Today we’d like to introduce you to Steven Ecker.
Hi Steven, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Art has always been a part of my life. My parents always had art materials for me to create growing up, and art classes were my favorite in school. I wouldn’t have considered myself a top student or art prodigy. It was something I just enjoyed doing. I decided to attend The University of Arizona to major in Art Education. I wanted to be an art teacher, but after one semester changed my major to Retailing & Consumer Sciences. I didn’t love the structure of the art program and got frustrated retaking studio classes. I also fell into the trap of believing the narrative of getting an art education degree was a recipe for living life as a starving artist. I was advised to get a business degree focused on the retail industry. I excelled in this major and accepted a retail merchandising position with Macy’s corporate in New York City. At the time, my dream was to run my clothing brand.
I started collaging while living in New York City. I was working a soul-sucking corporate job in the fashion industry. I was staring at spreadsheets all day and needed a creative outlet to get my mind off work. During this phase, my anxiety and depression we an all-time high. I would walk the streets of New York City to unwind and think about life. Walking along the streets, I always loved the wheat-pasted torn-up posters along the sidewalks. The distressed posters always caught my attention. One day I decided I wanted to make a piece of art that looked like the streets of New York. I went to an art store and bought a Juxtapoz magazine, glue, scissors, and a poster board. I flipped the Juxapoz magazine, tearing out images that caught my attention. I began to assemble them and found so much joy in the process. My mind slowed down and became present with the art I was creating. There was something special about sitting on the floor of my tiny NYC apartment, listening to music, and tearing up magazines. This is where it all started. I only made two collages in 2017 in NYC and waited until 2020 to make more.
During 2020, a few things happened that led me back to rediscovering collaging. I got laid off, a relationship ended, and I moved out of New York to live with my parents in Maryland. On paper, everything “collapsed.” I was unemployed, newly single, and unclear about where I wanted to go or do next. In my free time, I started collaging to get my mind off all the changes that took place suddenly.
I thought the collages were weird, but I got fixated on the creative process. I would spend hours in my dad’s woodshop just making art. I disconnected from the world and connected to something higher than me. This was the first art medium that just really clicked for me. I wasn’t using technology to create and I enjoyed crafting with my hands. I didn’t feel like I needed to force myself to create them. It just came easy and naturally. I posted a few timelapse on my Instagram story, and my friends liked them. I started an art Instagram page and saw it as a hobby for creative expression.
At the beginning of 2021, I moved to Austin with no real reason besides my intuition telling me to move here. I needed direction and guidance on what I would do in Austin. I just decided to do the opposite of what I was doing in NYC for work. Since moving here, I’ve had many part-time gigs, including barista, youth soccer coach, kayak tour guide, and school fundraiser, while building my businesses. When I first moved to Austin, my main focus was building my podcast and selling a daily planner I designed. I kept making art on the side when I needed to unplug from life.
One winter night in 2022, while I was collaging on my floor in my room, I had an idea of hosting a workshop where I showed people this creative process I loved. I had attended many events in Austin and thought I could do this. I wrote a one-pager and started submitting the idea to studios around town. I did my first workshop at Flowmagin in April 2022, with 4 people in attendance 3 of them being my friends. At first, attendance was low for each workshop, but I believed in its vision and potential.
In April 2022, I did my first vendor booth and hosted my first workshop. I sold 5 original collages at the vendor market and saw that I had something. I got a tarot card reading at the event, and I pulled a card with three ships with a man standing on the shore. The interpretation of the card is that the man needs to decide which ship to hop and the longer he waits, the further the ship sail. The three ships represented the three creative projects, hosting a podcast, writing a book, and my collages. At that moment, I looked at my vendor booth and knew my artwork was the ship I needed to hop on. I stopped writing the book and hosting my podcast to get all in on my art career. I had a clear vision and the direction I wanted to go, and the universe responded. Once I started telling people I was an artist, so many opportunities started coming to me. The more I talked about it, the more doors opened up. I knew what I wanted to do instead of spreading my creative energy to multiple projects.
I started small with the commitment of doing 30-minute work sessions, 5x a week. I did 30 minutes because it was small enough to get something started, but the sessions usually lasted for hours. The hardest part of any creative project is the beginning. Once you start, everything will start flowing together. The blank canvas or empty page is the hardest thing to overcome. Start small to get the ball rolling, and the rest will flow.
In my first year claiming myself as an artist, I’ve been featured in galleries around Austin, hosted multiple college workshops, and met some amazing people. When I started, I focused on who I needed to meet in town to make this dream a reality. Focus on who, not how. All my opportunities have come from connections I met in person or online. The more I show up in the community, the more chances and collaborations come. When I claimed myself as an artist, things “magically” started coming my way.
I’m still in amazement at seeing my art displayed in public places, people hanging my art in their homes, and that I host college workshops. Every event I do, I stop and take a moment to admire the experience. That all of this was an idea in my head at one point. I try not to take this life for granted because it’s been so beautiful. I have felt so much fulfillment already one year as an artist, and I know the best has yet to come.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Any journey will have highs and lows. There are times when I wonder why the hell I am an artist. Why do I put myself out there like this? Why do I take this road of uncertainty and blindly trust it will all work out the way it’s supposed to? Then I think about how I wouldn’t be able to live fully if I didn’t make art. I remember when I wasn’t making art and how empty I felt. Art is self-expression, and I want my expression to be seen by the world. When I make art, I feel free. We all desire to be seen, heard, and feel in our full expression. Art allows me to share myself: the beautiful, the ugly, the dark, the light, and everything in between.
In moments of doubt, I think of the big picture. I know my art will be displayed in galleries worldwide, my inbox will be flooded with commission requests, and I’ll be in high demand to host workshops. Before I get there, I need to experience the come-up vendor markets where I don’t sell any art—going months without commission requests, and the workshops where I only had one person sign up. These early moments in my art career will define how the rest plays out. How I show up now will dictate how I show up. Can I give it my all no matter the situation I am given? My success will be determined by my impact on the people I interact with. I want to ensure I have great interactions with anyone who engages with my work. As I deepen my craft, I want to inspire people to start creating art themselves again.
I am constantly tested on my patience and learning to trust the universe’s master plan. My brain will try to figure out that plan, but I need help to solve it. Surrender my idea of how it will unfold and trust the process. If I keep showing up, it’ll all work out.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a collage artist. I strive to create art that reflects the human experience. I love combining multiple mediums into my collages, including print, paint, and writing. Each collage is a little glimpse into a moment of my life. I assemble images to connect with you so you can see yourself in my art.
My art is an expression of who I am—all of me. Sometimes I’ll be in my feels making art or be inspired by something around me. Something in the world I saw, heard or experienced. Music is a huge inspiration in my creative process. I love getting lost in the music. I let the music take me away, and I enter the world the artist created with their art. I go into their world, take a piece, and turn it into my own.
I often go to my journal and see any lines that stand out. An observation or realization that I discovered and turned into a visual element. What is a message? I discovered that the world needs to hear. Time moves fast and slows at the same time when I college. The creative flow is an extraordinary place to be in. As adults, it’s easy to forget about the magic of creative flow and free expression.
I need help making collages. I get lost in my mind, the art, and the nature of life. This is where my name, Get Lost comes from. I get lost in the creative process and disconnect from all the events in my life. When people look at my art, I want them to lose themselves. See themselves in the art and let their mind wander. Collaging has become therapeutic, meditative, and so freeing for me. I could talk about creativity all day, but I’ll land the plane here.
How do you define success?
Success is peace of mind. It’s the ability to live in a state of love and joy. Yes, I want my art to be seen by the world, but ultimately I am here to spread love and joy to people’s lives. Art is just one of the many vessels I have to do that. I used to have a grand mission statement of impacting millions, and then I just shifted to something simpler. The mission is to be here to love and improve people’s days after seeing me.
My workshops do nothing with me or my art; it’s about the people who attend. It’s a reminder that we are all artists, and you have full permission to express yourself as you desire. My workshops are successful when I inspire people to create more, and they leave better than how they came in.
I’ve been caught up in the idea that money is a success, but I’ve learned that my health, relationships, and mental state are much more important than material wealth. Living this philosophy is challenging, but it’s necessary for me. I fell for the trap of society’s definition of what success is and never felt worse in my life. In the eyes of society, my New York life was a major success. I had a solid career, a relationship, and a big group of friends, but I felt empty.
Success needs to be defined by you and only you. When I lost that life and had “nothing” regarding that definition of success, I felt the happiest. Having enthusiasm and love for life is more meaningful than the money in my bank account.
Services:
- Artwork available on my website www.getlostcollages.com
- Workshop Booking
- Private Events
- Murals
- Commission Request
Contact Info:
- Email: getlostcollages@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.getlostcollages.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getlostcollages/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-ecker-8506a98b/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@getlostcollages
Image Credits
Javi Glz @chomp_all (couldn’t find his name)
