I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Calista Bethelle on Facebook for a few years now. She is a charming mother and wife, as well as a talented artist. She recently took the time to answer some questions about her life and work in the field of traditional art. Reading her responses, I’ve found that we are much more alike than I originally thought.
Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from? Where do you live now? What did you want to be when you grew up?
I spent most of my childhood on a small homestead in rural Kansas. My sisters and brother and I grew up playing outside all summer long among the goats and chickens, and feasting off the garden and apple orchard. Ever since I was very young I remember telling people that all I wanted to do when I grew up was to write and illustrate my own books. I have maintained my love for the outdoors, animals, and most of all, writing and art, to this day. Nowadays I haunt the Ozarks in Northwest Arkansas with my husband, toddler, dog, and cats, where my dream is to obtain acreage and set up an official art studio for myself and blacksmithing forge for my husband. I carve out whatever time I can between chasing a toddler to work on my art projects, though sadly my writing has been neglected for quite a few years.
What sort of artwork do you do? What’s your main medium?
That's a very long answer, haha! I have so many media and types of art that I love that I struggle to narrow it down to just one or two. I love drawing, both with pencil or charcoal, and I love painting with watercolor, acrylic, or digitally. I'm trained in both illustration and graphic design and I have done a decent bit of portraiture also. My current focus, however, is doing sculpture work with polymer clay. Once the sculpture is done I cast it inside of resin to create unique pieces of art that are harder to break and fun to handle and view from all angles. Eventually (Lord willing later this year) I would like to branch out into upcycling used furniture to make koi pond resin tables as well.
How/where did you learn your skills?
As a homeschooler I was self taught for most of my formative years. Once I hit about age 16 or so I invested in a correspondence art course that sent me books and materials and offered long-distance tuition. I had so much fun with that I decided to pursue art more professionally at a private Christian college, where I studied painting, drawing, illustration, and graphic design for three years until I got married. So I've had a little bit of everything when it comes to my art education.
What made you want to start making art? What motivates you to keep it up?
I couldn't pinpoint exactly when I started creating art because I have drawings my Mom saved from age 4 and before. Drawing was just an integral part of my play as a child, and the older I got it was just natural to try to hone those skills. I enjoyed entering art in the county fair, and the monetary prizes motivated me to get better and better every year so I could increase my income. Plus it was just fun – I spent hours creating characters and exploring their stories by drawing them. As far as what motivates me to keep my art up, I don't think I could stop creating and be a healthy version of myself. I have always made things. I can always tell when my mental and emotional health is not good because I stop wanting to create. In fact, overcoming depression and artist block has been a major part of my recent artistic journey, which I'll get into more a bit later.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I get inspiration from anything and everything. I'm always saving photos of things I would love to paint or sculpt someday, and my phone is full of notes about ideas that struck me in the middle of the night. One of my favorite themes to draw inspiration from is woodland/fairy forest-related art. My husband has to pause and wait for me during our walks because I have to stop and take pictures of cool things I find in the woods.
Who are your favorite artists?
That's a hard one to narrow down. I love classical art, especially from the baroque period on, and I also love finding current artists who reflect classical skills in a digital format. But I tend to collect favorite styles and artworks rather than specific artists.
Where do you like to show your artwork?
I have only had my art in a local show once during my college years. I would love to work towards that as my sculpting progresses, but that's farther off on the horizon. At the moment I display my art on my Facebook page, SunDrop Art, and I am working on ironing out a website by the same name.
What is your favorite piece? Tell us a bit about it.
My favorite piece is whichever one I finished most recently, haha! However, one that is very close to my heart would have to be a piece I call “Bea Joyful”. It is a memorial piece my friend asked me to make when she realized she was terminally ill and wouldn't make it to Christmas. So she asked me to make it to send to her parents as a post-mortem gift to them, which I was honored to get to do. So the piece is a bee (her nickname was Bea) nestled among flowers and cast in resin. It is designed to be a lamp, so I included a light base along with it. The piece also represents my passion to offer a service making memorial pieces, especially for grieving parents, so it was definitely bittersweet that the first one I got to make was in honor of one of my closest friends.
Do you have any advice for other artists?
The biggest lesson I have been learning this past year with my art is how deeply connected our health – body, soul, and spirit – is with the health of our creativity. When I left college in 2019 I experienced a major collapse both in my health and in my creativity. The insane pace of college had left me with severe burnout, and it felt almost physically painful to drag any sort of creativity out of myself. It has taken me three years to pull back up out of the valley I was in, and the catalyst for freedom came in the form of seeking God to heal me emotionally. I had to come to grips with the fact that – however much I appreciated the things I learned – college actually created some traumatic wounds due to the levels of stress I experienced, and that emotional trauma had created an invisible wall between me and the ability to create. It was not until after I spent months addressing the trauma with the Lord that I began to experience the desire to create come back. First like small rays of light on a cloudy day, until now when it is a near constant. I am still finding and addressing areas of fear and discouragement, but the difference between now and a year ago is night and day. So my advice for other artists? If you are struggling with burnout or discouragement or feeling stuck in any way, begin to stop and listen to the narratives within your soul. Find the areas of hurt and pain, and the lies and words of discouragement that whisper to you there, and carry them to the feet of the Lord. Confess any ways you have sinned in believing and obeying those things or in setting them up as idols, and ask Him to remove them and heal the wounds they left inside of you. Then ask Him to rebuild His truth in their place – and if you can, find scripture that speaks to that issue – and trust Him to heal you. He always does. It may take months or years to work through the more deeply-engrained issues, but it is so worth the effort! And as you continue to press into healing with the Lord, watch how that will re-awaken your love for the creativity He placed inside of you, and bring along with it a flood of new inspiration.
Is there anything you’d like to add?
I could go on and on about my personal journey, but for the sake of brevity I'll simply say this – if anything I have shared resonates with you and you would like someone to talk to about finding your own healing, please do not hesitate to reach out to me! I would love to share more and help in any way that I can. You can message me through my artist page, SunDrop Art, or you are welcome to send me a personal email at calistabethelle@gmail.com. I love to help others reach towards the healing our Maker offers to each one of us!