A New Medium featuring Shasta Bell Calligraphy
It is a new medium, but not entirely. Photographing things, or even just being an artist, was always within her. It was on her creative journey that Shasta has been able to wrestle with the boxes we can place ourselves in.
Her journey began with sewing and selling products, but when venturing overseas, was unable to take her sewing machine with her. This resulted in the search for a new creative outlet, which became calligraphy. The best part? She’s still not done exploring art and creating. I think that’s one thing that’s amazing about Shasta, is that she continues to challenge herself and allow herself to be open to new things. Creativity is in her- whether it’s her admiration for it, application of it, or attempting it.
Photograph by Kelsey Lee Photography
What has your creative journey been like so far?
I think it's been coming to grips with my own abilities and inabilities. My coming to grips with my own humanity and learning to identify as an artist. I did not go to art school, and never thought I would be an “artist”, so I feel like I'm fulfilling this secret dream of mine that I never thought I would be able to do. I was living in West Africa when I first picked up lettering. My training is intercultural studies and Christian ministries, and I wanted to be a missionary for the rest of my life, so I never considered this. My mother is an oil painter, and she was an art teacher. I never had the gift of painting. And when I was young- I pigeonholed the idea of being an artist into one category. You had to be good at drawing, which I since have learned to do, but I was living under this idea that I would never be like that. And when it came to photography, again, that was a thing that no one praised me for, so I never thought I was good but I loved it. I think becoming an artist was unwrapping these different layers of “I guess I can do this; I guess I can try that. It might be awful, but I guess I could keep learning.” I think the life of an artist is chalk-full of self-doubt, and it took me awhile to figure out that I should continue despite that. That's kind of the slimmed out version of the journey.
What has that looked like for you to battle against the humanity of your work?
I think living in a different culture and having my degree in intercultural studies had a lot to do with being okay with my humanness- being okay with failure. Like being incredibly comfortable with looking like an idiot. Practically, when I first started my journey; I knew I wasn't good, but I knew that I was progressing. You can go back to my first instagram posts- I don't delete them for a reason, I keep some of my first stuff up because I want anyone who sees might see my work later to know where I came from. I so strongly believe and encourage my students that you shouldn't- basically to get rid of your embarrassment factor, is to put out work even if it's not perfect. If I have a client that I'm working with, that I'm doing a personal piece or a new design, it's probably not perfect, but it's closer to what I want it to be. And it's nearing heaven – that's what I like to think of it. I shouldn't stop what I'm doing and putting work together just because it's not my ideal. I need to look at the things that are good and what I do well,
People look at Instagram as such a comparison monster, which it is, but I feel like I've found a way to highjack that to my benefit. I see other people who I admire and see imperfections in their work- this sounds bad, but hang on- the imperfections make me feel confident in the fact that we are all still learning. Especially with people who are amazing, it means that we all still have places to grow and that makes me feel comfortable to share my work. Maybe it’s not my most amazing piece, but I want to show people that you should just continue to grow. I think it encourages other people when they see your humanity or the handwritten stuff that isn't perfect but still beautiful. It helps me feel less critical of myself as well. If I'm working with a client, and they want me to do something outside of my comfort zone, my answer is usually yes. I figure out ways to do what I'm not used to doing. Like watercolor, I am not good at watercolor. But I figured out how to combine watercolor with a lot of digital work. As a result, I figured out a whole new skill of using watercolor and digital work that I hadn't known before. I think that's really cool. It's a good skill to have to not be crushed by failure We all have insecurities and strengths. Humility is not thinking lower of yourself – it’s also not prideful, but true humility is just thinking of yourself rightly. / Based on quote by C.S. Lewis
What, then, brought you to photography and film?
Oh! Passion. Love for something. Curiosity. It’s so amazing. It's funny because someone you recently shared, Louse of Taylor and Porter, because she is probably – her and Jen Huang, are the number one people that inspired me to try film. I cannot tell you the number of hours that I have spent admiring their work. I remember seeing Louise's photos a few years ago, and the tones were just amazing. All this to say that, it really was born out of needing to photograph my own work on one hand- to get images that I was able to style according to how a stationer would prefer them styled. And on the other hand, was a personal desire to just try a new medium and to fill a creative hole in my life. Because I love my job, and I love being a stationer- stationery isn't a hobby, though. It has to be a job, whereas photography – I can do that for fun for my family, on vacation, and I can have that purpose for it. We were going to France last year, my husband and I, and I have a great group of wedding professionals in Minneapolis – it's just a good spirit of community. One of my friends is a digital photographer, and her uncle gave her a film camera that she had never used. We were just having casual conversation about how I wished I could take a film camera with me, but I didn't have one and I didn't know squat about film at that point. She said, “Well, my uncle gave me one I've never used. It has a clean bill of health and I've never used it, would you like to test it out for me?” And I did. And I got the scan backs and that was the end of that. There's nothing much else to the story, haha. I said, “Yup this is going to be a thing." It was incredible. I knew that I would get back some good photos, but I was blown away. I'm still building my portfolio, but I’m working to make that another strong arm of my business because I love it so much. I think what people love about it so much is what I love about calligraphy. It's slow and challenging. It's unique and bespoke, which is kind of an overly used term. It's very personal- it's like when I create custom stationary. I am using paper that I absolutely adore, and I know that someone else is going to have the same feeling about that paper. Using techniques and materials – my goal is to make it take your breath away and you’ll never want to throw it away. Taking a film photograph is harder than an easy click and it really makes you think about your environment. I believe that's the craft aspect to it and I believe we are wired to enjoy figuring things out- a part of the population feels a rush when they can say they figured something out and made it with your hands- and that's how film is to me.
This is kind of taking us back a bit, but when I was graduating from College – I started an Etsy shop. I would sew back in 2010. I would sew these fabric flowers and little clutches. Things I had seen others do and I had loved, but it opened up a whole new world to me. This world that I could actually create something – a lot of creatives talk about the gap between their vision and what their hands can actually accomplish.. all of a sudden I realized that I didn't have to go to the store or rely on other people to help me express myself. I was able to do it and figure it out. I cannot tell you how incredible that feeling was. And I think since then, it's been the journey of finding the right medium. When I moved to Africa, I couldn't sew because it was difficult to bring a machine over. That’s when I found calligraphy, and that’s been my home. Now, I'm not moving away from calligraphy, but I’m adding film- closing the gap that of what I dream of and what I can make a reality.
What is it like to work with two different mediums?
My main concern is that since I'm growing photography that people would think I'm moving away from stationary- which is absolutely not true. I think for me, photography is not a business for me- eventually I would like it to become part of mine, but for now, it is in the creative pursuit mode. I think it will stay there for awhile in the sense that during business hours it's not something that I'm pursuing a lot. It's something that I do in the evenings and on weekends which is so fulfilling and such a joy. But the way that they are connected, is that it automatically felt like they connected. I have already been photographing my work- because what happens often is when you create something beautiful together, with a couple, they often have a photographer with a different style than I do. So I had all of these beautiful pieces that I made and I just wanted to capture them in ways that was on brand for me. Moving that way, then made complete sense. From there, I realized I wanted more from it. I want to shoot other stationers work. In the next few months I'm going to be working with a stationer to help shoot her work. But then I also love flowers, what about flowers- I can't just shoot stationary; I need to shoot flowers as well. Then it moved into capturing humans. I think it's all part of the same connected stream of this creativity. It's learning and being curious and discovering things. Ever since I was little, I was always frustrated when I didn't know how something works. I want to learn how things work and understand it better.
When you go out or traveling- taking pictures, what sort of things really grab your eye?
I think about, Molly Carr, she was one of my first calligraphy clients. The way she shoots Paris- it's so full of romance, light, airy- she just has this way of capturing Paris. Then there's other photographers who capture a completely different side of Paris- it's moodier. It's crazy how you can be shooting the same thing and it be different. It's so funny, people always share how I shoot good details. I joke that I could be a second shooter for people, and I could just spend the day shooting all the details. So for me, or me, since I have a stationer focus, I look for details. I do love photographing people, and connecting/talking with people, but it's way easier for me to go up to a gorgeous faucet sticking out of a wall. Also, I think I've lived in a story book since I was born. Like, in my brain, there's always a fairytale going on. It's led me to a very dramatic life – I can be a little a theater kid, but I think it can help me set scenes and find the things that paint the picture.
What inspires you when you travel?
As soon as you asked that question, the first thing that popped in my head was craftsmanship. Anywhere that I can see that someone has skill or a gift in creating something. Whether it be God in nature- the way that a beautiful forest is. Or an amazing rose bush or something. For me, I'm obsessed with architecture so I'm always looking at stone work and brass-ware. I love buildings so much. I'm always interested in age and skills that have been passed down forever, that we now kind of take for granted. I always want to remember those things. I feel really grateful living in Minneapolis because they have a thriving artist community and architectural aspects- so many great buildings. It's not like Europe though, Europe is on steroids. As an American, I think it will always hold a place of romance in my heart. It's like when other people come to the West of America, it's like an environment they've never been in before. I think that's kind of how I feel when we were driving through Belgium, and there was this valley- it was incredible. There was city on the side of the hill almost. It was like a wide ravine and the light was just coming over it. It felt like I was walking into a fairytale! I also look for intention when I take photographs. The effort- the love that it takes to make something.
God did some work in me. When I came out of college, I started to realize how the world works and that you can create things. I think I started taking advantage of that when I went to things like Walmart- which humans do make those things too, but when I became a maker it completely changed my outlook. It's kind of like when you become a parent- you realize, “Oh that's what that's like. That's the intention that went into that- wow I'm so grateful.” It's like a transition from childhood to adulthood when you begin to really value wisdom, being smart, rather than having things given to you quickly. When you have to work for it, you realize those who do it well- and it's like, wow, you are amazing!
PHOTOGRAPH GALLERY
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Photographs by Shasta Bell Photographie | Stationery by Shasta Bell Calligraphy | Headshots by Kelsey Lee Photography