[Brad] Hey, everybody! It's Brad Scott from K-Lever.com, and it's my pleasure today to have
a little chat with an up-and-coming artist from the Rocklin area - that's the
Sacramento area - in California, and she's a graduate from UC Davis. Great school
out there! You know, what I want to do is just kind of share some up-and-coming
artists and get their artwork out there so that people know it's available,
and let them continue doing what they do best. Okay,
personally, I decided not to go into art because at the time it was very
difficult to make a living at it, and now with digital media and so forth, it's a
little bit easier to make a living at doing artwork, but we still need to push
that type of work along, so without any further ado let me introduce Cassandra
Burgess! Hey, Cassandra! [Cassandra] Hey! [Brad] How's it going? [Cassandra] Going pretty good!
[Brad] How's the weather in California. [Cassandra] It's a good day in California; it looks like it's gonna be a hot day. [Brad] oh yeah, another
hot one. When's it gonna cool off there? So I'm coming from Ecuador; I'm actually
sitting in Ecuador... We actually had another guest planned to be here her name
is Carmen Westbrook; she's actually in Italy and is trying to
catch a train to get back to her house. So unfortunately she's not going to be
available, at least, I don't think... She may pop in halfway through the video; at
least, I'm hoping, but it's due to a, I don't know, a transportation issue in
Italy that she can't make it today, so let me just go ahead and start. Cassandra
just give me an idea how did you get started in art. [Cassandra] Oh, I didn't ever think I
was gonna be an artist; I just kind of did it for fun, and I started out as a
mechanical engineer actually and halfway through I realized I didn't love it
much, and I didn't have enough time to do what I love doing, which was art, and I
got so high up in math... I loved, I loved it. I was excited to do it, but I just
dropped out of that math class and switched all the way to art. [Brad] No kidding? I didn't know you were doing math I was doing
and that type of thing. [Cassandra] I was doing the thing that I thought I would be able to survive in society, you know?
And the idea of going into art was, I think, a little more scary. [Brad] Yeah, that
sounds really familiar, like I said, I didn't know that about you
so you went the opposite direction that I did. [Cassandra] yeah. [Brad] I was trying to decide where to
go. I didn't go into math and engineering, and I probably should have, but that's
interesting how you took that approach. So uh what age did you actually start
painting? When did you feel like you, you had a knack for art. [Cassandra] No honestly I didn't
start painting until two years ago. [Brad] No kidding?
[Cassandra] Yeah but I drew... I started drawing when we lived in Germany and every car ride
we went on I would just grab a magazine and try to draw someone's face from the
magazine, and it was just only in car rides I would draw and just when we were
bored, and you know when you move, and you don't have friends in the beginning, you
just learn new hobbies, and so I would draw and that's when I started drawing. I
didn't know, it was never like, I'm gonna be an artist that was never the
idea. [Brad] So it was kind of by accident ?kind of, it was just more of a thing I enjoyed
doing like I still enjoy doing and so and I just... it wasn't like a
practice like I'm gonna practice this and to get better, it was more, I just
enjoy doing it. [Brad] That's incredible. So tell me about what
type of art do you like to create the most, I mean, what's what your favorite? [Cassandra] um it's
hard to say because I, I kind of have ADD in art to where I, like right now in my
studio, I have four pieces going at once, and so, like right now, I'm working on a
huge chalk piece at six feet long of a boy from Haiti, then there's one, it's
just a water scenery, and it's about like four feet, and it's it's a latex paint
on sheet rock, and then another scenery one, and then elephants it's just like
whatever whenever I get stuck on one, I just move to the next one, and it's a
different feel, a different mindset, so kind of a little different.. [Brad] Does it
take a little while to kind of get your mind wrapped around the piece of artwork
that you're working on like like a half hour, you know, just to get motivated. [Cassandra] Yeah
it takes, yeah, it takes probably about 30 minutes because I'm just like I gotta
give this idea that you just gotta like get more done, and then all of a sudden you
get, you slow down. it takes a while for me to slow down, and then all of a sudden, I'll
I'll click into gear and... [Brad] You get into the zone. [Cassandra] Yeah, and then I lose track of time
[Brad] Yeah, yeah that's that's when it gets really fun. [Cassandra] yeah. [Brad] when you don't
realize it that your... you know, the time is just flying by. So so what has been
the most difficult thing for you to create? [Cassandra] um honestly the pieces where
people... it's usually when I have to create something with someone else's
idea, versus like what was inside me, and I know that I just need to create so
like now that I'm doing commissions, and stuff like that, it's hard to UM to see
what they're seeing, but I mean we always end up figuring it out, and I produce
it, but it's just kind of like a... it's not fully in my heart, and so when I yeah so
like whatever it is when it's something in my heart, I can make it in a day or
two. You know when it's someone else's, it takes me a little bit longer a little more
working through the piece, which is totally fine, it's a whole different
mindset, but... [Brad] How do you pull that out of somebody? Like, you know, I kind of have this the same problem and
digital arts when I when I do graphic design and so forth, and when you're working
for a client, I know exactly what you mean.
How do you kind of pull the idea out of them and without spending a lot of time
before they say, "Hey, no, that's not what I had in mind." You know you could put ten
hours into something, and they come back and say, "No! No, that's not it." So how do you pull it out of
them about doing a lot of work? [Cassandra] Um, I've
actually... I do... I hear what they have to say, and then I go, "Okay, let me go
Cassandra on it." I'll go, and I'll do like, I'll actually do like
four different paintings - the start of them - and then, or maybe three, and then...
Cuz I can work really fast. It's like, like I can I can throw a bunch of
paint down, make something, and then I'll take pictures of the four, and I go, and I
send it to them, and go, "Is this the direction you're thinking?" And then what it saves
me is from completing a whole piece, and then I can focus on one of them, and if
none of them are it, then I'll just throw another one down. [Brad] Yeah, well how many... How
much time do you spend doing something like that on a commission piece? Before you really
really get the idea and start working on on the actual idea? [Cassandra] Um, probably like an hour or two
maybe three. [Brad] Well, that's not bad. [Cassandra] Yeah. [Brad] Not bad at all. [Cassandra] I don't... I make sure I sure I
don't get all artistically on it, you know? And get, you know, cuz once you get
going you're like, "Oh, This could be cool, and then you you just keep going. You
just make sure you're strict on just getting that part down. [Brad] Yeah, okay so tell
me what your, your favorite piece of artwork to do was? What's your favorite? [Cassandra] I
liked, I liked doing those those two boys with the water, that's chalk, there's one
where there's a boy holding like this, and then, it's because it was my first
time going that big, and I didn't know if I could do it, and I just,
and it was chalk, and I, I just went for it..
[Brad] That was chalk? [Cassandra] Yeah, that's all chalk. [Brad] Oh! no no kidding?
I've got a picture and as a matter of fact I pulled it off your website to use for some of
the promotions that our viewers have already seen. [Cassandra] Yeah. [Brad] Um, yeah, I didn't know that was chalk, interesting. [Cassandra] Yeah, it's
all on particle board so it's that.. [Brad] Particle board too? [Cassandra] Yeah, and so I found a way to smooth it enough
but still have texture, so it takes the chalk and so that's, I love doing chalk
because it's the most, like, you you're closest to your piece, and you're
like you're rubbing it in, and it's messy, and you're just like working huge,
there's just this freedom in it, and I love painting too. It just takes a little
longer you can't just throw a huge color on, you know, like, you know, take
your time, and um, but yeah I love doing chalk. The only problem with chalk is
that if people want to buy it, it's really hard to preserve. [Brad] yeah so what would you do to preserve
something like that? [Cassandra] You do like a spray. It's a, um, the only problem is when you
spray, it does affect the color of it. Okay, it changes some of your details and
stuff like that, so I'll do like a workable fixative, and honestly that
piece that I brought to Michigan, I have to touch up every time I move it, and so
it's a little harder. I haven't sold as many chalk pieces. I've so I've actually sold
most of my paintings. [Brad] Okay. That was actually going to be the next question,
but before I ask you that question, you said that you love to get into the art
and, and, that's in a literal sense too, so you end up with chalk all over you... or
when you're painting, you paint all over you when you're done. [Cassandra] Oh yeah! [Brad] So you
literally get into it? [Cassandra] Yeah, yeah, I can't like walk into the house until I like
strip down, and because, it's just like, if I walk in, anywhere, like I have feet
prints everywhere, just I got kicked out of my out of our garage and I had to
like find another place to have, because I'd come into the house with paint on my
hands, and there there were, it's not like on purpose, and I'd have paint on the
doorknob or our dog would step in my oil paint, I would literally had Blue's Clues
all throughout the house. [Brad] That's great, yeah, I know where you're painting now... And we won't get into that. I'll check that out next time I'm out there.
Okay, so, you're selling your artwork. How much does it usually go for? [Cassandra] Um, I've been
trying.. honestly that's the hard part as an artist
like you... My mom keeps getting on me, you know like, put down how long it takes you
to make your art and do it by hour. $30 an hour for like 60 like, that's like, your
range, but I honestly just hate timing how long it's taking me, and I just like
just just going for it. I'm trying to learn to do that because I
know I need to do that for survival reasons but, I think, it usually, like
right now, like a painting for 24 to 18 is like 500 bucks. Um, it's got kind of
going up more and more, especially after going to Michigan, and just realizing
pricing and stuff like that. That all the other artists that were older and more
time, they're like you need to raise your prices, you need to raise your price. So
that's what that was they're a huge input on me
for the whole time. But um, so your question was, how am I, like what the
price is. [Brad] Well, yeah,, what the prices are? And you answered that question.
And I understand that it's, it's difficult to do that. There's a lot of
things, um, I come from a business background now, so since I didn't study art, I studied
business, so there are things like overhead, the electricity, the paint, the
canvas, the time that you put into it, and all those considerations that need to be
put into it. And in addition you need to consider that it's only one piece of
artwork. Right? [Cassandra] Yeah. [Brad} You'll never make that piece of art work exactly the same
so there's only one available, and that causes the price to go up, so,
yeah, definitely don't sell yourself short. When you start timing how much,
how much time you put into something like that, and you divide that by the
amount that you get for that art, and it comes out to be 10 bucks an hour, that's
probably not worth your time, right? Even though you love it, but you know and
you're in a perfect world right now you can set your prices and do what you love
to do and then get paid for it. So just keep that in mind. I want to see you
succeed because I really enjoy the artwork that you, you
do. I think you're very talented, and in order for you to keep putting
artwork out, you've got to get paid for what you do.
[Cassandra] Yeah. [Brad] Right? Okay so how do you think digital media has influenced Fine Arts
and what is that in a positive direction or a negative direction? What do you
think? [Cassandra] Um, I think it goes both ways. I thought about doing that, but I just
can't sit in front of a computer, drives me insane, but for affecting us, I don't
think, you can't create what people want that texture or that actual feel of the
painting, so I don't think it's taken away from what we sell or anything like
that, I just think, I think and I think the hardest part is getting our pictures
on the computer, and for people to see in a good fashion to really grasp what it
looks like because most people are on media, and they look at your Instagram,
and when, and when I showed my piece in Michigan, and they showed it on TV, and I
had an interview and all this stuff, um, they didn't really know it was 3D because
it's 2d. You know, and, and because it's, it was always straight on and not until
they came and saw the piece, did they start crying and, like, feel the piece and
understand. Yeah, so like it was, they go, "I didn't even know it was 3d, and I came here,
and not until I saw, it I was like, oh it's 3d." and so that's the hard part with,
like, the transfer from art style, my style, onto the computer and then I bet
it's even harder for people who put it on, who make digital art and then
transferring it onto canvas. It probably has a different feel also, and so it's
just a whole different world of having digital, which most people are on the
computer than actually walking around and wanting to go look at art, I mean,
they have it easier, and so... [Brad] That's incredible because, I mean, also you were
talking about doing particle board. The young boy with
the water? That was on on particle board, right? [Cassandra] yeah. [Brad] Yeah, and people can't see
that type of texture unless they, they go and look at the painting in real life.
As far as the 3d stuff goes, and just, I'll mention it here because we only
have a little bit of time, but maybe we should talk about that later because
there is a method where you can show your 3d art online and even project how
it's 3d, and that's called the structure from motion. You take several different
pictures, and then there's a several computer applications that will make a
3d model of what you've taken picture of. Okay, and once you have that then we can
we can create a video or even a live kind of mouse type of thing where you
drag your mouse in it and it changes the positioning of the artwork that you're
doing so that's something that we can consider later on. I think it could be really
good for putting on your website and selling your things that way. [Cassandra] Yeah.
[Brad] Cassandra had a few questions and she hasn't popped in; she wanted to know more
about... Wait! I'm sorry, not Cassandra, but Carmen
you're Cassandra Carmen has some questions about the event in Grand
Rapids. Because her her organization is actually doing... well, one thing they're
doing is research on donor organizations to make sure that they're they're legit
and they're actually using the funds that they receive to actually make,
effect change in the world. And she wanted to to talk about that event in Grand
Rapids and what that was all about. [Cassandra] Yeah, so the it's a it's a huge art show and
it succumbs for the whole city and there is a thousand five hundred artists there
and people come from the UK, people come from Italy, people come from just
Michigan alone, and I went there, had a family friend there, shipped my piece out
there from here, and then I got to show this art piece, and it
was the 3d one with a girl, with her hand on the fence, and it was representing or
bringing an awareness of human trafficking, and so i sat next to my
piece and shared to people that it's happening here in the United States, and
Michigan, California, where I'm from, and the goal was to bring awareness, first of
all, and then also to win, because there's a two hundred thousand dollar winnings,
and if you win, I was gonna buy help buy homes for girls that have been rescued...
[Brad] My gosh! Two-hundred thousand dollars for the winner?
[Cassandra] Yes. [Brad] That's incredible! [Cassandra] yeah so the cool thing is I made top twenty, and so I
was top five in my category. [Brad] Oh awesome! [Cassandra] Yeah so it was huge, they treated me like
I was famous, they put me on TV, I was giving autographs, like hundreds and
hundreds of autographs a day and like, it was kind of like think of it as like the
Voice... Like making the top 20 in the voice. [Brad] Yeah. [Cassandra] That's how, but four
artists, and that's how it was there, in the whole city, like I'd be in the
elevator, and I'd hear, "That's the girl with the fenced hand..." I'd be like, that's weird. And like, "I saw her on TV!" and all this stuff.
It was a weird, uh, I was really peopled out for an artist to be introverted and like my 40%
of the extrovert was really stretched,
[Brad] Oh, that's cool! So I heard that the winner was going to donate the the winnings to fight human
trafficking? Is that right? [Cassandra] The winner of, the guy... [Brad] the winner of the Grand Rapids event.
What's the name of the event again? [Cassandra] It's called ArtPrize. [Brad] Art Prize? [Cassandra] Art prize, yeah.
[Brad] Okay. [Cassandra] Um, he, I don't know what he was gonna do with the money. That's what I
was gonna do with the money, with the money, so if I won. if...
The guy who won he had a huge, probably like 20 foot thing, made of pennies, that
made the face of Lincoln, so the the pennies created Lincoln, but... [Brad] So what
was the event kind of wrapped around the theme of human trafficking? [Cassandra] No, that was
just me. [Brad] Oh that was just you? Okay. [Cassandra] So there was yeah there was thousands and
thousands of artists, and they all had their own thing; they didn't have to have
meaning to their pieces, they didn't have to sit next to the piece... I just went
there with that mentality... just for me. [Brad] So tell us about your experience in
stopping human trafficking. Why are you interested in this? Where'd that come
from? [Cassandra] That's actually what the whole piece was
about, so like I made this piece because you hear about human trafficking
happening here, and I was just kind of like how can someone like me help? And I
feel like a lot of people feel that way because you feel so disconnected, and so in
the art piece, the hand, where it is, it's actually disconnected from the piece, and
that represents you feeling your helping hand feels disconnected from really
helping you know you give money, and you're like, "where does it go?" And you, you
don't you don't really feel like you're helping. You're just like here, here's
money into this organization. And like "now what?" You want to physically be a part of
it. So I made this piece, showed it at my art show, and the co-founder, Jenny
Williamson of courage worldwide, she has her whole event or her whole
organization is to have homes with girls that have been rescued, and so they
have a home here. And they have a home in Tanzania.
So she saw this piece, she bought the piece, and said, "I want to show it," and
when she bought it, it gave me money to be able to go to Africa. So I went to
Africa twice this year, and I actually hung out with girls that were rescued,
and I taught them how to paint, lived life with them, did a bunch of stuff, connected
with them, and fell in love with them, came back, sold a bunch of art, went back
again, and then came back and just wanted to help rescue more girls after meeting
them and really seeing that this organization
really rescuing... they just rescue two more girls two days ago, and just like, yeah,
and just being a part of it, and hearing it, and.... [Brad] You really have your your
finger on the pulse of this. You know when people are rescued, and what's going
on in human trafficking, and how that is, you know, just, developing. How do you
keep in touch with with that type of activity? I mean, how do you know
what's going on? [Cassandra] Um, I know the person who very closely
the, Stephanie, she has the home in Tanzania where she is rescuing girls, and
she has like a, you know, where we communicate so we could pray for it and
continuously be a part of it. And, uh, yeah, I was really bummed, because I know that
they're struggling financially, that I didn't win, and it just kind of, it was like
because you, you could rescue more girls instantly because it
all comes down to homes, and like they don't have a place, they don beds for
them, so they can't rescue them all. And it takes time. It takes process; they have
to interview them and do all these things but... [Brad] So you know that's a good point to say,
right now, if people are interested in donating, how do they get in touch with
you? [Cassandra] Um, for me you can go to my website, but for courage worldwide is where you
would want to donate, and you just go courageworldwide.org, and you can look at them,
see what they're doing. [Brad] Well, what's your website [Cassandra] Mine's CassandraBurgess.com [Brad] Spell it out.
[Cassandra] C A S S A N D R A B U R G E S [Brad] "dot-com" Okay, for everybody who wants to see
Cassandra's work or talk to her about human trafficking and how she could
further help you in your efforts to fight human trafficking in the world,
please contact Cassandra also AINA Giving that's A I N A giving dot-com. They do, as a
matter of fact, they have a project fighting human trafficking in Kenya
right now. If Carmen were here, she would tell you more about that but for, in the
meantime, you can go to the website and find out how you can get involved. And I
thought it was really interesting what you said about doing your own artwork to
help fight human trafficking because AINA Giving allows individuals to do
what they do best, for example, if that's knitting or
whatever, they ask individuals to make contributions in kind, so they can sit at
home and knit when when the kids are at school or whatever, and and then they
send those things to AINA Giving and AINA Giving will forward it to somebody who's
in need of maybe a blanket or something of that sort, and in a place that needs
that type of help. We did that during the earthquake, or just after the earthquake
in Ecuador; we had a 7.8 earthquake last last year in April, and there were some
individuals who donated to AINA Giving, their own personal work, and they sent it
to to Ecuador for us to distribute here, and then they can get a card back from
the person receiving the donation in kind, thanking them for the work that
they put into whatever they did. So I think it's really, you know, if I want you
guys to get connected. I think there's a real good synergy there, especially with
the current project that she's been working on. She just happened to to tell
me that she was working on this human trafficking or anti-human trafficking
project in Kenya, and it was about the time that I was talking with you about
doing this this particular video here, so I'm like oh man, I got to bring her on so
that you guys can talk. Anyway, it's a shame that she's not here, maybe we can
make that connection later on. [Cassandra] Yeah [Brad] So um all right, first word that comes to
your mind. Okay? or you just pick from from the following following list:
oil, acrylic, or watercolor? [Cassandra] Acrylic [Brad] Okay. still live, wildlife, portrait, landscape?
[Cassandra] Wildlife. [Brad] travel or home? [Cassandra] Travel. [Brad] Okay, so acrylic. [Cassandra] Yeah [Brad] Yeah? Why acrylic?
[Cassandra] It's faster, it dries faster, so I can work faster. [Brad] ah yeah, [Cassandra] I started with oil and then I did acrylic. You know, it
usually goes the other way around and then i fell in love with acrylic because
i could dry and then do another layer and, just go really fast. [Brad] Okay so what
would be the advantage of doing oil? I know it takes longer, but what's the
advantage? Why do people like... [Cassandra] The shine, the different feel of it, the the depth of layers, and
colors that you can get. And the realistic stuff that you can get. It's
just more vibrant usually, and in its color, but... [Brad] Okay, my mom loved oil painting,
she was, she was actually a pretty good painter, and she taught me to paint when
I was, I must have been about nine, and we'd get in there and use the paintbrush,
and then for the clouds, we would use our fingers to make the clouds, and she was
just, she was incredible, an incredible artist, and it was such a had such a
profound effect on me and my, kind of, my drive to do art way back
when. It kind of runs in the family although I, I studied business, so I left it behind
so now I'm getting back into digital art. Um, Wildlife? Why wildlife? [Cassandra] Um, it reminds me,
because of when I was in Africa I got to paint live at Safari for a week, so I
they paid for me staying there, if I just, or they gave me
food, they gave me a place to stay, and I just painted, I painted at the Safari for
a week while I was there> That was like painting in heaven. [Brad] Yeah, [Cassandra] Yeah.
[Brad] Now did you see the animals while you were painting?
[Cassandra] Yeah, there was some that would walk by. I had to go to my my room early, but, I got escorted because
there's a leopard out, so they were afraid of. so that was sad that I had to leave my painting and just go.
It's an incredible experience to follow along with what you're doing, and I'm
sure, firsthand, it's even a more incredible experience. Right? [Cassandra] Yeah [Brad] so, so
that's why you pick travel? [Cassandra] Yeah. [Brad] Where else would you like to go?
[Cassandra] Uh, honestly, just, well it's hard to say cuz I've been to a lot of places when we
live in Germany, and we traveled a lot within like Italy, we went to Prague, but
where would I want to go? I'd want to go Ireland. Never been to Ireland. I hear it's
beautiful there. I'd probably want to go back to Italy. There's so much to see in
Italy, and honestly, I'm just open for wherever. [Brad] yeah. And you would take your
your tools with you to to paint [Cassandra] yeah, [Brad] I know we talked a little bit about this,
and they've got about five minutes left, so tell us about your artwork and what
kind of message you try to put into your artwork. I've got the phone going in the
background here. Sorry. [Cassandra] Um it's different every time, it kind of
goes along with where my heart is. All in all I like the message that I want
people to feel is like inspired but also do what you love and love others through
it. And I, you know, like I always have grown up in church, and there's always
like this idea that you have to like go to church in order to impact people, but
like you could just do what you love to do. Like you love doing what you're doing,
and you're impacting people, and I'm doing what I love to do and you just
it's more natural; it's not work - it's just instant like and it's just you get
to inspire other people, and when you teach other kids and in that moment when
they realize that they're capable of doing, doing it is my favorite point in
teaching or and also they go, "oh I can do this!" You know and that inspiration and
them. But the message is really just do what you love and love others through
it/ But I just there's no one message within all my artwork. It's more of just
each one is different, you know, do what my heart is feeling at the time.
[Brad] There's probably, you know I've got things in my mind that I would just
really love to do but don't have the resources to do them, so if you had all
the resources available to you in the world, [Cassandra] Yeah, [Brad] What would you do? [Cassandra] What would I do? I
I would build probably a skyscraper for fun, but I've always thought of that I
was like, "mom, can I just build one in my backyard?" they're like, "no, you have
to like actually have like it has to be yeah there's all these laws to it." but
[Brad] Yeah, you have to get a building permit for something like that. yeah [Cassandra] yeah, so can I just keep building up or something. I
love working big, and I would I would probably make big sculptures or 2d to 3d;
I love 2d to 3d, that's my favorite; doing it painting and then finding a way make
it become 3d. That reality versus, you know, non you know that 2D to... it
becoming real; I love I love that transition, so I've been doing now a lot
with my work. But I I would probably make a bunch more studios for other artists.
That's my, that's actually my main goal, is to create a huge a huge place where
studios for artists that they will have like a front to where they can show
their work and people can come walk through, or, and then in the back they can
you know have their studio, but in the front they would be able to show it on
like once a month or something like that and people could come in, and see what
artist lives are like and all this stuff. So that that was that's always my future
goal is to create a possibility for other artists to actually have a studio.
[Brad] oh what a great idea! I think that's awesome, and I hope you can eventually do
that. [Cassandra] Yeah. [Brad] That would take a lot of starving artists off the "starving" list,
and put them into the selling list, and again they could do exactly what they do
the best, and get paid for it. Again we're with
Cassandra Burgess, and you can see her artwork on CassandraBurgess.com. At this
point, I just, I really want to thank you for being a guest on, on this particular
edition of... I don't even have a name for it, so maybe I'll come up with a name for
it later on, but hopefully we can get more traffic to to your website, and, you
know, get you commissioned for new artwork and keep you doing what you do
best. Thanks a lot Cassandra.
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