Today we’d like to introduce you to Tirzah Villegas.
Tirzah, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
There’s never been a time in my life when I wasn’t creating. I found that as a person who has a lot of big feelings, art is the best way for me to move some of that energy through and to let it be expressed, mainly through oil painting and ceramics. I was born in Colorado and moved to NC when I was ten. My ancestors are native to Mexico, New Mexico, Spain, Ireland and Scotland. I, like so many, navigate existence as a person in-between worlds. Art is the most natural way to let me process what it means to be a human in this day and age.
In art school at UNCA I was given the tools to formalize my artistic process though I didn’t actually believe I could do art professionally until more than ten years later. Years later, going to divinity school and becoming an interspiritual hospital chaplain deepened the need to create and to process my daily experiences. I could not be well if I was not externalizing the suffering I saw daily. I believe that we are each born with gifts and that we have a responsibility to share those gifts with the world. It is one thing to believe this and it is another to put it into action.
As a hospital chaplain, I hear so many stories and hold so much grief for others. Part of this work is witnessing the pain and suffering, hearing it and allowing others to release what they have been holding. When caregivers — nurses, family members, friends, doctors, therapists — give care, they often receive more than they know what to do with. My most recent body of work, and much of my work in general, honors this process of giving care and holding other’s pain. I am also a Reiki practitioner and my patients and clients have taught me that everything is in constant motion. Painting is the process of expressing the constant change that is life, both through the process and the final composition.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I was younger I thought that being an artist was something I would arrive at one day. I imagined there was some invisible finish line and upon crossing it I would know I arrived and could now don the title, ‘artist.’ It turns out its much more simple than that. To create, create. The journey to being an artist is the same road, or many roads, as the journey of being human. I was born an artist and I need only create to be one. That being said, the journey was filled with more self-doubt and confusion than I can articulate. I am grateful to be a Millenial, to have grown up finding creative inspiration in stacks of library books and from climbing trees. Tablets and social weren’t a distraction, they didn’t exist. As an adult, I find I must withdraw from social media from time to time or it will begin to weigh me down with the many changing rules of engagement. Create constantly. Have a clear brand. Post, reply, engage, repeat. Be genuine, but also make it look effortless, flawless. I’ve struggled with the impulse to withdraw completely and run my business through word of mouth. At times, I have done just this. As I believe our gifts are meant to be shared, and because so much is entrusted to me, I always find myself turning outward again, thinking of how to present the gifts and messages entrusted to me, to the world.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Oil painting and pottery are my preferred mediums. Part of what draws me to these mediums is the connection they have to the Earth. Molding clay is magical because all four elements are in conversation to create a final fired piece. The artist molds the earth that is mixed with water, the air dries it and the fire strengthens and completes it. It is so incredibly fun and grounding to work with. Painting is just as amazing a process but in different ways.
In the past few years, I have created mainly two kinds of paintings. The first category is paintings that portray the Divine through my cultural lens and through the work of spiritual accompaniment. These works often integrate the four elements, symbols of Spirit or healing, and employ vivid colors. The other category of art I have focused on is altar-style portrait commissions. Many of these works are commissioned in memoriam and contain the face of a loved one and objects, colors, and symbols that were sacred to them. Sometimes these portraits are in honor of a living being and are created as something of a prayer for their life. Every piece I create is a prayer for a better world. Often they are also a lament, or an expression of anger for the ways in which this world is unjust.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
“When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you to achieve it.” This quote by Paulo Coelho in The Alchemist, is one of my favorites. The only thing I would add to it is that we have to be co-conspirators with the universe, we have to be active in shaping our lives. Everything I have accomplished I owe to myself and to all those who have touched my life, believed in me, and paid me money for my work. I had to learn to ask for what I wanted and to believe I was able and worthy of getting it. I wouldn’t say luck brought me the opportunities I’ve had but I will say there have always been forces greater than myself bringing me opportunities as soon as I was brave enough to say what I wanted.
Pricing:
- Paintings start at $2/Square inch
- In-person Reiki is $90/hr
- Distance Reiki $40 for half hour
Contact Info:
- Website: https://tirzahvillegas.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sevendirectionsart
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/dNEThLEn2i8
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/c/tirzahvillegas
