrepreneurs like myself face the most is the risk of failure. There are also risks at every moment when performing live interactive work. I love making chit-chat with complete strangers and when I’m in the zone drawing, and chatting at the same time, my brain is firing off in multiple channels simultaneously. I honestly think that stimulation (in addition to the elevated states of music and social interactions in general) give me a lot of satisfaction in this type of live drawing interactive work. But it can also be quite taxing and if you make one wrong gesture, someone could get inadvertently offended.

No matter the risks, I see the path as fulfilling in and of itself. However, during those tricky times I know I can always forgive myself and move on.

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.
My art is part representational art and part abstract ornament. I paint and sketch portraits of people, and sometimes landscapes. The use the subject’s unique vibrance to inform my work and act as a muse. My abstract work in paintings and in my scarf collection are visual interpretations of the unseen energetic influences that surround us. My intentions for the scarves are to unify the spirit and human aspect of ourselves.

I grew up in a pretty conservative environment, attending religious schools without much art, though I always gravitated towards something more expressive. I became adamant to pursue a creative path and ended up studying illustration at Pratt Institute in New York. Soon after graduating, I launched into a painting career translating my unique position at the crossroads of two distinct New York communities into a message about coexistence, with my painting series Hipsters & Hassids. Organizing exhibitions around my own work lead me to organizing for other artists with similar messages and struggles to get seen. I produced exhibitions, publications, and programs to uplift other voices in my community. Upon reflection of all the organizing I was doing, and how little art making I was making myself, I decided to refocus my efforts on the type of speed drawing that was most fun for me. This was how I started my company Drawing Booth. I learned how to navigate building a business and ultimately, my own personal challenges along the way.

My art has always been about bringing attention to an underrepresented group. The Crown Collection, a series of luxury scarves with my custom designs, is a declaration of the pride I have for my own heritage in the practice of hair covering as a married Jewish woman. Head covering in the religious context has been gradually removed from Western culture. (Even men’s hats stopped being commonplace after JFK). Due to the lack of awareness on this topic, discrimination for many ethnic groups is a common occurrence. Many women who would otherwise cover their hair grapple with internalized shame about their cultural practices due to these experiences. My designs aim to encourage confidence in standing out and be expressive while doing it. While my personal practice comes from being Jewish, the more these practices are publicized in one community, the more that other communities will feel seen and for their own traditions.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to dedicate this post to my two grandmothers, one an artist, and one a small business co-owner. Their unique skillsets run through me and guide my trajectory forward.

Website: https://elkerevasudin.com

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

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elkerevasudin

Twitter: https://twitter.com/elkerevasudin

Facebook: https://facebook.com/artofelkerevasudin

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/elkerevasudin

Other: https://councils.forbes.com/u/caf1032e-b075-4f04-8315-0533b0a43868

Image Credits
Saul Sudin