We are pleased to spotlight Ariana Highsmith our March Featured Performing Artist
About Ariana
When did you begin your career as an artist?
Where do you get the inspiration for your work?
AH: From everything, I have music constantly flowing in my head. Most recently, it’s been to remember to grow and bloom after heavy losses.
What makes you want to be an artist?
AH: I want to be an artist because I believe it saves lives. It’s saved my life countless times, and releasing into my art has always left me feeling stronger.
For you how does your art relate to wellness?
AH: I feel like I kind of answered this in my last response. You can’t have wellness without a continuous release of things that may prohibit that. I know my art will always be there to listen when nobody else is. And my art is the one thing I can’t lie to, it takes me for what I am and elevates me all in one process. My wellness will always come from that.
How do you stay healthy as a creative?
AH:I meditate daily, and carry amethyst and citrine with me always. I try and surround myself with love; and when it’s not there, I create environments where it’ll thrive.
What do you feel is the most challenging aspect of your career?
AH: The most challenging aspect would be the struggle to not treat it like a job, to always come out feeling refreshed and not drained. I’m a perfectionist; so when something is not sounding the way it sounds in my head, I tend to feel like I’m failing. But I have to remind myself that my art is always my release, so how can I fail at my release? That kind of pressure can be crippling at times. I always have to be conscious of the fact that my art is for me. Although I share it, my main reason for doing it, is to release and elevate.
When you aren’t writing music what are you doing?
AH: Spending as much time as I can with my family. My family is everything to me, we draw so much strength from each other. They inspire me everyday, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them.
What is it that inspires you to keep going as an entrepreneur?
AH: What inspires me to take my art to a professional level is the fact that it may help someone else. Is the fact that someone else can relate to what I’m going through. That my release may also be a release for someone else, and that we are both elevating together during the whole experience.
What are you working on now?
AH:I’m working on incorporating my poetry into my music. I’m currently apart of a group called Daughters of ArT, where I perform along with my two sisters. We seem to always create a space together where we all feel like it’s safe to release, I’ve just recently started to bring my poetry into that space.
What has been your best experience so far as an artist?
AH: The best part is performing with my sisters, and to have little girls come up to us after telling us that we’ve inspired them. That is the greatest and most humbling experience anyone could ask for.
What has been your biggest challenge as an artist? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
AH: The greatest challenge I’ve faced as an artist is figuring out how to release after losing my grandmother in January of 2017 and then losing my grandfather just a week ago. These two losses have hit me in ways I still can’t comprehend. Putting that into my music, although healthy, is incredibly difficult and painful.
What advice do you have for others interested in pursuing a career in art/music?
AH: To keep pushing, and to do it for you. No one can tell you what your art should be, it’s your art, your release. Try not to get caught up on the fact that you release may not be for everyone, and that it’s okay.
To learn more about Ariana or connect with her, reach out via the following channels
Facebook: Official: Ariana Highsmith
Register for the The Garden: Live
Saturday March 24 from 6-8PM
540WMain, Inc. 