Today we’d like to introduce you to Chanoah Louise Beam
Hi chanoah Louise, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
so I started drawing as a child because of my aunt, she was a talented painter. I didn’t actually start painting until 2015. I found out my aunt was never able to fully pursue her work because of epilepsy and abuse she suffered early in life. This motivated me to tap into my talent. I grew up always hearing how similar we were and I always felt connected to her story.
The final push for me to take my art seriously happened in 2017 before I moved to dallas. I was working at a radio station and an artist came in. I had never met someone who was making a living off art and after speaking with them I was able to envision it for myself. At the time I was living in Memphis, the area I grew up around, and there wasnt alot of opportunities at the time. I had also been witnessing an experiencing alot of tragedy there, so when a random opportunity to move to dallas came along, I jumped on it. I had never been to dallas before agreeing to move but I knew there was more opportunity there to make something of myself.
When I got to dallas I was working for my friends new step dad’s company. It was the toughest 9 months I ever experienced at the time. They treated me like an indentured servant and verbally abused me every day. I had to get back on medication (I struggle with mental health issues another thing that inspires my art) i was still painting at the time and was receiving alot of inquiries for painting orders. One day I had enough of their abuse, it pushed me to leave and go full time with my art.
It was not easy and I personally dont recommend fulling depending on art income in the beginning. I was able to pay my bills but it was a HUSTLE. I was doing 10-15 commissions a month and never had time to paint what I wanted and develop my personal style. I was starting to get burnt out.
I ended up finding this awesome part time job with a wholesale fashion company doing trade shows with them and still 5 years later I work for them. Adding this stream of income allowed me to take pressure off the creation process so I could explore more of my personal inspiration and style.
This worked wonders for me and I currently have multiple collections of personal pieces that are half sold already! I even have a series with only 1 of 6. available. Giving my self the financial space to develop my personal style & technique was a game changer.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
One of my biggest struggles has and will likely always be my mental health. I was diagnosed with chronic depression as a teen and ADHD
I was also attacked and almost killed by my ex 2 years ago. This year he was found guilty of felony assault charges, justice was finally served but its been a long fight to get my life back to a normal. He unfortunately wasnt the first to abuse me. between 20-28 I experienced alot of traumatic experiences that caused me to have comlex ptsd. I use these experiences now to motivate me and inspire my work. You will see if focus alot of feminine energy because my art is how i have healed mine and i hope to bring a sense of power to women who see my work. In general, I want to eventually use these experiences to help other women who are struggling to recover from abuse or get out of bad situations like I have experienced.
another difficult aspect of my journey has been being away from family. I have no family in dallas and don’t see mine very often because they are so far. It definitely makes things harder not being able to go get a hug from my mom when things get hard. but I try to make it motivate to keep growing so i can eventually do more for them and see them more!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a painter and specialize in acrylic paintings mostly on canvas. I’m known for my use of color, and light reactive paintings. I create alot of works that I describe as “mood paintings for mood lighting”. I try to use as little black and white paint as possible and shade with color. I’m known for my surreal use of colors for portraits as well as monochrome pieces. I try to create movement with color, creating art that changes dramatically depending on the color of the display light. Some pieces can have the appearance of moving under rotating colors of light or even glow. I use UV reactive paint in quite a few pieces as well.
I am most proud of being completely self taught and self made as an artist with very few influences. I feel this aspect is helping me develop something unique and inspirational with my work.
I believe believe all these characteristics I mention help set me apart. I also pull a lot of inspiration for my collections from my personal healing journey as well as spiritual experiences and childhood nostalgia. Creating from a personal place helps create ideas only you can bring to life.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters to me most is being able to inspire others and give people hope for what is possible when you don’t give up. I also have a deep desire to help open peoples minds to knew perspectives. I use a lot of my pieces to start deep meaningful conversations with my audience. I want people to ask questions about what they have been taught and their programmed belief patterns. I hope to create work that helps my audience to see outside of the matrix.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chanoahlouise.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chanoahlouise
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chanoahlouisebeam
