Letters for Creatives #67: Maia Wilson - Interview With an Artist vol. 5

We talk about her creative projects, where she get inspiration and more

Hello, I am Celeste. Welcome all of you who keep reading my letters or are new here. Take a look at my writing prompts, the archive and the newsletter directory to find what you need now.

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For this letter, I am excited to collaborate with Maia Wilson. She started writing Minutes Between Us for creatives in 2020. I thoroughly enjoy reading her letters and interviews with artists.

You can subscribe to Maia’s email newsletter, Minutes Between Us here. Read past newsletters here, and follow Minutes Between Us on Instagram. To keep up with her shenanigans, you can do so here.

How did it all start with Minutes Between Us?

The ideation of Minutes Between Us actually began when I was in college. I was surrounded by so many eclectic people as my college was big on creative majors. I think the idea wasn’t fully formed and I was a bit more timid about it all then. When I came to New York, I knew this was the ultimate place to start a collection of interviews with creative individuals. But it was almost too overwhelming because there were so many people of varying levels and popularity that I began haphazardly in a direction that didn’t fully feel like me.

When the pandemic began and I went back to my hometown to live in my childhood home. That is when I felt the real yearning for creative energy. Doing arts and crafts at home to fill the void of boredom wasn’t enough. I needed more purpose. I needed more of an outlet for all my worries, concerns and hope for the world and my community. At the highest level, I needed that feeling of connecting with random strangers that I always seemed to have before, whether in college or in New York. I wrote my first newsletter in April of 2020 and asked my friends to send recipes, movies that changed them, art they were making, etc. I asked them how their creative process had changed since the start of quarantine. My outreach to people spread from friends I knew, to individuals I admired on Instagram, friends of friends and other random places I found work that intrigued me. Ever since, I have continued to be inspired by others’ artistic works and keep reaching out.

What are the challenges that you faced with it?

The hardest challenge was keeping the sending the newsletter consistently. It was pretty doable during quarantine and especially when I was in my childhood home with not many activities to keep me occupied on the weekends. As things started opening up again, I moved back to New York, and my friends moved back too, prioritizing my time became more of a challenge. It still continues to be. I have learned my time is the most valuable thing to me, as I have gotten older and gained the freedom to spend it as I choose.

Are you working on other creative projects?

I like to have my hands on many different things, so yes. My dream is to be a person with many hobbies and I think I am becoming that fairly quickly (queue the need for more time). I love to take film photos and conceptualize scenes to shoot. I am getting more into video and making efforts to become decent at video editing. I also am working to become a yoga instructor as well as publish more of my writing. I consider all of these creative projects because they are all seeds I’m growing at the moment.

Photo by Maia Wilson

Photo by Maia Wilson

Photo by Maia Wilson

What is your favourite part of this project?

My absolute favorite part of this project is finding new people to reach out to and reading their submissions to the letter. I get so inspired by what they send me and it motivates me to continue sending newsletters. I know that if I get inspired by just reading their responses to my questions and prompts, then I feel they will inspire many others reading the letter as a whole.

Which interview is your favourite?

Oh no, this is such a hard one. I’m going to narrow it down to 3. I loved my interview with Jillian Schembri from Wear One’s At. She founded and designs a luxury activewear brand. She is the only person I’ve interviewed over the phone, so it was more of a conversation than an interview and I really admire what she has created.

Jillian Schembri

The crowd favorite is definitely the newsletter featuring Bernie Kaminski who creates paper mache objects based on 90s New York. His creations have such intricate details and the objects he selects to recreate are so clever, for instance an old Knicks Tee shirt. 

Bernie Kaminski