Today we’d like to introduce you to Brhea Dawn Stevenson
Hi Brhea Dawn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Where my story starts depends on who you ask. If you ask my mother, who’s a major inspiration of mine it started when I was 18 months old and finger painted an elephant cutout. But if you asked me it started my freshman year of high school. Drawing and to a certain extent painting was something I always did, I grew up surrounded by creative people, so me taking an art class was a no brained. However my high school had a rule that freshman weren’t allowed to take art classes, and that wouldn’t work for me. So I made a portfolio and interviewed with the art teacher. She was very impressed, and to my shock said that my skill was beyond Art 1, so I would be advancing to Art 2 (a class full of juniors/seniors) as a freshman.
That was the start for me, because it was through this class that I learned about Monserrat College of Art in Beverly, Mass. They had a pre-college program for students who wanted to see if art college was what they wanted to do and gain college credit while doing it. I again made a portfolio and summited it and I got in. It was a the most enlightening 3 weeks of my life. I believe that was the moment is really settled in my bones that art was apart of me and life without it wasn’t an option.
Surprisingly when it came time to apply to colleges Art school let alone an art program wasn’t my first choice. I had fallen for the adage of the “starving artist” and believe I could just keep it as a hobby while having a sensible career. But much like with Monserrat and opportunity came along that would change my life. At 19 I got to go to Paris for a week, and it was magical. I never thought I would got to Paris as my first time being out of the country it wasn’t even in my top 10 of places I wanted to visit. However on the flight home I couldn’t sleep and had the realization that I was kidding myself if I didn’t pursue a career in art, so I changed majors finished my associates degree in May 2020, and made the third life altering decision of applying to get a bachelors degree that June.
I graduated in December 2023, and I feel like I’m just starting again.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I was never going to have a smooth road when it came to achieving my dreams. I have severe dyslexia that caused a lot of strife during school. In the fourth grade, my teacher told me I would never go to college let alone graduate high school. At the time I of course cried my eyes out at this, but also I realized this one person doesn’t define me and my life. I didn’t learn to read until the summer between 7th and 8th grade. Although I struggled to keep my grades up I didn’t let that stop me from gaining my education to the level I needed. By the time I graduated high school, I was a member of the national honor society, a historian of my school’s national art honor society, the managing editor of my school newspaper, and in the top 15% of my class, despite struggling with depression from the loss of my grandfather which then exasperated my dyslexia; medical issues that came from unregulated stress. Senior year of high school was one of the hardest years of my life, and since then my life has improved so much.
My biggest struggle now is trying to figure out how to spread my art and gain a following. I have an online shop and social media which is growing steadily. I have tried to figure out the best way for me to be an artist, for two years I did vendor events, and I plan on doing more but I don’t think that is the only way my art is meant to get out in the world. This year I have had amazing opportunities to send my work to galleries in the DFW area.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an artist, who has dabbled in every medium imaginable, but my main focus is ceramics. I fell in love with ceramics almost 10 years ago, I never thought I would ever have a degree in the field or have it be my career. However it is, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
My work has had several changes over the years, but the main stronghold is oddball, animal imagery, and geometric shape. On a superficial level it’s about animals and whatever the viewer thinks is what it is. My work has been described as having a dystopian feel to it that is full of hope, which is the closest description someone else has given me to how I feel about my work. I make sculptures, functional pottery such as mugs and vases, and paintings, that explore the emotions that become quiet during stress or depression, the little glimpses that one gets that everything will be alright. I want to provide comfort, through a ridged material like ceramics because sometimes the most comforting thing is the hardest.
Any big plans?
The most pressing change and plan for my future is to finish building my home ceramic studio, which I hope to do so by the end of this year. I also plan on getting a kiln so I can fire to my preferred temperature of cone 10 oxidation which has not been possible since graduation from college. So I can have new work to send to galleries and plan for major vendor opportunities.
I hope to continue growing my following on social media, this is always a long-term goal.
Pricing:
- Stickers $4.
- Mugs $50-$150
- Sculptures $100-$900
- Paintings $50-$2000
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.coneheadstudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brheadawn/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtbyBD
- Other: https://brheadawn.wixsite.com/brheadawn
