Meet Carrie Hawkins | Artist and Designer

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

Hi Carrie, how does your business help the community?
As a lifelong creative, I have expressed my creativity in many different forms. From paintings and sculptures to jewelry and candles, I have created hundreds, if not thousands of items. I work both in the fine arts, creating pieces specifically to exhibit, as well as in fine craft, where I create items specifically to sell through my business, Scaredy Cat Primitives. My fine art often uses found objects and explores our consumable, disposable society. A few years ago, I felt a disconnect with my fine art and fine craft. My fine craft pieces, which I regularly sell online and at shows, were things I created new from new materials. Here I was adding to the consumerable society I was protesting against through my fine art by creating more consumerable “stuff.” I decided at that point to unify my art and craft by using only damaged clothing and reclaimed textiles in my work, creating both found object pieces as well as art dolls. I truly feel it is my responsibility as an artist to reduce my carbon footprint as much as possible.

Now today, I work to bring awareness to the amount of clothing and textiles that get unnecessarily discarded through my work.I am only a tiny part of the solution, but if I can bring awareness to just a few people, I feel that I have made a difference.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In late 2020, as America was opening up again from the pandemic, I made the decision to take my business from a part-time side hustle to a full-time business. Luckily, I enjoy what I do because it is a full-time hustle with overtime to run a business as a one-woman team. I am proud to have built my customer following purely organically, with engaging social media posts and lots of in-person connections at shows and markets. I used to hesitate when someone would ask me what I did for a living, afraid I would not be taken seriously if a come out and told people I worked full-time as an artist. I now own it 100% without hesitation or apologies.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Living near the border of two states has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantages far outweigh the latter though, with the biggest being my geographic proximity to multiple states, lakes and cities, big and small. Just south of the Michigan and Ohio border is the city of Toledo, where I was born and raised. In recent years, Toledo has seen a renaissance of sorts with many small business and restaurants popping up. Toledo is world-famous for its art museum. I attended classes adjacent to the museum through the University of Toledo’s Center for Visual Arts. You can lose yourself in the museum’s many galleries on a rainy day.

When the weather is nice, Toledo has an award-winning zoo, The Toledo Zoo. Every visit is a different experience! Toledo Zoo is well known for their conservation efforts and humane treatment of the animals they care for.

One of my favorite places to spend the outdoors in Toledo is at one of the many parks in the metropark system, including the popular Oak Opening region. It’s a mecca for birders and the trails are well-used by local runners. Oak Openiings Metropark even has a brewery and coffee shop!

If you love craft beer, visiting a local brewery (or two) is a must! There are so many offering a wide variety of brews, that Toledo has it’s own ale trail called the 419 Ale Trail. Visit breweries and check in on the app to collect points for prizes!

There is definitely no shortage of fun things to do around Toledo.

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?
In 2005, I joined The Toledo Craftsman’s Guild. It is a local juried non-profit group of artists that was formed in 1975. They encourage creativity and entrepreneurship through participation in meetings and juried art and craft shows. I am currently the vice-president, serving my second term and am proud of how we showcase the best of local talent in the northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan area.

Website: https://www.scaredycatprimitives.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scaredycat.primitives/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-hawkins-4a58382b/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scaredycatprimitives

Image Credits
Carrie Hawkins