WHO ARE YOU?

I love the title of this blog post because I can use it as an excuse to reintroduce myself on this long languished blog. It also is a great segue into the question rolling around in my head.

I started this blog in college to document some of my school projects. This one on ceramics is really bad. But this post about still life photography still makes my heart flutter. Then I used the blog to share my experiences in Japan. This post is one of my favorites.

Now it’s 2021. Justice still eludes the United States; the pandemic is almost a year old; and this boy needs to get some dang thoughts out of his head.

Who is Rusty, the creator, the artist?

2020 was the year I began embracing the whole of who I am. I’ve ignored my Mexican artistic heritage for years. I’ll be honest, Mexican design rarely stirred my bones. Instead I was wooed by Scandinavian interior design, German vehicles, and the mountains of the PNW.

Through my study of anti-racism I came to the conclusion that I could no longer give Latin American design the cold shoulder. By minimizing the value of Mexican design, I was actually feeding my White supremacist tendencies.

Side bar: I’d love to dive deeper with you on this topic, but I really want to get to the two guys below who are the real inspiration for this post. Shoot me a message and let’s keep talking.

I discovered two men on my journey to fully embracing the whole of my heritage. The first is James Coffman. He’s a pro baller turned designer. His font, Oaxaca, graces this very website. His weekly Instagram Q&As are honest. His message is simple: create the work you love, and clients will want more.

In the end, you’ll be creating exactly what you always dreamed of. He inspires me by staying true to exactly who he is. His Instagram feed is a great example.

The second man is Mr. Regular.

I stumbled across this interview he gave. He’s a weird dude. Really weird. He reviews regular cars on YouTube and hundreds of thousands of people watch. After watching his interview I walked away inspired to do the things I enjoy.

It was all the motivation I needed to restart this blog.

Who are you? What’s something you’d like to embrace more fully about yourself?