Meet Joan Aylward | Full time artist / ChalkBOS

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joan Aylward and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joan, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Starting a business as a fulltime artist was the furthest thing from my mind. I waitressed for about 20 years. While working at Boston area restaurants, every location had a chalkboard of some sort. Having a background in art (always a natural instinct, going to art school, teaching myself calligraphy & having a small scale business for weddings in the past) I always was the one creating the chalkboards. The last restaurant I worked at had chalkboard walls, and I would create large scale designs for private parties etc. Co- workers would always say I should do this full time, but it didn’t seem like a viable career at the time. I didn’t know of anyone doing chalkart as a profession. This was around 2013. After shift one night, some people from another restaurant noticed me working on a wall and wanted to hire me for chalk art at their place. I ended up doing part time chalk art around the city until our restaurant closed in 2015. By this time I had a pretty good client base and was getting some notoriety around town. I decided to go full time in 2016 with a backup of being able to waitress to fill in gaps if need be. Thankfully I never needed to, and couldn’t be busier! My chalkart has now progressed into mural painting, which is a dream come true from a little girl into art but never thinking it could be a career.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art us almost 100% client driven. I’m hired mostly because they’ve seen some of my other work & have a project to complete. From there it’s a collaboration of ideas or at least an in depth conversation as to what they’d like the mural/chalkart to convey. Next, I go through a process of research and design phase to complete their vision. What sets me apart I believe one reason is I am not stuck in one particular style of art. I also take pride in delivering appropriate lettering styles and the finished piece having a sense of belonging in the aesthetic space. I’ve learned LOTS of lessons along the way. Never compare yourself to someone else. Everyone is good at something. Don’t be afraid of trying something new. If you fail at something, take the lesson you learned from it and move on. If you do, it doesn’t count as a failure, just a learning experience. Everytime I’ve been asked to do something I wasn’t sure how to complete, I just jumped in and figured it out. Knowledge for the future.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Being that I work in many restaurants and businesses all over Boston (& beyond) I absolutely love my city and could take you all over. A few classic favorite spots, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Public Library, Fewnay Park, Boston Garden, I love every neighborhood here!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Honestly, mostly my mother as she recognized I had talent at a young age, & put me into private art lessons. Which lead me to deciding I’d go to Mass College of Art when I was in 4th grade. I feel like the series of events and the length it took to be an actual artist was all destiny. Every stage of life couldn’t have happened if I hadn’t lived the previous one. Being of a “particular age” by the time I started a solo career was completely unplanned on my part. The only thing I can attribute to myself was being open to it and having faith it would work out.

Website: ChalkBOS.com

Instagram: @chalk_bos

Facebook: ChalkBOS