Today we’d like to introduce you to William Chatlosh.
Hi William, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always had an artistic inclination– as a kid, I was always drawing, and got pretty into origami when I was about ten. My grandma taught me the basics of knitting around the same time, and I started to look at different knitted and crocheted stuffed animals and clothing online. I became really drawn to these stuffed animals that people were crocheting, and started learning to crochet through YouTube. Through middle and high school, I kept crocheting stuffed animals and toys, selling at farmers’ markets, making gifts for friends and family, and creating a collection of my own. I began sharing my projects on social media when I was 15, and became more involved in the fiber art community online. I graduated high school during the pandemic, when I last-minute decided to go to college for art. I studied fashion design at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, as well as at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and I tried to incorporate crochet into my school projects as much as possible. During 2020, I had seen a couple different artists on social media creating ‘freeform’ crocheted portraits and artwork, and decided to give it a try myself. Since 2020, I’ve worked on roughly 15 crocheted portraits, which is now what I primarily use my crochet skills for.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My path has felt pretty unclear, but I feel that I am still heading in the right direction. I’ve spent the last ten years or so really dedicated to school: in public school, I only took one art class and spent the majority of my time taking advanced classes and piling on my personal workload outside of school as well. The majority of my friends in high school seemed like they had a path they’d chosen, but I still felt like I didn’t know where I was headed. I am so thankful I made the choice to go to art school: I felt so much more fulfilled being surrounded by creatives, and it absolutely pushed me to create more than I ever had, and gave me more self-confidence, as I feel now that my career is really a solo journey right now. The last five years or so have really felt like an uphill battle: I was diagnosed with epilepsy about four years ago, which had a significant impact on being able to operate by myself in a lot of ways. I also had another job and internships outside of college, moved to New York for my last year of school, and have since been bouncing between other jobs and apartments. I haven’t felt able to “settle down” in a long time, and my artistic process has been constantly changing as a result. Regardless, I do know that I’m still headed the right way, as I’ve had so many fulfilling experiences and opportunities within my career and life.
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?
The art I’m primarily recognized for has always been my crochet work. I think that what sets me apart from other crafters Is my own crochet style. I spend most of my time crocheting on my portraits– mostly two-dimensional, colorful, large “paintings” with crochet. While I’ve spent a lot of time crocheting clothing and toys, I do feel that my portrait work is more similar to fine art drawings and paintings, and involve a lot of spontaneous decisions and unnatural shapes, in comparison to other crochet that involves following written patterns or grid designs. I’m definitely proud that I’ve really developed a process for my pieces since I first started, and have recently been looking forward to possible workshops or classes in my style of crochet in the future.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I owe so much of my success as a young artist to having started my social media page so long ago. I feel like I really put in the hard work of getting started before I’d even considered pursuing art as a career, and having kept up with it for so long has been really beneficial. The last five years for me has been filled with so much change, and while it has felt like I’ve connected with so many different artists and professionals so briefly, I also know that many of those short-term partnerships, collaborations, and other connections are people that I’ll be able to rely on due to a shared love of the arts. I always try to bring my best energy in the times where I know I’ll need it, and ‘marketing’ myself is still a challenge, and can be intimidating, but I think it always will be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wc-crochet.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/wccrochet
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/wccrochet?ref=shop_sugg_market
