Beyond the Frame: Love & Art
Chelsea Kaiah is a passionate activist for Native rights, awareness, and sustainability. Her practice involves adapting traditional materials and techniques, such as pine needle weaving, porcupine quilling, and hide work, to address resilience, mental health, system reformation, and means of healing. Joshua Jauregui is a Denver based designer and artist. A lover of typography, digital brutalism, neo futurism, and all things animation.
How does love show up in your creative process?
Chelsea: I think love is multi defined besides just who you're in a relationship with and so my love for my culture shows up a lot in my creative process because I have such care and respect for the tribes and culture that I come from that I want to show up in a brilliant way that represents them. In a way that’s very respectful and coming from a place that has so much love for them. And then also just like smudging and burning incense before I start my process of working on bead work or quill work and really making sure that I'm in the headspace to be able to work on something creative. That’s something that really helped define my art and become such a joyous place for me to work in and like to go to my studio and do the things that I do because I try to show up in a very positive light.
Josh: In my creative process love kind of is woven through it. I mean there's lots of times I bring in you know my drawing style from like the doodles that I make for you. I've brought that into HKI over time. Just kind of our time on the reservation and like all the culture you've shown me with your native heritage, I've been able to bring that into my work and kind of have that respect for the land and kind of use that as a vehicle to teach other people and share this knowledge. I really appreciate having been shown that by you.
Chelsea: I think we both show love for the animals that we work with like in hunts and then I also think we show love for the materials that we use and the subjects that we work in. So I think we are oddly working off of each other but like in very different aesthetics and in our own narrative too.
What does freedom of expression mean to you—inside and outside your art & relationship?
Chelsea: Art and relationships are something that I'm learning to intertwine more but up until a couple years ago they’ve been very separate. I talk a lot about my culture, I talk a lot about storytelling and identity and experiences and I think being able to have the freedom to communicate what I think is important in life for other people to experience through my art, is one of the best parts about being an artist. Being able to really cultivate and digest theories and history and what we think is important in life and should be highlighted.
Josh: Merging love in your art practice as well as your personal relationship is always tough and I think you know me being a really emotional person, it's easier for me to just kind of show how I'm feeling. Like here's the artwork: I'm sad, I'm happy. It's very up front. But I see as we've been together over time, your artwork has become more vulnerable and you’re willing to express yourself more.
Chelsea: I definitely feel like I make a lot of personal art that's for loved ones. I love gifting art or making small drawings that normally I would never do outside of my own practice but I like giving it to a loved one. I think it's a really amazing gift and a way for them to understand how I see them as well as show my goofy side or my loving side. And so when I give art to family or you, I feel like it's a little more of a freeing art or like a goofy art or more personal art because it doesn't have the constraint of you know this many people are going to be able to see it in a gallery or a museum or somewhere. So it becomes just about you being the audience and then it really makes me be able to create anything that I want to.
How do you practice self-love while loving another person?
Chelsea: I think the best thing that I've learned, especially being in a 10 year relationship, is boundaries and really speaking those in the relationship. I think there's boundaries that go unsaid but sometimes you really do have to say them and you really have to talk about them. Like if I'm having an overwhelming work day and then my significant other is also having an overwhelming work day I can’t just unload on them to make myself feel better and then not think about how it's going to affect them too. Because I think especially with you Josh, you love to fix my issues when I'm not necessarily wanting you to put in as much effort to fix my issue but like more or less just listening to me and sympathizing that I'm having a bad day or something. But just making sure that you have boundaries with your significant other is a practice of self love because it really is respecting yourself and what your standards are as a person.
Josh: I would like to echo creating those boundaries and really honing in on where your strengths are and what your partner needs. With you, I do very much get into that fix it mode, like okay you have an issue how can we solve it right now. When a lot of the times you need someone to just listen and that's really been a learning curve for me is being like okay, maybe listening is fixing and it's not always about trying to solve the problem but just lending in a true ear and being there for you.
How has being in this relationship shaped your understanding of yourself?
Chelsea: I feel like because we were so young when we first started dating, a lot of who I was, was still being discovered and in process but I've always known that I've been an independent person and so going into a long term relationship, I think I was always worried of losing that. But I can 100% say and identify as being an independent person still and that has never dissipated. Of course there's things that I rely on you for and that I need you for. It's not saying that not having you in my life would still be the same but it's about the independence of still doing things alone and being able to rely on myself. I think that's something that I was worried at first of getting lost in but I feel like it just heightened and really secured myself as having independence still. Even in our long term relationship I still very much thrive off of that and you also support that so that also helps. It’s amazing to have a partner that is completely secure with having a pretty independent partner.
Josh: I would say at first with your independence I would feel alienated, like oh you’re not trying to include me. But over time I was like no, this is what excites me about you. Your independence and being so sure of yourself. It gives me the freedom to be like yeah you can go do your own thing and have a fun night with your friends or go off on a trip and I don’t need to be worried or concerned about making sure I can go too. I’m glad that we have that independence from one another but also I feel like our personalities have really amplified our goofiness with one another. Like how we act when we hang out has kind of changed over time. We were very much like on the same page and a little reserved when we were in college together and then later on in our years we kind of realized like oh we are still goofy in these kind of fun ways but in different ways that we can still be our own independent selves and I appreciate that about our relationship over time.
Has your partner influenced your art—directly or indirectly?
Josh: Chelsea has been, I would say a good influence on my art over time. I was very chaotic and like personal but not really trying to touch on storytelling or kind of have deeper meaning in my art. And I think as our relationship blossomed over time, you really showed me the importance of creating stories and connecting that to something whether it be your culture or your history, it is important and valuable to have that connection in your artwork.
Chelsea: Josh has helped me so much with my art and my personal practice of establishing myself as a full time artist. Like having business cards, having a website, having kind of like a light brand to my name of being an artist and really helping me apply to grants and really making my cover letters and my applications look all aesthetic. I think it's beyond aesthetics of course, like you influencing my art. I think even just letting me be able to go on tangents of something that I think is very interesting or an idea that I have is also really helpful. I think if you're just a lonely artist sitting in a room you know I think that does create some kind of art and I think some artists do thrive off of that but I think as a person that is very influenced by other people and cultures and aesthetics, it's really helpful for me to talk through an idea and so you help me a lot with my practice and I really appreciate it. I love that we both are full time artists that are able to do what we love to do every single day and that we are supporting each other in that.
Josh: I wouldn't miss a beat, I feel like we're big supporters of each other's creativity. I feel like we're really good at giving each other the space to be creative but also being supportive when we're struggling or we kind of need to bounce ideas off one another. We're always there to be an open ear and kind of be like what's going on, what are you working on right now, and how can I help in any way. That’s always been part of our ritual with one another and I really appreciate that.
What’s a small ritual you share that means a lot to you?
Josh: I've been really into doing the rising ceremony. Blessing myself as I start my day before I go on a walk with my dog, smudging Blue, Miko, and I, and setting the tone and putting my intention right in the morning and making sure that today is gonna be a great day. Making sure that we're protected as a family unit but also being thankful for being alive another day and getting to walk this green earth.
Chelsea: I would say that we've definitely gotten better about taking pause and just reflecting on the life that we have and share and the things that we have. Just being grateful and audibly saying you know I'm really grateful for you and I'm grateful for our dogs. I'm grateful for the life that we live. That really has put a lot of positivity into our life. I don't think people are ungrateful but I think sharing those things with your partner and being able to have moments in the days where you really just reflect on all that you have is so important especially in the world that we live in.
What’s one word your partner embodies to you?
Josh: Trying to define Chelsea in one word is tough. I mean she embodies so many different words moment to moment but I would have to say ‘resilient’ is probably the most impactful word for her.
Chelsea: I was gonna say just like ‘goofiness’ which is a pretty good word for your personality but I don't know if that necessarily is a word that defines what you embody to me. So I think it's more like ‘happiness.’
What does collective love look like in your world?
Josh: To me collective love looks like the courage to say the harsh things gently. That is really what I think a world love and community love should be. You should be able to tell somebody the truth and be honest and blunt with them but tell it in a loving and caring manner. You don't need to always be so harsh and mean and I think a lot of people struggle with that at times.
Chelsea: I think it's really just showing up. l am very much like an action type of person. I don’t like that people will say like I'm going to go do this, this, and this and none of that’s true. I really appreciate making a difference in community, in relationships, and family. And anything that you’re worried about if you have an inkling to go do something you should just go do it and really just understand if it’s for you or not. I love that you just go volunteer for no reason and I have the same personality. I do a lot of volunteering and that's been something very important in my life and I don’t think it’s because of my influence that you do that, I think that's just like who you are as a person. I think action to make a difference in the community is one of the first steps of collecting and doing things together.
