We recently had the chance to connect with Rhianna Marina and have shared our conversation below.
Rhianna, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Nature hikes! Early mornings and late nights where there’s no time limit or goals to meet and I can run aimlessly thru trails and urban landscapes. I like to feel like I’m front-row watching the seasons change – enduring and appreciating the intense changes of hot and cold natural to KC. Even if it’s just a few minutes of my day – getting to run is like a mini adventure time I gift myself that reminds me I can do hard things and even enjoy it – that even if life keeps getting harder as we grow in years that the small trips we take everyday add up to something beautiful.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Thank you for having me back! My name is Rhianna Marina and I am a visual artist, legal professional, and single Mom thriving in Kansas City along with my three-year-old, Juda Bowyer.
As a full time professional – I get to work with creatives, artists and lawyers for a KC based company that makes meaningful moments – globally and locally. In many ways – I am blessed to say I was able to follow through with my personal goals and no matter where opportunity takes me – I get to keep these moments with me and acknowledging that keeps me moving thru inevitable challenges. As a legal professional – learning about IP and AI in the scope of trademark and copyright law takes much of my time nowadays. As a visual artist and a Mom, I have to be selective with my creative opportunities and I work hard to find time for personal projects.
A lot of my days are for coloring in books with my Kiddo and I wouldn’t trade any exhibition experience for it.
I was fortunate enough to instruct Más que un Lápiz – More than a pencil – A two day life drawing class in San Lucas, GT and this November marks the one year anniversary. The class had an audience of approximately 100+ students and locals. Our bilingual instruction was translated in Spanish by instructor Janzzel Cáceres. Being able to draw and be drawn in this class is the highlight of my career as a visual artist. @aaas.kc @janzzelcc @munisanlucas
At that time, as a Mom, it was difficult to be away from Juda for so long. I hope to visit Guatemala again and share the experience with him someday. Over this last year, I concurrently illustrated the interior artwork for Issue 4 of the graphic novel Beyond The Wall, authored by Ses Elis. This was my first time working as a professional illustrator on a project of this scale – and the learning curve was steep at times. I’m so grateful to be a contributor and for all of the shared laughes and late night revisions with Ses. Please check out our work! @beyond.the.wall.comic
This last year I have purposely slowed down and taken time to reflect on the work I have done. I think these moments focused on breathing are equally as important to continue working.
I like to remember that I’m running my own race and that I’m practicing mindfulness; I want to completely exisit in the present but lately it is hard to balance creativity with the daily grind as I progress as a visual artist. And so I wouldn’t be able to keep the show going without my KC community this year! Myself and other local artists co-curate – Alley Sessions – at 18th and Oak for First Fridays in the Crossroads Arts District as kindly hosted by Session Taco. We plan an outdoor art show every month – seasons permitting. Come see us! @alleysessionskc @wildechildedesigns @kizmetthejewelry @freestatestitch
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
An artist – I think. I love how sincerely I hear people of all ages call children artists and I think somewhere along the way to adulthood and the world saying you have to be someone paying bills, that sincerity gets lost. I hope what I share with the world stays rooted in my belief that we should all hold time for ourselves and others to make art in whatever form that may be – as much as we can while living in a system that prioritizes the opposite. Honestly. When I was a kid, I thought as an adult I would be looking like Sailor Moon with long pink hair, have at least five cats, and driving a red convertible along the beach. The world is dragging me a bit – but I currently have purple hair and I had two cats for a long time – RIP Hemingway and Othello.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Sometimes I feel like I have been given so much grace in my life that if I tried my best to show up and give back to those around me I couldn’t even scratch the surface. Why me? If I have it all why is it still hard to move?
Although I gave up a lot to attend the historic Kansas City Art Institute, and wouldn’t be the person and artist I am without my amazing professors, friends, alumni, visiting artists and all of the work I did there – I honestly couldn’t have afforded the opportunity without my Grandparents’ help. It’s taken me a long time to ask for help. I worked thru school, saved, paid over a decade and have kept multiple jobs a long time. I received a good portfolio based scholarship long ago and transfered from community college. Like so many artists, I made choices to route realistic ways to work professionally and still creatively – but I couldn’t shake the self-imposed weight of what success must look like and wondered why I insisted in being in that space if I couldn’t see myself deserving success. I created this obnoxiously heavy and unseeable weight so painstakingly that I couldn’t even struggle forward when it was my turn to go and then time just kept moving. This is something I’ve let go of over years in layers and it feels so good to say out loud.
When I think of wounds – sometimes I think of being the only Latina in my family or how I didn’t officially know this until I was 27. Would anything about me be different if those things weren’t true?
It used to feel like pain, but as time goes on, I’m growing closer to my family and my friends. And maybe it’s not that my missing knowledge is a wound or that I would be someone else – but it’s my opportunity to receive Gods grace so that I can know myself better than before, so that I can live in her/their peace. Healing, for me, is basic and ongoing. It’s repeating the same things over and over consistently, despite slow or seemingly no progress I believe it. I practice reading, writing, drawing, running, thinking and simply breathing.
Sometimes I practice just exctly how to actually breathe and remember that I want to be forgiven and that I want to forgive others equally. That’s how I heal.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
Maybe that no one is completely good or bad and that ghosts or spirits are real. I think they effect us in different ways and I think oversharing or cringe-inducing vulnerability cross paths here and I want to be empathetic while acknowledging some energies are too heavy to hold – whether it’s my own or someone else’s or a ghots.
As I get older – I am more interested in being private, even with my values, and protecting my peace even at the cost of missing people I love – but I don’t regret moments where I gave a bleeding heart so much space that I ran late to my next meeting. Maybe all of my blubbering moments where people have given their time to me over the years can be paid back and all of the heavy energies I’ve held and come across made my soul stronger. The more I think about proving the truth, the more forgiving I feel about my disagreements. Storytelling and perspective is an art and for better or worse the truth seems malleable.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Stop living alone! First, I would take a beach vacation. Then, I would definitely move back in with my parents and follow all of their rules. How could they say no if it’s just ten more years? I would live these years reliving my childhood – watching the best anime and spending one Sunday a month laying in bed the whole day. I would do all of my chores but probably still complain a bit.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aaaskc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rrhiannaaas
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/me?trk=p_mwlite_profile_self-secondary_nav
Image Credits
@brownskin_tiffj
@aaas.kc
