Haley Jane is a triple threat. She is a street artist and through her art company, Haley’s Art, is setting out to transform the contemporary art scene. Her creations include paintings, ceramics, and mixed media. She is a clothing designer with her clothing line, Dreamwork Clothing, found in over 24 stores. Between all that, she is also a musician getting ready to release a music project soon. A successful creator pushing boundaries through her pop art and abstract work, this is her story on how she was able to pursue her passion for the arts.
Fascinated by art ever since her youth, Haley Jane says that it was her calling. After graduating from college, she envisioned herself making a career out of her art, a goal that proved to be difficult at first. She created and sold hand-painted apparel that was popular amongst musicians who donned them for performances. However, she realized that this was not what she wanted to make a career out of. Being as determined as she is, in addition to being a newly single mom at the time, Haley Jane launched her art company, Haley’s Art, in 2009.
However, Haley Jane admits that it “takes a long time to build as an artist,” especially when you don’t have the network to facilitate you nor the marketing skills to sell you and your art. She found herself taking a hiatus after the launch of her brand to focus on supporting her and her son. It wasn’t until 2018 when she reentered the art field and rediscovered her calling, this time with a fresh outlook and skillset on promoting her image and her art.
A year later in 2019, Haley Jane gifted a hand-painted tee-shirt to a stylist friend. Her tee-shirt ended up on rapper Ludacris while he performed at the EA Sports Music Super Bowl Concert. After her tee-shirt was met with raving reviews, Haley Jane felt encouraged to launch her apparel brand, Dreamworld Clothing. She sold tee-shirts, hats, and hoodies, all adorned with her hand-drawn graphics. The name was inspired by how she sees herself as a dreamer. Some enlightenment she offers when it comes to pursuing her ambitions is, “You have to keep dreaming because if you don’t, you’ll give up. I’m in my own little world of my dreams, so I have to make sure I’m always focused.”
In the same year of the launch of her brand, Haley Jane attended SCOPE, an international contemporary art show held during Art Basel in Miami Beach. It was her first major art show, and a career-defining moment. The experience solidified her as an international artist and set the value of her art, as she sold 10 out of 14 paintings she showcased. Attending the art show opened her eyes to how she could further build herself as an entrepreneur to support herself as an artist and creative.
Unfortunately, in 2020, many art shows were either canceled or postponed, including Art Basel in Miami. Not all hope was lost though with the Cube Art Fair’s “Art4All” that took place during Miami Art Week. Usually, the show would display artwork in the streets of Miami. However, to maintain social distance amongst art fans and still bring recognition to artists, the art show transformed into a campaign that displayed art, including Haley Jane’s, on over fifty billboards across the city.
One distinguishing feature of Haley Jane’s art is her love for combining different elements, such as maps, comic strips, and plane tickets. She uses these different forms of media to create something that offers a glimpse into her life. In a time that seems to be only defined by darkness, Haley Jane wanted to create art that communicated joy. To execute this, she enhanced maps by adding bright colors and powerful quotes about self-discovery and happiness. To her, life is comparable to a map because we all are on a journey, with many of us trying to achieve happiness. However, she also emphasizes how “happiness isn’t always people or places” nor is it a “destination.” Rather, it is “within ourselves” when we choose to be happy. In one piece that she has created, Haley Jane pasted flight passes from 2019 on top of a map. The flight passes represent how her dreams as an artist are coming true through the display of the various places her art has allowed her to travel to.
Being a dreamer, Haley Jane was always inspired by artists who have taken the initiative to chase their dreams. She is particularly inspired by artists from the past whose legacies have inspired generations, an example being Van Gogh. The concept of leaving a legacy behind, especially for her son, is also a huge motivator for her. She wants to build a legacy of everlasting art that can transcend generations, and still be able to inspire and exist as meaningful works.
In the meantime, Haley Jane also hopes to take being an artist to a new level by doing more shows and selling more art pieces. Currently, she is in the works of pitching an art reality TV show that will allow audiences to witness the lives of artists. The show will touch upon how artists go to art shows to sell their creations. Audiences will also get a glimpse of Haley Jane’s personal life, and how she manages to balance the hecticness of being a single mom while traveling for her career aspirations. She hopes to get more artists on board to film their reality, allowing viewers to empathize with the lives of artists and their adverse backgrounds. Additionally, Haley Jane is in the works of releasing a music project in the next few months with singer Cla$, titled Work of Art.
To end on a heartening note, some advice and insight that Haley Jane offers to aspiring artists is: “The sky is the limit, but it also depends on you. You have to be willing to put in the time and money to invest and market yourself.” Most importantly, she says you have to keep creating and dreaming because, “they say the sky is the limit, but for dreamers, the sky is home.”
Check out all of Haley Jane’s work through the following links:
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