Artists & creatives on why they pursued a creative career

Artistic and creative careers are among the most rewarding, but they also come with unique challenges. We asked some of the city’s best creatives to tell us why they choose to pursue a creative career.

Sai Jarvis | Professional DJ

Majority of my life I followed the blueprint that many of us do. I went to college and found myself working to repay loans at jobs I was miserable doing. In between those times I would DJ house parties, and after a huge turning point in my life, it became my only source of income. Read more>>

Quintavius Oliver | Photographer

My career was a bit of a gift and a curse. On the one hand, I was blessed enough to discover my love of photography at an early age. I was around six when my grandmother handed me a little pocket 110 camera. I learned to hustle hard as an artist to grow my business organically without actually knowing that what I was doing every day was even an option as a career. On the other hand, being so sure of what I wanted and falling in love with the art of making pictures at such an early age came with the idea that failure is not an option. Self expression with cameras became so important to me that I didn’t create any room in my life for anything but art. I was and in many ways still am obsessed with seeing life through a viewfinder. There is the old cliché “I didn’t choose this life; it chose me” and I feel that sentiment is very true for my career. Photography isn’t simply a career for me. It’s a way of life. Read more>>

Charla Pettingill | Surface Designer & Illustrator

I’ve always been innately compelled to draw and to “make things.” As a toddler, I started drawing very early on, and would draw on any paper I could find around my parents’ and grandparents’ homes. I also had a fondness for modeling clay and Play-Doh. I would often come up with little stories and illustrate them on ruled paper stapled into “books.” When I started kindergarten, I could usually be found tempera painting during any free time. Throughout my K-12 years, drawing and painting were a constant, and I always took art classes when they were available and expressed myself through art. When I learned that art colleges existed, there just seemed to be no other alternative route for me. I received a course catalog for the Savannah College of Art and Design in the mail during the fall of my senior year of high school, and the description for the Illustration program/major captivated me. I was accepted a few months later and began my undergraduate education there in 2004. Read more>>

Ian Ferguson | Photographer, Art Director, Film Maker

It honestly just felt natural. Growing up, I was always within an artistic environment, whether it was watching my brother play the guitar or painting with my grandmother. There was always an avenue for me to express myself in an artistic way. As I got older I started to learn how to play instruments like the bass guitar with my church and also having a growing passion in Film and Photography. I started to get more serious with film when I met my best friend, Jon in High School . We both liked the same things and film was one of them. We would make videos here and there but we eventually started making more and more as time went on. So to answer your question, I pursue a creative career because it makes me happy. Creating is one of the most god-like things a human can do and it brings joy in my life. Read more>>

Bridgette Washington | Master Cosmetologist/ African American Haircare Specialist

I don’t think that artists necessarily have to pursue their careers. Their gifts make room for them. There is a lot of work involved but because it’s something you love, it doesn’t feel so much like work or a career. It just feels like you’re living. You do it so much because you love it and before you know it, you have done it so much that you have become great at it! I read somewhere that you should do what you love so that you don’t ever have to work a day in your life. It has held true for me for almost thirty years. I was ten years old when I began honing my gift. I had no clue that that was even what I was doing because it was second nature for me. Read more>>

Luca Barolli | Personal Chef, Cooking Teacher and Artist

Because is the key for happiness, when your passion became your job you scored. I feel lucky have been babe able to unite my two passions: food and art. Read more>>

CLOUDLAND | A Band Based in Athens, Georgia

I think for us as a band, expressing our emotions and struggles in a few songs is an art form that many others take part in as well; so we get to be a part of the grand community of people writing down their feelings and surrounding them with pretty notes and sounds. With that, we pursue this creative career because we aren’t doing it alone–because of the community we’re a part of as well as being a group of four friends that are in this together. Read more>>