Shantell Martin draws on things

*Shantell Martin photographed by Michelle Mosqueda*

Shantell Martin is a public speaker, intuitive philosopher, cultural facilitator, curator, choreographer, songwriter, performer, and more. Her immersion in the moment and her intuitive free flowing line drawings are alive with energy and freedom. She could easily be the love child of Jack Kerouac and Keith Haring. She strides across boundaries, breaking convention like fine bone china, drawing a line across her worlds, demanding a place for her voice to be heard.

If you are in Los Angeles on Saturday night you can catch her live at The Compound. Get your ticket below while you can.

the compound

However, don’t worry if you can't be there. Ahead of her performance, we asked Shantell are few questions to get to know her a little better. Read on.

drawing a line

*Shantell Martin New York City Ballet. Photo by Emanuel Hahn*

THE LAB MAG Can you talk about your creative process, a day in your life?

SHANTELL MARTIN There’s not really a typical day in my world. If I can, I like to start my day with a smoothie before I head over to the studio. I try to get work done, but, for the most part, the day includes a lot of organizing and emails. For my creative process, the first thing I do is tidy my workspace. I also enjoy queuing my own music to get in the zone. The familiarity is calming. When it comes to making art, I enjoy working on one project/medium at a time: such as music or a drawing. I get to learn about myself within these mediums as I’m working and in turn, take those ideas to future projects.

*Shantell Martin Toronto Photo By Connie Tsang*

LAB What fires your passion for your projects?

SM Exploring new mediums and scales. I get the most excited when I’m working on something new, so I can challenge myself and improve within that project and use it as an opportunity to get better at something new.

*Shantell Martin, New York City Ballet rehearsal drawing. Photo By Roy Rochlin*

LAB What or who is your greatest inspiration?

SM My greatest inspiration is just this idea of always progressing, growing, and being better than myself.

*Shantell-Martin, The May Room Governors Island. Photo by Timothy Schenck*

LAB What excites you about the future?
SM I hope that at some point in the future,I will have the freedom to wake up and think about what I have to make and create rather than focusing on the administrative side of being an artist in today's society.

*Shantell Martin WTC The OCULUS Photo By Steven Simione*

LAB If you could build a new future, what would it look like?

SM I'd take out greed and division and let everything unfold in the way it would without those things.

LAB What's the best advice you've ever been given, and the worst?

SM Worst advice: I’ll never remember it because it was bad advice.

Best advice: Someone gave me some good advice at an event the night before last. I’m fairly new to LA, and coming from the East Coast, it can be a tough transition. This person shared that in LA, you have to be willing to go towards the things you want - versus waiting for them to come to you. In New York, we are so used to bumping into people so that opportunities seem easier to come by since they’re right in front of us. On the West Coast, you have to have a vision and go after what you want.