Meet Ciele Beau | Visual Artist & Musician

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

Hi Ciele, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
As an artist, it always felt very important to me to be able to operate for myself and to be in control of my business overall. When I was fresh out of art school I tried to get jobs with design studios and positions in art-related fields but found it very difficult to get a foot in the door. So many of the jobs that were hiring Junior positions required you to have 2-5 years of experience and it felt like there was no way to actually get in. You needed experience to get experience but how could you get the experience if no one would hire you? Partly because of that, out of necessity, I started figuring out ways to build my own business and find ways to make it as a freelancer. It took a few years of having unrelated full time jobs, and working on my artwork after hours, to finally get to a point where I felt I could make the jump. I officially registered my business in 2015, and worked on it part-time, and then three years later in 2018 I went all in and so far things are going pretty well! It took a large amount of faith and determination to take that leap though, and I was honestly terrified at the time. It’s not easy going into business for yourself, and I’m always learning something new every day. And it’s also not for everyone. Being self-employed requires a lot of discipline, and a level of self-awareness so you can course correct yourself if you’re getting off track or unmotivated. It can however be really freeing, and the amount of flexibility it has brought into my life is one of my favourite things about it. I get to work on a lot of different types of creative projects, which keeps my work life interesting, and my schedule can be quite fluid and accommodating depending on what comes up.

I was a part-time freelancer for about 5 years before I was able to take the plunge into full-time. I found myself starting to feel major resistance around going in to work for my other jobs, and 90% of my thoughts were with my art practise and art clients. I could feel I was out of alignment and holding on to the unrelated part-time jobs for security (which has its place for sure! I wouldn’t recommend quitting your day job on a whim per say) and realised it was time to invest in myself and commit to my goals in a very real way. So thats what I did, and continue to do.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art spans a number of specialties, but I have managed to bring them all together into one practise reasonably cohesively . I am a fine art painter, illustrator, designer and muralist. I guess you could say I have two sides to my practise – the fine art and the commercial art.

On the fine art side I have a painting practise that explores my experience having a condition called Synesthesia. This is a neurological condition where the brain misfires sensory information and you experience involuntary sensory reactions in another sensory pathway where it wouldn’t normally be. There are a lot of types of synesthesia but the sake of my art I focus on having sound to colour synesthesia, where I see colour and shape when I hear music! I developed a style of painting called Colour Frequencies where I translate sheet music into the colours I see when I hear a specific song. The result is an abstract geometric looking painting but it is actually a full song, in musical time, that could technically be played if a musician had the colour formula. I call this practise Sound To Colour.

On the commercial side, I create bright colourful artwork that usually speaks to the human experience, and has an element of playfulness and humour intertwined in an overall message. I’m able to do illustration, graphic design and murals using this approach which has allowed me to work with clients such as Pabst Blue Ribbons, Simons, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Adobe, Slack, Warner Brothers and many more.

Getting to a point where I could do all of these things wasn’t necessarily easy. And I’ve had to learn to be super adaptable in order to accommodate all of these different creative approaches in my business but it has also helped me get more work as well because I can offer a number of services within one project. Rather than someone hiring an illustrator and graphic designer separately they can hire me to do both, for example. When I graduated art school I had a specialization in painting, and more of a fine art approach than commercial, but what I found is I had to pivot to commercial offerings in order to also find ways to make money as I was building my painting practise up. A lot of my early graphic design work was me taking on clients and then youtubing how to do something in order to complete the job. Basically the epitome of ‘fake it til you make it’, while also having a trust that I could actually get the job done. And that’s a lot of how I learned the graphic design side. Trial and error, and learning on the job. I did eventually go and get a certificate in 2D design to level up my skills but ultimately doing all of that laid the groundwork to be able to transition into illustration, and learning how to bridge that with design. And then a few years ago I started using my illustration work to create murals. So it all started to flow into itself as one well-rounded business. There was a lot of banging my head against the desk (in theory) but ultimately things started to gel together and a business emerged from that rubble.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that nothing happens overnight. There’s no such thing as overnight success. There are consistent, small (or big) steps taken over a period of time (usually years) and then in moments something clicks and people take notice. I used to think, ‘If I could only catch my big break then everything would be perfect’ but so far there hasn’t been a “big break” – there have however been many small or medium sized breaks that have been wonderful, and then you keep working! Because recognition doesn’t necessary mean more work. It might mean momentary attention and public validation, which can be nice boosts, and then you keep working on new projects, set new goals, and find more work that fulfils you and hope it continues to resonate with people. Most good things don’t happen in a flash – they happen with concerted effort and commitment to the process.

That being said, I personally have a lot of ebbs and flows in my energy and find that my creativity goes through cycles. I have seasons where I’m go-go-go, working super hard and at all hours, and then I mellow into down periods where I have to cultivate ideas or just live some life in order to turn around and get back to creating again. There’s no right way to do it – but those consistent steps towards the goal and your commitment to yourself and your work to keep showing up is what makes the most longterm progress.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live on the Sunshine Coast in British Columbia, Canada but used to live in Vancouver up until 2 years ago. Honestly, so much has changed in the city during the pandemic a lot of my old spots aren’t even around anymore. I would definitely take you for brunch at Nemesis which is one of the best coffee shops/bakeries/restaurants and all around good people. I’d maybe suggest going to the Vancouver Art Gallery downtown, or bike the seawall. I’d take you to Juke for dinner, which is a really yummy fried chicken spot in Chinatown, and finish the day at Mister which is probably my favourite ice cream in the world which I realise is a BOLD statement haha! But they make the best ice cream using liquid nitrogen, and nothing compares.

If you wanted to escape the city and come to the Sunshine Coast you have to take a 40 minute ferry ride over, which is a gorgeous ride with mountains on one side and weaves through some smaller islands.
I’d take you on a walk through the small town centre in Gibsons. Maybe grab some lunch at the BBQ shack on the pier. They have a brisket poutine that it incredible. Stop by Sunday Cider where they have a cute picnic area for anyone who wants to drink a cider or you can get ice cream from Little Spoon, who have a booth there, which is also super delicious, and I personally think they have the best ice cream sandwiches. (I have a lot of opinions about ice cream apparently haha). We could drive to Roberts Creek about 20 minutes down the highway and order a pizza from a local family that serves the fluffiest mouth watering pizza from their backyard. Take it to the beach for dinner and watch the sunset!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I love this so much. It’s so true that no one ever does it all alone and there are so many people who have played a role in my own story! It’s hard to narrow it down but for the purposes of this interview I would like to dedicate this to my sister Meaghan, who went above and beyond in my twenties to make sure I could pursue my dreams and supported me in so many ways. She recognised and believed in my ability to forge a path for myself in the arts, even when most people didn’t really think it was practical or possible.

And secondly I would like to dedicate this to my partner Lucas who is my sounding board, my cheerleader and sometimes my tough-love reality check when my big creative ideas brain starts going a million miles a minute. He’s always got my back, and believes in my ability to achieve my goals whole-heartedly. He also makes sure I’m fed haha! So, he’s basically the reason I’m alive.

Website: www.cielebeau.com / www.soundtocolour.com

Instagram: @cielebeau / @cielemusic

Facebook: /cielebeau /cielemusic

Image Credits
Photos of the ‘You’re doing amazing’ mural are by Princess Shredder. Pabst Can in hand shot by Arinn Westendorf Love Love mural shots by Trev Wong All of other images are by Lucas James.