Today we’d like to introduce you to Simone Weinstein.
Simone, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
This is a tough question because I feel like I have lived a lot of different stories/lives in my 29 years on this earth! But, I will share with you my story of how I became a co-owner to Little Dame shop. I am from the San Francisco Bay Area and went to college at Whittier College in LA. I hold a BA in Studio Art and moved to San Diego after graduation in 2012. I have had this dream to open a shop that sells taxidermy! I grew up with my dad collecting taxidermy and learned to swallow that fear of taxidermy into a love and passion. I have personal experience in death and depression and felt that taxidermy was a tangible art medium to share those similar feelings.
I decided to work in small businesses for a while to learn more about how to run a small business. I met Katie Howard on my journey learning about small businesses. We worked at a coffee shop together and we both are very passionate hard working women. We learned that we have that in common, and so much more! Finding the space that is now Little Dame felt like the opportunity was meant to be for us! We became business partners and now have been with our Little Dame for three years! We love the community we have built and the friends/family that surround us every day. During our time with Little Dame, I have built Pixleys Carousel which is a side art business I have created for myself to share my taxidermy and illustration art! I have lived in San Diego for six years now and so much has grown and changed! I am very excited to have participated in that growth and can’t wait to see what is to come!
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
In Pixleys Carousel, I illustrate and Taxidermy. My topics are mostly about animals, death, and depression. I am a leukemia cancer survivor and during my time of treatment as a 16-year-old, I carried around a stuffed doll who was bald and had a broviac like me at the time. I learned quickly that this would forever have an effect on me physically and emotionally. My art helps me to be able to get through the day to day! I get overwhelmed and sad, and it is nice to know that the animal I am mounting or the animal/tombstone I am drawing understands me better then I could probably ever understand myself. I don’t feel alone and that is everything! Going through trauma can feel very lonely. Having something that you can always go to where you are in a safe place and you are not alone is very important. My art is childlike, whimsical, colorful, minimal, and tells a story. I love the cute and the power of play! I hope that my art helps people to understand that they are not alone and that we are in this together! I plan to make enamel pins of a mourning flower that I drew!
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
The biggest challenge facing artists today is social media! We work so hard to share our art but this love/hate relationship with social media can be tough. It is tough because even though we have followers, those followers still don’t see our work! They have to like it and or interact with us, and that is not fair to the follower and the artist! But, at least we do have a free platform to be able to share our work! I would say another big challenge is time! Time is so important to be able to do work and share the work. There is never enough time in a day to be able to complete a task.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My art is at Little Dame, of course! and I also have a website pixleyscarousel.com an Instagram @pixleyscarousel and an Etsy!
Contact Info:
- Address: 2942 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116 - Website: littledameshop.com
- Email: simone@littledameshop.com
- Instagram: littledameshop
Image Credit:
Me and Katie Howard
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