Today we’d like to introduce you to Blue Masiello.
Hi Blue, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
The first time I considered myself an artist was as a young teenager in the punk and graffiti scene. I grew up in a creative family off of the DC Metro line, with easy access to the Smithsonian so there was art all around and easily accessible which shaped me in a wholly positive way. I got into photography, music, street art but it was shaped by the DIY culture and I weren’t politics of the punk scene. I moved to NYC and lived there for the majority of my 20s, where I met a number of other artists and musicians who influenced my work, either as inspiration or models for a direction I wanted to reject. Eventually I moved back down to the DMV and then back to Baltimore, where I was born. I had been selling my art on the side, often using it as a way to fundraise, and slowly was able to devote more time and energy into that part of my life. Now I am a full-time artist and I teach printmaking workshops and classes around DC and Maryland.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I was a young Queer kid, out since middle school, and the area was often not comfortable or safe for me when I was young. I was growing up in a complicated environment and as a young kid started getting into a lot of trouble. The punk scene kept my head above water but not enough and I was constantly running away from home or getting into other more dangerous means of escape. Eventually I was sent to a couple Troubled Teen Industry programs which did more harm than good. I left those programs afraid and unsure of myself which resulted in a serious of bad relationships and more dangerous situations. But through that time I had found a few truly wonderful creative people who I built strong friendships with and those friendships helped pull me out of the mud. When I moved back to the area from NYC, I was moving with a heavy blanket of grief, back to an area that I had more rough memories than good, but I was a different person and I had my chosen family. I’ve built a good life for myself now, a happy and beautiful life with people that I love and trust, but I am Trans and i feel the danger of that often, and the current issues in the world weigh heavily on me.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am a printmaker primarily, but in recent years have been dedicating a lot of time and energy into ceramics. Throughout every medium, I use monsters to explore identity, mental health, my feelings about the world and about healing from my own trauma. My work balances lightheartedness and absurdism with the awkward honesty of my feelings about myself. I think these are the reasons it appeals to other Queer and Neurodivergent people.
I am proud of my commitment to growth and change which I believe is visible in my work as I revisit themes from a different lense over the years.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
My biggest inspiration comes from zines. I collect them and I flip through stacks of them when I have creative block. To me, zines represent what I care most about in my own work, which is about putting art or an idea out because of something deep inside that needs to come out. Art is just a word we use to explain a type of innate human expression and a single page, simple fold zine, photocopied, and distributed for free, is an important example of this.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/true.blsr
