We had the good fortune of connecting with Melanie Cruz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melanie, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
i chose to do this career because being myself and expressing myself by creating something brings me at ease. Some occasions i look back at my old work and see how much i’ve improved and learned from mistakes when making my resin pieces, and paintings too. It’s nice seeing the final product of what i created because i get that feeling of accomplishment.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
i’m really proud at how sometimes when my pieces are complete, the mood of the colors i chose can be felt. it’s really exciting seeing my products coming together and seeing the finishing product and sending them off to a new home! i wouldn’t really call myself a professional yet since i started my shop at around october 2020, it took lots of planning and double checking i had everything complete and ready to go! ive learned lots of do’s and don’ts from help of friends that don’t mind sharing their tips with me, and i’m very grateful for their help.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
i would really recommend going to the natural history museum! (if they’re into that sort of stuff!) it’s really nice and they have many exhibitions to go through! the butterfly one being my favorite. Personally my best friend LOVES anime,kpop, and art so i wouldn’t hesitate a second to take them to a art cafe where they give you paint pallets and a canvas to let your creativity out while you wait for your food or while enjoy your meal! they even have anime inspired sweets which is so cool!!! After that i’ll take them to barnes and noble to check out the mangas, or to kinokuniya since they might have more of a variety of anime merch and mangas! Then we’ll go to eve pink to check out kpop albums and the stationary they have! it’s very cute in my opinion they never fail to impress me! i’m sure she’ll love it there!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
i wanna dedicate this to my favorite artist BTS, a korean boy band that’s done so much for their fans and many other communities around the world. Them being active on donating to many organizations and supporting many communities and having their own “Love Yourself Campaign” inspired me to do what i do right now! many of my resin pieces are inspired by their songs that have very deep, beautiful meanings to them that it feels like they’re right next to you comforting you.

Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/etrnlarts

Instagram: https://instagram.com/etrnlarts?igshid=1er7jkdv581vs

Image Credits
etrnlarts

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutHTX is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.