Rising Stars: Meet Joan Cabarrus

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joan Cabarrus.

Hi Joan, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Joan Cabarrus. I am a local artist in Austin and have chosen this state to be my now home. One of my purposes as an artist and a local business owner is to help people heal from grieving due to loss of their pets, mainly dogs in particular at this time.

I started this journey back in 2018 when I was living in Colorado.

In the early months of the year of 2021, I started feeling stuck and stagnant with this passion. It made me decide to question if there is anything else that I should be doing that could help me become more successful in this journey. It made me realized that a thing that is missing is living my life even more authentically.

I found Austin, Texas and decided to relocate here as my new home.

The fact that Austin is one of the highest dog-lover state in the nation gave me a reason to be in this place to help more dog and animal lovers be inspired to be creative and build my legacy.

I am a sculptor by heart and is focused on using polymer clay at this time. A spatial thinker who loves to be hands-on and seeing many things from different perspectives. I am also a nurse and this other side of my skills and passion helps me elevate my craft to a whole new level.

This journey has given me plenty of creative opportunities and outlets to grow as a person. It pushed me to do things that I have never thought I could do like writing, designing and publishing books, create a DIY, entertaining “tv-show” type of format of my own that were published on my YouTube channel called The Doggo Bake Show, and create products that people would love and enjoy learning from.

So far, I wrote five books in relates to sculpting. Some are for advanced level and the majority of them are for beginner crafters and anyone who have never tried making any form of creative projects before. I want to encourage many people as I can to try something they have never tried before, something simple and safe in nature yet could potentially help them cultivate courage, resourcefulness, creativity and time management. Yes, sculpting can tap into these skills if done right.

If I am not sculpting, I am either working on my other future books to publish. There is something about the authorship side of being an artist very rewarding. I have so many goals I would like to achieve with this passion and I know that many people will really enjoy them all across the globe. With the persistence and determination, I know it will be a success.

My business name is JFCRN Limited Company and I am building a product line called Doggo Bake Animal Sculptures.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In regards to the actual craft that I am doing, it was the shipping of the pieces I had issues with. I had issues with my pieces getting damaged during shipping. It was a nightmare but I never gave up. It is very fortunate that there was a new brand of polymer clay that is flexible and made shipping a lot safer. So this is not an issue anymore.

In regards to the overall journey, the difficulty was the unexpected change of life and conditions and change of scenery that I have never experienced before. This includes adapting to a much smaller space that makes my art-making a little more difficult to manage. But this is part of being resourceful and creative: to adapt and use what we currently have. Everything evolves and I know that this is going to eventually get better with persistence and grit. It’s how this journey started anyway, it all started with just a simple idea that branched out to more ideas. A simple hobby that turned into a full-blown business.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Since this interview is focused on my art journey, I would love to share what I do as an artist. As I mentioned earlier, I am a local artist/sculptor here in Austin, Texas. I sculpt people’s dogs/pets by creating people tangible works of art that are memorable and healing. Even though this craft caters to people who have lost their pet families, the people who are generally animal lovers also benefit from them.

I started recording my progress of these projects and turned them into videos tutorials and progresses for my YouTube channel. There, people can witness how powerful and helpful these art pieces are. Creating these videos also exercises my skills of creating music.

The way I create my pieces involves asking for photos of the pet owner’s pet. We then have conversations and collaboration on the composition of the piece. Using my intuition and careful planning, I can create a one-of-a-kind piece that is perfectly crafted only for that specific pet owner. Sometimes, I have to really sit and think on how I will create these sculptures because some pet owners may be only able to provide me photos that are blurry, damaged or nondigital. It’s a challenge but worth it. I think this is what sets me apart from others is that every bit of my process are intentional and has deeper meaning.

If I am not sculpting commissions and creating video content for my YouTube channel, I write sculpting books on the side. So far, I have published five books that can be found in thousands of book retailers worldwide.

I am also currently looking for communities here in Austin that I could share my skills through teaching this craft to kids and families. I am a current member of the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum.

My Youtube channel is: Joan Cabarrus – The Singing Sculptor

What was your favorite childhood memory?
My most favorite childhood memory was when my whole family and I went to a theme park and watched fireworks together. After this family became broken, the memory remains. So watching fireworks now and then became a bittersweet feeling. It is still a favorite childhood memory.

Contact Info:

• Email: JFCRN.art@gmail.com
• Website: www.JFCRN.com, www.DoggoBake.com, www.JoanCabarrus.com
• Instagram: @the_doggobake_show, @joancabarrus (my semi personal account)
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JFCRN
• Twitter: @CabarrusJoan
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/JoanCabarrusTheSingingSculptor
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jfcrn

Image Credits
Photographer of my Self Portrait Sculpting in Action, holding my books and holding my Frenchie: Nischith Nash The rest of the photos were captured by me.