Inspiring Conversations with April Kelly of Artistic Interpretations

Today we’d like to introduce you to April Kelly.

Hi April, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I was seven years old, my dad moved our family from the suburbs of NW Houston out into the countryside, just NW of town. We moved into our partially finished 6-bedroom house when the floors were still plain concrete and my Dad built the house around us on his time off from being an oil and gas engineer. Being the 5th in a family of 6, I was often to be found outdoors, mainly in the backyard of the 2.75 acre tract, where natural clay deposits were to be found along the little branch of the creek that ran across the back of the property. There, pretending to be providing for my pioneer family, I crafted all kinds of household items out of the white and red clays, made art from the different materials found in the woods and fashioned items and houses for a tiny doll and her stick friends. I was a major tomboy and my imagination was able to run as wild as I did along those shorelines. (I had clay, I had water, I had the wind through the trees in the forest – what else did I need?)  As I grew older, the tomboy took a backseat and I picked up guitar playing and songwriting at age 14.  My world was full of the arts and I listened to my teenaged heart, writing and drawing, singing and playing.  

My Love of clay and sculpture never waned but I was heavily encouraged to follow a “more stable” career path once I entered high school and then college. As I worked toward alternative career goals, my artist’s heart kept beating, beckoning me to return to play in the mud again and again.  I didn’t listen to any of my inner muses, and even tucked my music away at age 19.  

I married and began attending classes in San Antonio, working as an ad designer and copywriter for a well-known department store.  Once our first kiddo was born, we moved to Cibolo, TX, where I was to commute to Austin to attend UT, majoring in architecture and design. Then, (surprise!) kiddo number two came along! One year apart: SO worth it but priorities changed, yet again. My college degree would have to wait.

We moved back to Cypress and, once both of the kids had entered elementary school, I began attending the University of Houston full time, finally attaining a BFA and graduating Summa Cum Laude. 

Feeling the need to bring in more bacon for our little family, and in order to keep my husband and the extrovert in me happy, I went back to school to get my Realtor license and began practicing real estate in 2003. I dabbled with the art muse who flitted about my head on occasion and began to play with my music and writing muses again.  I found success within my original singer-songwriter and Real Estate careers but left my sculpture muse pouting.

In 2008, after both kids had graduated from high school and had headed to college, my (now ex) husband and I moved to the Austin area to build our dream home on a piece of property we had purchased on the shores of Lake Travis. (It’s always about the wind, the trees and the waves.) One month after we had moved to begin the work on the home, I was found to have two rare forms of stage II (get this) appendiceal cancer. (Yes, they DO make that kind!) This put a temporary hold on my plans to re-establish a real estate career in a brand new market and I went under the knife, having several complications and procedures performed afterward. The fast-moving, potentially deadly adenocarcinoma cancer, however, was the wake-up call I needed in order to turn back to my ceramic art and sculpture. Sometimes, fate gives us a bad dish so that we can realize and recognize the good ones. Cancer will Wake. You. Up. And, she’ll sit you down for a long and painfully honest talk about priorities.  We built a studio into the new lakehouse and Artistic Interpretations was born.

During the next ten years, I worked full, then part-time, as a Realtor but I really enjoyed creating my ceramic and fused-glass artwork.  I sold tap handles online and to commercial breweries and had a couple of local gallery and restaurant showings, along with having a couple of chic shops carry my line of fused glass and ceramic night lights. I got lost in that studio for HOURS and boy, did my muse and I sing loudly there!!  

My marriage was unhappy, though, and I decided to leave that dream house so I could hear my own heartbeat again.  Newly single after 38 years, I signed on with a well-known real estate company and began doing gig-work as an Associate Agent. Then, Covid shut that down in March/April of 2020. And, my art muse stamped her foot and wondered, VERY loudly, what it would TAKE to get me to pay attention to her and to finally take her seriously.

Now, I have finally and fully listened. I am so, so happy to be designing again and so is my muse. I have revived my business and I’m releasing my newest, 3-dimensional, wooden wall-sculpture designs out into the world this year. So far, I have the 3’x2′ pieces ready to roll but will offer triple panels (1’x2’) and 12” x 18” pieces very, very soon.  I offer custom designs for tricky spaces, too.

It is still all about the wind, the water and the trees. I’m a lot older and, maybe, a little wiser. And, bonus points, I’m still free and clear of cancer.  I intend to stick around for a lot longer.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Well, as you’ve heard, not really a smooth road but I DID find many gemstones and geodes on it. Seriously, I’m very happy with the end result. And, I’m really happy to still be on the planet. Now that I’m at this point in life, I think we made good choices (at least for my family’s particular circumstances) in prioritizing family over my career choices early on. The one major obstacle to my growth as an artist, however, was my propensity to rely on the masculine ideas and opinions about what I should do with my life. (Seriously odd to look back on now but there it is.) I don’t blame anyone else for that; I didn’t have to listen to those influencing voices…but I did. Some of that is clearly generational and a sign of the times. I mean, when I was in Junior High, there was an Enjoli ad meant to appeal to a women who could “bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never, ever, let him forget he’s a man.” Ranch Style beans were still “Husband pleasin’!” THAT’S what we 70’s teens were encouraged to strive for.  Ugh.  

My advice to anyone looking to get into the arts: If you have the talent, the drive and are willing to practice your art, letting it lead you and run through you, DO IT. Art is valid. Art IS a contribution for the greater good, just as valid (and maybe culturally more important) than selling real estate. Listen to your heart…and to your muse.

Looking back on it now, my career life has been a series of little interruptions, for the most part. But, I wouldn’t be who I am without them. My kids wouldn’t be who they are without them. So, it was all meant to be. You take the good with the bad and make art out of those experiences. Life is good.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I think my specialty is my ability to create custom pieces that will fit the vibe that the client or decorator has in mind for a space. If a client has a particular space in mind, I’ll design specifically for that space. I offer flexibility within my own design aesthetic and I ADORE creating custom commissioned pieces. It fires me up!
Most of my pieces begin with nature as the inspiration and that works in my favor because, hey, who doesn’t love an elegant line? Nature is full of them and quantum physics has found that all matter is really made up of waves. My designs always seem to have wave patterns in them.
As an artist, it makes me super happy to make my clients super happy; Really, that is the goal. Toward that end, I have plans to create more landscape-oriented pieces, along with the more abstract sculptures. I am currently designing tri-panels and smaller pieces and will soon have those created and up for sale on my Artistic Interpretations website. 

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Huey (ceramics), Val (jewelry), Paul (sculpture) and Paul (fused glass in later years) – all fabulous artists/professors who taught me how to execute my visions in clay, glass, mixed media and in jewelry. In college, the first three fought over what I should make my final year about, ceramics, jewelry, or sculpture. (Seriously, there were MORE well-meaning men arguing over what I should do with my life, lol! I sure do miss them, though.)

I had to look at my diploma to remind myself that I chose to go with: Studio Art – Sculpture. Perfect.

Contact Info:

• Email: apriltunes@yahoo.com
• Website: www.ArtisticInterpretations.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtisticInterpretations

Image Credits
Ellie Chavez Photography