Today we’d like to introduce you to Mycah Williams.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
As a kid I was always doodling with crayons and whatnot. As I got older, I became obsessed with skateboarding and thus discovered a cool weird culture with all this eclectic art that was used in its graphics, and it inspired me immensely. In high school I took some art classes but actually ended up gravitating more towards photography. A couple years later and many school notebooks with margins filled with doodles completed, I had made it to college at San Francisco State University. In college I met and spent my time with so many creative people that once I was in my second year I wanted to start my own project. I came up with the idea for Deity Grip where I would use spray paint, stencils, and paint pens to create works of art on grip-tape for skateboards. I figured it was a good cheap way to sell a form of canvas and get some art out into the world. I would bring grip with me while out skating and also post on social media. I’ve participated in a couple art fairs and have had my grip-tape in two skate shops. I now reside in San Diego, CA and am continuously working on something with art, usually multiple projects at a time.
Please tell us about your art.
I love to paint. I usually am working on some random paintings in my free time. I like to also use spray paint to create abstract designs and then paint on it with some acrylic paint. For my stencils I cut them out using an exact knife and clipboard. I always pre-label the layers and plan them all out before starting. Waiting for the paint to dry can be tedious so I usually try to have a painting ready to work on, or a new stencil to cut out while I’m waiting for the drying. I spray paint on used skateboards that friends give me or I find at the skate-park. I like to clean these up by sanding them down by hand and removing the grip-tape. I create these pieces because I love skateboarding and I like certain colors and themes, and I want to combine them all. I hope people see my art and think to themselves that they now want to do some art. I also want my art to remind people of a nice feeling or sounds they like. Overall my purpose is to create art and hopefully be able to make a meaningful impact on the lives of the less fortunate by contributing to charity or starting my own non-profit for poverty-stricken kids to teach them to skate and paint. That’s my dream.
What do you think about conditions for artists today? Has life become easier or harder for artists in recent years? What can cities like ours do to encourage and help art and artists thrive?
I think artists’ conditions are about the same as they always have been. For some, it will be easy, for others it will be hard. I personally feel that if art were to become an easy profession than it would not have as much integrity, thus hurting the medium. Cities can create open spaces for artists to express themselves and be exhibited to the public for free. I’ve seen this done on the beach in Venice for the graffiti writers and it was just amazing.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
People can find my work on the Instagram account @deitygrip. If you would like to support my work you can email me or dm me on Instagram. My email is on my Instagram account info too. Also, can add me on Facebook.
Contact Info:
- Address: Encinitas
- Email: mycahwilliams@gmail.com
- Instagram: @deitygrip
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mycah.williams.3
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Image Credit:
Demi Kellenberger
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