Arts In Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with art teacher Trevor Campbell and founder of Pixel and Petal Crafts, Caity Rose.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts in Focus.

I'm Emily Henry.

Trevor Campbell is a practicing artist and art teacher from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

He graduated from Ball State University in 2016 with a degree in visual arts education and a minor in art history.

He taught for five years at Concordia High School and is currently the fine arts teacher at Canterbury High School.

Trevor invited us to his classroom to talk about how his lifelong love of creating art turned into his career as an art teacher.

Trevor, thank you for having me to your classroom today.

Tell me about your first indication that you were an artist.

Well, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher.

And in high school I had a really supportive teacher in the art room.

And, you know, she supported me and I started to see some successes and that's really what spurred me to pursue it.

Where did you first start seeing success?

Because I'm looking through your work and I'm like, Oh my God, you're really good at like, everything.

Your photography is incredible.

Thank you.

But I mean, also your ceramics are all of it.

So what was kind of your first win that made you think, Yeah, I'm going to pursue this?

Well, I have to give some credit to my parents when I was little.

They let me draw all over my walls.

So I was a muralist to begin, I guess.

Oh, I hope my daughter is not one of those.

Who are we kidding?

She's not.

Well, there's an old room up in the attic, so they were like, okay, yeah.

Do what you want.

It keeps you busy and out of trouble.

So that.

And then in high school, I had some success with the scholastics art competition in town.

And, you know, seeing that success, getting your work displayed downtown and getting an award for it was really rewarding and I would give a lot of credit to that.

So you knew that you wanted to be a teacher and then you wanted to pursue art?

Yeah.

So how did the world open up when you went to college and I imagine started dabbling in different media that you maybe hadn't before?

Mm hmm.

I had some really great professors, some that I still keep in contact today.

Jacinta Russell, Ted Neal, Vance Bell.

They were really supportive, especially in the ceramics studio when I was student teaching and they gave me my own little studio space so that I could rush right after school and get to class a little bit later and I could have my stuff all set up and ready to go, so.

Wow.

What do you think was the biggest challenge when it came to kind of digging into one medium or another?

Is it hard to give one thing your attention when you are multitalented?

Yes.

It's also being a teacher.

It's really hard to just set aside time to be creative myself.

So a lot of it ends up being, you know, demonstrating things for kids.

And then it's okay.

Yeah, I guess I should be doing something with this right now so that gets developed.

Right now I'm really into drawing and traveling and having fun with that.

I was just going to say, okay, so I was going to ask What inspires you?

But anybody has to look at your work for a split second and they know that it has to be travel and nature.

What is it about the world that you so love to capture?

I love backpacking.

I love just being immersed in a place without the world, you know, with all of technology and the cities and just being able to walk and just be in one spot.

And, you know, those encounters with wildlife or, you know, turning the corner and seeing some huge waterfall that just capture your attention is really special.

So when you go backpacking, do you always have a camera or do you go prepared to draw?

What do you what are you hoping to do art wise when your backpack?

I always bring my camera.

I try and bring my sketchbook.

But more often than not, I'm either too tired from backpacking or just don't have time.

You know, I've got to get over this mountain pass, so I don't I can't really sit down and draw this.

So it's hard to set aside time to do that, but definitely a camera.

Looking for references for drawings later.

You know, whether it's a fox that just sat down right next to me and wanting to draw about that experience or crossing paths with a moose.

So taking pictures and saving them for later to draw.

So cool.

Okay.

So you have your successes in high school.

Tell me how you have evolved as an artist since that time when it was like, okay, this is a win and you feel good about it and you feel like, you know, I'm going to make this my career.

How do you evolve from that point as an artist?

So working on my own stuff kind of started off as, you know, demonstrations in class.

And then IPFW hosted an art educators exhibition and I submitted a drawing.

It was one that I had done in college, but it got first place and I was like, okay, maybe, you know, I'm not just a teacher.

Maybe I can go out and do that as well.

And so getting to have artwork displayed downtown, other venues, having a solo show was really great and shows that I can do it as well.

And modeling that really is great for the kids too, that anyone can do it.

So how do you find the time?

I mean, just logistically, you're like, I don't.

Yeah, because it is so important not just to model it, but also to to continue to grow yourself as an artist.

So, I mean, is it like a weekend thing?

A lot of times it's okay.

I've got like 5 minutes right here.

I'm just going to pick up this marker and just start working a little bit.

And then, you know, that starts to, oh yeah, I was really liking how this was going, so I'm just going to keep doing that and then I end up late for dinner and my wife is upset.

So getting sidetracked is usually how it ends up.

Yeah, I end up getting work done.

That's fair.

You mention that you're really into drawing right now, but you do so many other things.

What is your favorite area to teach.

To teach?

Definitely working on the pottery wheel because it's so tough and you can't get it right away.

You know, you've got to figure out your body and what works best for you.

And so the kids see a lot of failure at the beginning and we're always able to cut it open and there's a lot of teachable moments.

So finally, seeing kids able to overcome all of those failures, it's just a really concrete way that we can work through what failure looks like and how to improve.

Yeah, I get to work with some really great kids and in terms of working with them, nothing really seems like a failure as long as they can just improve a little bit and most of them do, well, all of them do in some way.

Yeah, some more than others.

But it just being able to see a kid and celebrating the small victories is really great.

What is the biggest challenge when it comes to teaching art?

Because some people don't have the passion, you know, I imagine that that's that that's kind of tough when when somebody comes into your class and they just it's just not their thing.

I feel like I can connect with those kids a little bit more so than some of the kids that are super passionate about art, because I didn't really find that until later in high school.

Yeah, but being able to, you know, cater lessons to things that kids are interested in, you know, like not having a really narrow project and opening it up so that kids can kind of explore some things that they're interested in.

Maybe they're interested in nature, maybe they don't care about nature and they want to draw their friends playing sports, that's great.

Making it kind of important to them is really what gets them to go and like to connect with them that way.

Is it difficult to teach someone how to draw?

You mentioned that throwing pottery is kind of its own beast, but when it comes to to taking an image and translating it on to paper or canvas or whatever the case may be, how do you convey how to do that?

Breaking it down into simple steps, you know, more so observation skills, just getting the kids to pay attention to what exactly something looks like.

You know, you kind of have this image in your head of like, yeah, I know what a duck looks like.

It has a bill, but starting to pay attention Okay.

How long is it compared to the head or how do you relate it to the size of the eye, things like that, and being able to show them that and then having them work on it before a project really helps build those skills and they improve.

What do you hope your students walk away with when they leave your class?

Just that it's okay to be creative and anyone can do it too.

The world needs more creative people, even if you're going into medicine or law.

People need to think creatively and this is the place to do it.

You know, try something new, build your horizons and don't be afraid.

Art is hard because it's so visible.

You know, if you go to a math class, your grade is, you can share your grade with your friends.

But it's mostly with the teacher and your parents, or even English or science.

Art is very visible to everyone.

And I mean, I'm putting their stuff out in the hallway and making their friends look at their talent and just knowing that it's okay.

And celebrating the small victories of you improved a little bit.

That's awesome.

Yeah, but it takes I mean, that's really vulnerable.

And, you know, high school is as vulnerable as it is.

So I can imagine that getting kids kind of over that hump, some of them anyway, might be tough.

Yeah, it's very tough.

Most of the time I say I feel like a cheerleader and a teacher because, you know, I spend a little bit of time introducing some skill builders and then they get started.

And then my job is to just keep them, to keep going, keep trying, keep don't give up and.

Getting them to just improve.

So what has art taught you about yourself?

Hmm.

That's a really good question that I like being outdoors.

I'm most inspired when I'm outside and, you know, I'm having those interactions with wildlife or nature and that I don't really know what anything looks like.

You've got to sit and study and that's what art has taught me.

I feel relieved hearing you say that because you just mentioned.

Okay, well, we know what a duck looks like and I'm like, yes, I can picture a duck, but could I picture it well enough to start making the shapes?

So yes, I don't know what anything looks like so and that's okay.

Okay.

So then is it just a matter of finding good references and.

Yeah, yeah.

And breaking it down into smaller shapes, you know, paying attention to.

Okay, yeah, the bill is this big and the head is this big.

Okay?

So I've got to draw them the same way, things like that.

What have you learned from your students?

That there's inspiration everywhere.

You know, kids get excited about the smallest little things, the quirkiest things, you know, even like my still life objects, there's a ton of random.

It looks like junk just sitting on my table.

But they get so excited about, like, a little duck to draw and they name it, and anything can become inspiring.

I love it.

Well, maybe I would have been a better artist if I had had a teacher who is clearly as passionate as you are and as talented.

Oh, my gosh.

But people need to go look at your stuff.

It's beautiful.

So thank you for taking a moment out of your super busy schedule to talk with me today.

Thank you.

For more information, visit Trevor Campbell Art Dot com.

I'm joined now by artist Caity Rose.

Caity, thank you for being here.

I read that you didn't really start getting into your art until like a couple of years ago.

I've really been selling my stuff since like last fall.

So, yeah, during lockdown is when I started.

Okay, I hear that a lot, but when did you really start creating art?

Have you always been artistic?

I've always seen myself as more of an analytical person versus like a creative brain.

I but I did some clay stuff when I was in, like junior high.

I would make little figurines for my friends and birthdays and like, mother's Day and stuff like that.

So I guess I started in young teenage years, but not really anything like this before.

So you started with clay, but now you do more resin and And what else?

So right now I'm doing like a mix of resin and clay, but the main material that I use is dried flowers.

So I've really taken a liking to that.

And people really seem to think that it's unique.

And the whole process from like picking a flower out of my yard or taking somebody's wedding flowers and then turning it into art or something to wear is a lot of fun.

Okay.

Walk me through how all of this kind of came to be.

So you had your your creative outlet with clay when you were younger.

And then when did you sort of start getting back into art?

And when did you decide that it was going to be clay and resin and all of that?

Yeah.

So I was just window shopping Etsy one day and I saw something for sale and it was just like a resin statue, but it was like $70 and I thought I could make that myself.

I've always been really into DIY and figuring out how to do it on my own, learning along the way.

And then I just kept going down the rabbit hole of What else can you make with resin?

And then jewelry was a big thing that clicked.

So I just started making that for fun.

And then I got to the point that I had so much I couldn't wear it all myself.

So then I started bringing it to my friends and family, and then they just encouraged me to sell it on the weekends.

So what do you feel like adding this artistic outlet has contributed to just kind of your life in general?

Is it has it changed things for you?

My life has completely changed, even just like since February.

Wow.

How so?

I was in marketing.

I went to school for marketing and I was in digital advertising for the past six years and I really enjoy that.

I'm very passionate about it, but that was like the analytical part of my brain.

I've always identified as a nerd, and then after Christmas time, really with all of the clay and resin stuff selling, it's done very well.

And it got to the point where I had a little bit of burnout from my 9 to 5, and so I just took the leap and I have multiple part time jobs now, but my main one is Pixel and Petal and so it just keeps growing.

Yeah.

Okay, so Pixel and Petal is the name of your business.

Tell me how that came to be.

Well, when I was going about the branding process, which was nice, like being in the advertising background, I kind of knew all of the steps to take.

I wanted somewhat of a reference to my last name.

Rose.

Everybody always likes Caity Rose.

I go by it, there's always another Katie in the room So I wanted to figure out how to incorporate Rose and I also wanted to have like a reference to what I've spent my adult life doing, which has been like data analytics and digital marketing, and my cat is also named pixel.

So Pixel is a direct reference to my cat's name.

She's very cute.

And she, I call her my project manager.

She's always up in my business when I'm working on stuff.

It's also a reference to just like always having stuff online in my career.

So that was that's a very deep cut to that.

And then Pixel and Petal Petal was originally just a reference to my last name being Rose and then it just sort of naturally happened that I now primarily work with dried flowers and dried petals of flowers.

So.

Okay.

So tell me how it says on your website.

If you see it on Etsy, we can make it.

Mm hmm.

That would be terrifying to me to put that on my business website.

So, do you ever get requests for things that you're like?

I have no idea how to do that.

Yeah, but I feel like a good example is the first thing that I ever sold on Etsy was a set of dominoes that a mother in law wanted to buy for her son.

And she kind of gave me creative freedom and she just said, I like the idea of buying dominoes and he likes he likes eating like nuts and playing games.

So we came about the idea of doing a set of dominoes with actual like planters mixed nuts in them.

And so it's a little it's a little scary.

But I also I like to like people are creative.

So if they have ideas, I like to be able to help them execute those ideas.

It's just it's a lot of fun to hear people share their ideas because I, I still don't really see myself as like an artist.

It's weird when people call me that.

So when other people can share an idea and express their artistic, you know, excitement, and then I can actually make that into something that they can hold in their hands or like, give to somebody that they care about.

That's really exciting for me.

How do you learn how to execute these ideas?

Do you just do your research and use Google?

Yeah, it's I really know how to use Google for my past career, but yeah, it's, it's some research and then it's a lot of experimentation.

Then it's a lot of a lot of failing.

One thing that I remember from a creative team meeting that I was in one day was somebody said, You're not being creative enough if your dumpster isn't full, as in like your dumpsters full of bad ideas.

That didn't work out, but at least you tried.

So it's a lot of trial and error.

How often do you kind of design your own pieces and how often are you just doing straight commission?

How is how is that working out?

I don't have a ton of commissioned work yet.

I think it's partly because I make so much myself and I have such a variety.

So working with the flowers, I buy a lot of stuff online, but I'm also this year I'm trying to grow my own flowers, or I've actually met with a few like local florists or like garden centers.

And so I'll take the flowers that either, you know, they're not going to sell, they're damaged.

You can usually disassemble them and make something pretty to wear with those.

So I would definitely love to get more into commission work.

I'm trying to figure out how to reach more brides.

So wedding, wedding, flower preservation.

People spend so much money on flowers for their wedding day.

Yeah, so it's not only like getting more bang for your buck, but preserving the memories.

And and that was actually a very terrifying creative process for me because with the silicone molds, you actually have to pour everything upside down so you don't know what the end product is until it's hardened and there's no getting stuff out of the resin.

So if you have air bubbles, if you have like a random cat hair or a piece of glitter that got in there somehow and you don't see it, there's no getting out of there.

How do you get past that fear of potentially messing it up so that you can continue making beautiful art?

It's a lot of practicing.

So with the the more advanced methods that I use or different like intricate molds, some some shapes are very strange or there's like more prone to air bubbles.

It's a lot of like using my own personal stuff.

You just literally you're not selling something, just making it to practice.

I have way too many molds.

I probably have.

I think I counted once and it was a month ago, and I had like 200 some molds of just different shapes that I've never I've never used and I've also never sold.

I mean, we've talked about dominoes.

Yes, I have.

I have chess sets and checkerboards and like drinking Jenga, like all kinds of games and then like home decor.

I have coasters, trays, outlet switch sockets.

They literally have molds for everything and then bookmarks, journals, pens.

So what is your favorite?

Well, I think my favorite is probably the jewelry.

Just because people get excited about wearing it and it makes them feel better.

Before I started making jewelry myself, I never really wore earrings.

I never saw myself as like a big statement type of earring person.

But then, of course, I had to wear my own stuff to market my own stuff, right?

And then I've realized over time that like I, I, I'm not someone who can't pull off a big pair of earrings like anybody really can.

Yeah.

And so that has actually helped, like with my self-confidence of wearing not only my own stuff, but like wearing something that I thought I wouldn't be able to to pull off fashion wise.

So actually, that leads me to another question.

The pair of earrings you're wearing today, for example, when I first met you, I was like, Oh, those are really stylish.

I am not an especially stylish person.

So how do you come up with your ideas?

Do you just have to, you know, scour the Internet and look for what's trendy and what's what's cool?

I wouldn't know what's cool if it came out and bit me.

Yeah.

So usually usually I just buy the shapes that I think are interesting.

So other people, some people make resin molds and some people make clay cutters.

So usually I will scour Etsy or window shop online and I'll see a shape and I'll be like, Oh, I've never seen that before.

I also like the organic looking, you know.

So some are sharp, some have sharp edges, some some are just organic, which I feel like goes well with the resin or the, the flowers.

But yeah, I don't usually have an end result in mind, which I think is part of why I like the creative process so much.

I've always had very strict goals that I've tried to set for myself in my life, and right now, especially with the creative design of Pixel and Petal, I just I just kind of free flow and just pick a color, find some flowers, and then grab a couple shapes and see if it turns out okay.

So knowing that Pixel and Petal is doing so well and knowing that you set goals for yourself, what's next?

Do you have another benchmark in mind?

Do you want to open your own brick and mortar someday?

Or?

That would be terrifying.

So right now the goals that I'm actively working on are finding other opportunities to sell in real life.

So other markets I'm usually at the farmer's market and I found some like festivals to join as a vendor.

So I like selling in real life.

It's definitely easier to sell online, but I also view myself as an introvert.

And so being able to like push myself to go out and talk to people and also try to sell them on something has been, I feel like a good personal exercise for me.

I'm getting like more confident and meeting other people.

So finding other places to sell around the area as a vendor at local markets, festivals, whatever.

But also I've started to find more and more interest in getting my stuff in, in local brick and mortar stores.

I don't think I would ever want to open my own brick and mortar, but maybe just having like a little stand in like some local boutiques or local businesses that have a couple Pixel and Petal things in it, I feel like that would be pretty cool to walk in and see my own stuff.

I cannot wait to see what happens next with Pixel and Petal and with your collaborations with all of the people.

That's so cool that the collaborations you have are with people who are going to be the end users anyway.

Your stuff is beautiful.

I love it and I just thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you very much for having me.

For more information, visit pixel and petal dot com.

Our thanks to Trevor Campbell and Caity Rose.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts In Focus.

You can catch this and other episodes at PBS Fort Wayne dot org or through our app.

In the meantime, enjoy something beautiful.

Arts In Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.