Today we’d like to introduce you to Blair Gallacher
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories include drawing outside, looking at art books, and going to museums. Art clung to me through grade school, high school, and college. I majored in Art Education at the University of Vermont, where I zeroed in on painting as my favorite medium. Although I’ve always considered myself an artist, I didn’t fully believe it was possible as a career. Art Education seemed like a good choice – safe, reasonable, and still creative. Shortly after graduating, I tried my hand at teaching. Although I really wanted that career to fit, it just didn’t feel like the right environment for me. I majored in Education as a way to avoid the “starving artist” path, but I couldn’t avoid the fact that it called me still. I then went into the restaurant industry, where I was a server for seven years. I chose this career hoping to draw in part-time income in order to support my craft. During this time, I continued to create, show, and sell my work; however, my service industry career rapidly became a bigger part of my life than I originally intended. My belief in my ability to become an artist dwindled even more, to the point that I convinced myself it was just a hobby. Art became a very private practice for me. Searching for a change, I became interested in copywriting.
To be honest, I was unsure of what copywriting actually was until I dove into my own internet research. I’ve always had a deep admiration for words, which immediately drew me to this venture. This discovery caused me to take a very scary leap of faith, quitting the service industry cold-turkey to enter a field I knew virtually nothing about. My leap quickly paid off, and I was divinely handed a great position with upward mobility. I truly felt like I skipped the line – in a few weeks, I was in copywriting career that should’ve taken me years to make. I stayed in this position for six months, working non-stop, voraciously driven towards fostering my growth in this area. It was almost too good to be true; I was met with opportunities I could have never apprehended. But something was missing – and one day, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It took me becoming successful in copywriting to realize that I wasn’t going to be happy doing anything BUT art. This may sound dramatic, assuming, or maybe even lazy to some – but it’s true. I know it’s true because I tried so hard for it not to be. Being an artist is actually terrifying. It doesn’t come with security. It’s raw vulnerability. It’s filled with judgment, doubt, risks, and sacrifices. It’s about believing that authenticity is worth the price of its battles. As I write this, I’m five months into being a full-time artist with no training wheels. It chose me – it always has. The only difference now is I’m not fighting it anymore. We all have big dreams. They’re always there, even when we don’t let ourselves look at them. I truly believe that we love what we love for a reason. Our bliss doesn’t exist to torture us – it endures as a way to always point us in the right direction.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has and it hasn’t. The bumps in the road have mostly been my own doing. It’s been a tough start, trying to figure out how to make ends meet. I’m constantly swatting away self-doubt. But I’ve found that I don’t really need much when I let myself make art.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in large acrylic paintings. I have synesthesia, which means I have color associations to music, people, and energy in general. I can read auras and/or see colors when I hear music. A large part of my work is trying to demonstrate how I experience synesthesia. More recently, this has turned into a broader concept – instead of focusing on my personal experience with synesthesia, I’m trying to visually interpret energy in general. Here is my artist statement: Blair Gallacher is an intuitive painter based in Austin, TX. Gallacher chases divine moments — the intangible result of an artist unattached. These can be found in the impulsive actions of modern art, the carefree hands of Casualism, the risks taken to create Paleolithic drawings, and, most purely, the confident marks of children unafraid to fail. In her own work, Gallacher aims to act as a conduit while creating — constantly dodging the lure of perfection and instead allowing for magic. This primary concern comes with a series of secondary intentions. Like the previously stated influences, Gallacher’s work serves to evoke an energy, message, or storyline with as little extraneous evidence as possible. Each mark, whether accidental or on purpose, presents itself to help depict the overall purpose of the piece.
Although her work is often described as abstract, each piece is greatly representational. They don’t often present singular subjects as much as they do scenes, which are told as stories through their fragmented parts. These undefined shapes and lines serve as subtle hints, allowing the viewer to fill in the blanks based on their own physical and conceptual associations. Through the use of color, form, and space, Gallacher is also able to consider figurative practices and apply them to these abstract landscapes. Through these elements, she is able to manipulate light, describe spatial and emotional relations, hint at movement, and generally portray energetics. This implementation of clues allows Gallacher to set the stage without implicity revealing the narrative at hand. These narratives are uniquely complete based on Gallacher’s understanding; however, individual interpretation is welcomed. This is a clear goal of the work in itself — to create a conversation on how similarly or differently we can each see the same reality. Due to this purpose, these works are intentionally hazy in the delivery of their stories. Also referred to as portals, these paintings are not meant to be “figured out,” but rather experienced as transcendental gateways or guides. Each person’s unique set of beliefs, knowledge, and awareness ultimately informs what they discover within.
How do you think about luck?
My controversial opinion is I don’t really believe in luck. With that being said, I run on gratitude – my good fortune is definitely not lost on me. I think that good luck is the result of staying positive and open to opportunities. I think that bad luck presents itself to bring awareness and challenge our limits. My worst experiences have been my biggest teachers.
Contact Info:
- Email: blair.e.gallacher@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.blairgallacher.com/
- Instagram: @blairgallacherart
