Maggie Stephenson on Why She's Collabed with Indonesian School Kids: 'We All Are in Need of Playgrounds to Fuel Our Days.'

Face This: Can you tell us something about your cultural background? Where did you grow up? Did you always like to draw? 

Maggie Stephenson: I grew up in a small village of about 800 people in Southern Poland, close to the Czech Republic. Drawing and playing outside were my go to activities. It was a beautiful, simple way of growing up with nature and art being my playgrounds.

Face This: Is there one drawing that you can recall from your childhood? What was it about? 

Maggie Stephenson: That’s a tough one! I can’t recall a specific drawing but what I do remember is my grandfather teaching me how to draw birds. They were so simple, yet so charismatic and his enthusiasm as he was drawing them was infectious 😊 

Face This: Are there specific moments in your life that made you decide to become an artist?

Maggie Stephenson: It was during a time when I felt unsure of which path to take career wise. Caught up in uncertainty and worries, in that moment of doubting myself and feeling as if I had nowhere to go, I decided to follow my first passion and the next day I began to draw again, this time with a mission to make it my career.

Face This: What is the biggest challenge for you, being an artist?

Maggie Stephenson: Balance. When your passion becomes your job, it’s easy to work all the time. There were times when all I did was work because I enjoyed it so much. While that is ok for a while, I have found that if I don’t take a break and unplug from creating – it has a way of overpowering the rest of my life. These days I intentionally take breaks and look to other things to fill my time with. Taking these breaks has allowed me to return to creating with a renewed focus.

Art by Maggie Stephenson

Face This: As an artist, do you have any dreams? Are there some goals you would like to achieve? Is there something you’re building up for?

Maggie Stephenson: This has been the focal point of this journey for a while. I’ve pondered the question of how I can merge my work with reaching others, how I can use art to collaborate with organizations and missions that focus on uplifting and helping others. I’d say collaborating with Face This is a great start in this direction 🙂 

Face This: Pablo Picasso once said: ‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up’. How do you remain an artist? And do you have tips for non-artists to cultivate their inner child?

Maggie Stephenson: How true that is… The beauty of children is, they create from a place of joy without a worry of what others think. There’s a valuable lesson to learn here – to create for the sake of creating, from a place of joy without worrying about how it will be perceived and whether it’ll be popular or not.

Face This: You designed an artwork by using some of our Indonesian childrens drawings. With the proceeds of your artwork, we will be able to provide the kids you’ve

collabed with a playground. How important is playfulness for you as an artist? 

Maggie Stephenson: Playfulness is the essence of wellbeing, it means everything to me. If we take time to explore, to play, to laugh – it has the power to set the tone for the rest of the day. We all are in need of playgrounds to fuel our days.

Face This: When we reached out to you, what made you want to join?

Maggie Stephenson: Creating art that has the potential to help others – I don’t think it gets better than this.