Today we’d like to introduce you to Marina Lock
Marina, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The first thing people ask me is; “where is that accent from?”, and instantly I have to refrain an epic eye-roll because there is no short answer. People are genuinely curious, but they never have the attention span for the shortened version, nor the time to ask the next question; “what do you do for a living?”. I’m reduced to my four-country-conglomerate accent. But, the geographic locations I’ve lived in has made me who I am as an artist. I’ve spent roughly 10 years in each of the following countries collecting accents like souvenirs; South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and lastly the USA – Southern California and now, The Woodlands.
At my kindergarten graduation I said; “I want to draw pictures when I grow up”. I graduated high school as the student with the most art related subjects; Painting, Sculpture, Design, Mechanical Drawing and Fashion Design. I went on to study Computer Graphic Design and had my first full-time job as a graphic designer and office manager before I graduated college.
Over time I focused on brand creation and management as well as expanding into commercial and residential interior design. After the birth of my first child, I freelanced as a branding consultant for many companies all over Australia.
Over my 20 year corporate creative career I continued to expand on my many art hobbies at home. I’ve collected art supplies and new skills like my grandma collected teaspoons. Painting on Canvas and Rocks, Photography, Concrete and Clay Sculpting, Dress Making, Furniture Renovations, Mixed Media Art, Building Fairy Houses, Wood Working, Crocheting with Wool and Plastic, Snow Sculptures, Digital Art, Beading and Resin Jewelry Making, and Stained Glass Work.
A few months ago I decided with both my kids now in Junior High and High School I want to jump back into work. It’s where I find my worth, sharing my creative gifts with others.
After looking at jobs posted on-line, I was absolutely mortified to see how little creative roles are paid in the US compared to New Zealand and Australia. I have skills and experience that brings measurable ROI growth for businesses, yet I’d be paid slightly more than the person serving you a cheeseburger. This catapulted me into an early midlife crisis; feeling like half my life was wasted and worthless. And that is when I decided it’s time to let my art become my career and no longer my hobby.
However, the art form I chose is one I have NO experience in, just a life long dream to make it my legacy.
If 5-year-old me knew I could’ve said; “I want to work with gemstones when I grow up”, I think I would have said that instead. As much as art is a way of living for me, gemstones and jewelery is my not-so-secret obsession. Over the last couple of years I’ve been educating myself on gemology, and now I’m about to start metalsmithing at Houston Community College next week.
Here I am today, back at the start, terrified.
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?
Of course there has been hurdles along the way, life has a way of getting in the way of… life.
Moving countries usually means, at first, your sacrifices outweigh your gains, until you can put down new roots. But each time we make a big move it takes longer to recover from “root shock”. New jobs, new schools, new friends, new culture, new language, new holidays, new recreational hobbies due to new landscape and new weather… new, everything. And unless you’ve experienced this, you cannot imagine how this fractures your life and dreams.
“Go with the flow” has been my motto since the first time I moved countries at age 11 while going to school in a language I couldn’t speak. English is my second language. Every day since then I’ve been mimicking, language and culture to “fit in”. However, in my attempt to fit in, I inadvertently became what I was avoiding; one-of-a-kind and instantly recognized as different. The need to belong is a fundamental part of human nature, and with this I became an introverted social chameleon. I believe this is when my art became more important to me than ever. It’s the only place where I can express myself authentically.
During those critical years of character development we were living in New Zealand; where expressing your individuality was encouraged. I quickly became that weird art kid with the messy bun held together with paintbrushes and occasionally paint too, while wearing my oversized paint shirt permanently over my school uniform.
Juggling family life while trying to build a career is an obvious obstacle. While living in Australia, I freelanced for years after my children were born, most of my evenings were dedicated to complete my days’ work while the kids were in bed. When my daughter turned 2, an old colleague and I picked up a few regular clients while we were both freelancing, and decided to build a business together. But as our business celebrated it’s first birthday, my husband received an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. To move to Southern California for a 3-5 year assignment. Within 6 months; I’d closed my business, we sold everything, stored some sentimental things with our families, packed our lives into 2 bags each, and off we went.
My husband had traveled to the US many times before the move. But I however, set foot for the first time in the States the day we moved here. I had lived in 2 other western countries and mastered the English language, “how different could it be?”, I thought. Fun fact; British and US English have diverged over the last 400 years. Sentence and grammar structure is mostly the same, but vocabulary and pronunciation is like learning a new language. People are quick to point out your mistake in an attempt to help. But, after 30 years of constantly being corrected, I’m once again retreating to my art where there’s only visual language.
Next year is our 10 year anniversary since moving to the States, and instead of moving countries, I’m chasing a new career instead. In search of concreting my roots to where I belong. But realistically I know I’ll never belong to one geographical location.
When chasing dreams and adventure you tend to sweep caution under the rug. I guess this is a good thing, otherwise you wouldn’t follow the shiny unicorns through the deep dark woods and discover that all this time, you could fly.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
With my plethora of artistic skills I think I specialize in living an artful life. Up until now it was my mission to try every art and craft, to perfect it… and move on to the next. My skills include, but aren’t limited to; painting on canvas and rocks, mixed media journaling,
digital art, photography, and creative writing. Beading and resin jewelry design, and stained glass work. Dress making, crocheting with wool and plastic, and felting. Building fairy houses with recycled materials, concrete and clay sculpting, snow sculptures, wood working, and furniture renovations. Apart from origami, I have no patience for folding paper into shapes that vaguely resemble something.
In terms of corporate work, I specialize in brand creation, however, I’m retiring from branding. With all the design applications out there, everyone thinks they can DIY their brand with Canva and Fiver, not to mention AI getting creative too now. Branding is a visual language everyone can subconsciously read, but very few can intentionally speak. Right from the first point of contact, weather it’s through your website, social media page or printed material; your client has made up their mind about your competency, compatibility, price point, accountability and professionalism based on your visual branding. So, ask yourself this; if your visual branding was created by someone not fluent in this language; what is your branding saying about your business?
This is a topic that I’m very passionate about, and find incredibly rewarding when someone understands the value my work brings to their business.
The thing I’m most proud of is probably the thing I’m least likely to share. I could have said it’s my artwork hanging in the City Hall in South Africa that I painted when I was 9. Or, that I won an art competition at age 12 and my art was reproduced as a giant mural on my high-schools’’ gymnasium. Or, that I won a nation wide design competition as the youngest student age 15 at the time in New Zealand. Or, that I was chosen as the top student in my college class and was recommended to my first employer.
But no, instead I’m most proud of the thing I’m also the least proud of. Some might question my character, but I learned my lesson, and more. In my mid 20’s I discovered the (then) worlds largest on-line silver jewelry store located in the US. I fell in love with their work and their values. I reached out to them from Australia wanting to become a registered reseller, but they declined. However, they advised me that there was nothing stopping me from buying their jewelry and selling it. My biggest obstacle was the business name. I wanted the Australian market that was begging for this brand to be introduced to Australia, to find me. I understood copyright issues and their importance, but I found a loophole with registering the name in Australia, and I did it. And no-one stopped me. I set up the website and all social media pages, and I launched. But before the first month passed, I received a letter from them, suing me for US$15million.
The company was convinced I had an entire enterprise set up with multiple employees to make my business look so well established. Now almost 15 years later, I look back on it, and see it as the biggest compliment to my work.
What sets me apart? I see “hard” as a “must do”, not later, but on first try. Also, there is no try, only do. Everything is a problem, and every problem has a solution, and I will find it. And EVERYTHING is an opportunity to be creative.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Determination. It keeps me up at night, like an itch I cannot scratch until I manage to do what I set out to do. This is likely my best quality, but it’s also my biggest downfall, along with attention to detail. A quality I always added to the top of my resume, but it’s a crippling stone in your shoe more than a force driving you forward.
Adaptability. I guess it’s years of “going with the flow” and constant changing environments that’s conditioned me to adapt quickly.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marinalockartist/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marina85artist
