Meet Lara Wilson | Brand Designer, Choreographer, Producer, Gallerist

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

Hi Lara, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I see risk taking as choosing to have faith in the unknown. Remaining open, curious, observant, and attentive to detail has so far allowed me to feel relatively confident when I take risks. I’ve also been fortunate to lean on experienced mentors, friends, and family when I’ve faced tough decisions. With any creative project, there is the idea or the vision of it and then there are all the little details and steps to make it happen. In my experience, it usually takes multiple people to follow through on both, and while I love to use my imagination, my strength is usually on the practical implementation or logistical side. Planning helps, and with persistence you find a way when things don’t work out how you planned.

I’ve always had an aspect of my personality that pushes me to go for different things, and somewhat annoyingly, to pursue things that I am neither prepared nor equipped to do. For example, I helped open a gallery with zero knowledge of the visual art world. I decided to start designing websites with very little idea of where to start — I had one of those “for Dummies” books that I checked out of the library, and a friend who taught me the basics of coding. You can do a lot with a little. I believe in learning by doing, and occasionally by “failing”, in small and large ways.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
First there is the art I do for myself: I choreograph, I consult and contribute movement designs to other artists’ work, I collaborate as a designer or a producer that incite some passion in me. Then there is the art I do for income, which is creative work for clients who own businesses and startups mainly in the tech and health sectors. Finally, I consider myself a facilitator, appreciator, and collector of others’ art, through Compound YV, a gallery in the high desert of California which my husband, Michael Townsend, and I opened in 2018.

Some of the above comes easily thanks to the fact that I am almost constantly in the practice of working. I don’t say that proudly, because we live in a culture that overvalues productivity, and I am conscious of the consequences both personally (burnout) and at scale (collective carelessness for our planet in favor of convenience). As far as lessons learned, I would say that the biggest themes that have been emerging for me over the past several years are collaboration and delegation, boundaries and worth, and how to prioritize effectively—COVID definitely scrambled my priorities a bit.

When it comes to my own art, I am currently in a listening phase, asking myself what work is worth making, who is it for, and what do I have to share based on how my life and the culture has unfolded over the past five or 10 years. It’s interesting to note that while I haven’t stopped producing or being busy, I’m still feeling that sense of pause creatively, a rest that I believe has the capacity to be very generative. I think an art practice can benefit a great deal from traveling down different paths in life, learning in new directions, and over time applying unusual combinations of skill and talent to unlock some solution.

At its best, my art is both emotional and cerebral. It takes a long time to make and is perhaps ideally experienced in person. I don’t necessarily want it to be Instagram- or capitalism-friendly, so I tend to be protective and private about it. I love the idea of creating a trove of work that is discovered long after my death, either to interest and acclaim or confusion. Neither critique nor compliments are your business as an artist.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We would cook and eat at my house, hike some back trails, shop at the farmers’ market, find a concert, visit artist friends in their studios and other galleries like BOXO Projects, Lazy Eye Gallery, and Quality Coins. And we would stargaze.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My husband, Michael. I attribute a large part of where I’m at now to how we work together and support each other.

Website: larawlsn.com, compoundyv.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/compoundyv

Image Credits
Matt Titone KasMaria Joe Kye, Byron Roman, Ching Ching Wong Ally Pawlowski Haihua Chiang Jobel Medina Tess Jenkins, Lindsey Porter