Meet Erixaart | Artist, Muralist, & Entrepreneur

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

Hi Erixaart, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?
The most important decision I made that contributed to my success was always being hungry to learn new skills. Being an artist, I constantly have creative ideas. Whether it be a photoshoot idea, product idea, or a build idea for the bus. If I want something, I’m going to figure out how to make it happen. The resources I often turn to are books, YouTube, Pinterest, movies, documentaries, and music. My determination and knowledge help fulfill these creative ideas which make my art business unique and what it is today. Building myself has helped me build my business and literally build the bus.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When I was around 16 or 17 years old, I began painting for my AP Literature class in high school. I had no intentions on turning this into a career at the time. One day, for a fake business project in my entrepreneurship class I decided to digitally put my watercolor artwork on shirts. It was just an idea I had for the project until I presented it to my classmates and they loved the shirts. This sparked the thought: “hey.. maybe I could actually do this”.

My experiences while attending high school are a big reason why I started painting the creepy faces I’m most known for today. I enjoyed dressing up and doing my makeup for school. However, I did not enjoy the labels and comments of being less intelligent that came along with it. Painting faces was an outlet for my confusion and frustration. When I learned about the word “preconception” the paintings then became part of my support system. They served as a reminder to me that someone’s opinion of you does not have to become how you view yourself.

I graduated Tucson High early at 17 years old with a 4.0 GPA and president of the business club “FBLA”. I decided to not attend college and keep working on my entrepreneurial venture.

My art business was doing great until the pandemic. It was a VERY hard time for my business. I figured, I could give up or I could take this time to rebrand and figure out a creative solution. The decision: I wasn’t ready to give up on my dream yet. Fast forward to today, I have improved so many parts of my business like having all my products ready to ship, better product photography, improving the quality of all art shirts, and the big one… buying a school bus to convert into a mobile shop!

Providing customers with unique abstract art on a variety of different items and encouraging individuality sets my art business apart from others. Soon, we can add the experience of shopping the bus to that list too! I plan to hold mini workshops, picnic paint nights, and events with the bus. Right now, the bus is being built into a mobile shop and I’m doing all the work myself. You can follow the journey on my Instagram page: @erixaartmobileshop.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
All the books and YouTube tutorials that shaped me into who I am today deserve a huge shoutout. Everyone who believed in me and my business from the beginning are appreciated tremendously!

Along with that, I would like to give recognition to these people in my community:
-Kimberly Castro who started “Art Business Connect” which is a networking event for artists and entrepreneurs. She is always so kind to me!
-Groundworks Tucson which is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to developing creativity and talent in Tucson’s youth art scene. I love to volunteer for them and I appreciate what they do for the community.
-Regal Fierce Media which is a media agency. They helped me by creating a beautiful video that told my story about converting the school bus.
-Diego Rivera who is an entrepreneur. He helped me by providing a location for me to host art events for my community.
-Tucson Creative Comadres which is a networking group for creative Latinas started by Fabiola Bedoya. I love being a part of this networking group and Fabi is so supportive of everyone. She loves to extend opportunities to others and is so kind.
-Chris Edwards with Tucson Appliance Company for allowing me to host a mural unveiling event and invite other small businesses to setup and sell.
-Ricky & Bella my friends and amazing customers who have supported me from the very beginning when my business first started and I was still working my job at Texas Roadhouse.
-Maggie and Monica my managers at my old warehouse job who believed in my creative ideas and allowed me to grow within the company.

Website: https://erixaart.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erixaartmobileshop/

Image Credits
-Candidsol -The Garage -Erica with Erixaart