Daily Inspiration: Meet Shane Huss

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shane Huss.

Hi Shane, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My journey didn’t start with calligraphy, but instead it started with me deeply falling in love with graffiti and it’s culture at a young age. I was 15 when I began my path as a graffiti writer, and I was quickly enamored by letterforms and the endless possibilities that came with shaping the alphabet.

Over the course of a few years, I ended up building a life around this culture, with not much passion in anything else. After high school, I went to college for graphic design, with little interest in getting a diploma, but instead hoping to learn ways to monetize and develop my lettering.

Throughout my college years, I fell into a deep depression from various life situations. Being from Minneapolis, Minnesota, the deep winters made it tough to paint outside and relieve my stress, pushing me further down the wrong path. I was always fascinated by gothic lettering, and during this time i started to explore blackletter scripts and alphabets. I quickly realized that while I was writing these letterforms, my thoughts would never drift, giving me some much needed relief from my depression. Learning this about myself, it immediately became an obsession to continue writing, as an escape from my current reality. Calligraphy, quite literally, pulled me out of the darkest point of my life thus far, and I was able to focus my energy into something worthwhile and positive for myself.

As I started my third year of school, I knew that I wanted to pursue calligraphy as a full time job, and work towards mastery. I had already learned how to brand myself in college, and felt that all the skills to succeed were already inside me, or were able to be learned independently. There was no one qualified to teach calligraphy as a major, or as a single course, at my school, so I dropped out and continued on my journey of teaching myself.

In 2017, I started my design studio, Mindful Release, named after the feeling I get when I enter my flow state while writing. Being raised as an environmentalist, I wanted to use my business as a way to positively impact our planet. For this reason, I partnered with a company called Trees For the Future, allowing me to plant trees with the completion of every project. These trees get planted in Sub-Saharan Africa and are raised by the community members, helping them gain up to a 500% increase in their annual income, on average. Experts in the field teach the community members what trees to plant in what climates, in an effort to conserve water and to collect the highest yield from the tree.

As I honed my craft, I discovered that my graffiti background had amassed an expansive knowledge on how to plan, and execute, large scale paintings on walls. I then knew that my goal in life was to pursue a career in being a muralist. With not much money being given to the arts in Minnesota, I packed up and moved to Denver, Colorado to seek mural opportunities.

I’ve lived in Denver for 3 years now, pursuing every avenue to make my goals happen. The Covid pandemic stopped the world for some time, but as things start to pick up, I’m excited to continue on this lifelong journey of creating.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I feel as if my path towards success has been anything but smooth. The calligraphy industry’s infrastructure is very undeveloped in comparison to other industries like music, dance, design, etc. With little to no guidance on how to develop a business from writing, I made a lot of mistakes along the way. Learning how to attract clients, present designs, price work, and grow my business are just a few of the skills that took trial and error to develop.

Furthermore, maintaining discipline, balancing life, and making sacrifices along the way have definitely been a struggle. Avoiding alcohol, stopping the use of weed, and working out regularly has been huge in allowing me to stay disciplined with my work load. This journey is really me vs. myself, and I know that my success is only dependent on me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In order to monetize my craft, I’ve had to learn a plethora of skills to pair with my lettering. I’m simultaneously a calligrapher, graphic designer, muralist, clothing designer, painter, videographer, and social media specialist. Since moving to Denver, I’ve been focused on learning other applicable skills like custom font construction, and tattooing, in order to keep all my options open in the future.

The over arching theme in all my projects is calligraphy, but I strive to not limit myself to one style of lettering. My specialty is gothic-based scripts, but in order to attract a more diverse group of clients, I’ve studied scripts of all kinds, making sure I continually challenge myself, and have the ability to offer a broad spectrum of work.

One thing that I like to think sets me apart from other artists is my unrelentless drive. When I was young, my father always taught me that skill and talent can only take someone so far, and that their drive is truly what sets them apart. I took that to heart when I was a child and kept it in the front of my mind as I became an adult, constantly trying to push myself further, and continuously grinding.

On my path to building a mural portfolio, I had to utilize every opportunity that was possible. This led me to one of the projects that I’m most proud of, a project that separates me from other calligraphy artists, and most artists as a whole. In the summer of 2019, I painted a ten-session, tunnel mural in the water runoff drains under the city. As far as I know, it’s the largest, non-permission calligraphy mural that exists. This mission was one of the most challenging and dangerous projects I’ve ever committed, but consequently it was also the most rewarding when completed.

Another project I’m extremely proud of is my work done for the KINJAZ, one of the best dance teams in the world, based in LA. In 2017, KINJAZ flew me out to their dance studio and hired me to paint 3 murals within it. Meeting the KINJAZ crew and the people that work around them was an honor, and truly a blessing. Afterwards, they hired me to design lettering for their costumes for World of Dance, the largest dance competition in the world. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity, and hope to complete similar projects in the future.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
With the popularity of Instagram and other social media platforms, calligraphy has grown an insane amount over the past few years. As fonts and typefaces continue to be overused for commercial use, I can easily see lettering becoming a massive industry in the next 5-10 years in order to differentiate brands from their competitors. With that being said, I hope to see, or help start, calligraphy labels that sign dedicated hand-letterers, giving them opportunities and funding to succeed, similar to the music industry.

Pricing:

• Murals – $1,000 Minimum
• Logo Design – $500 Minimum
• Miscellaneous Design Projects – Prices Vary, Email Contact@mindfulrelease.com for inquiries

Contact Info:

• Email: Contact@mindfulrelease.com
• Website: www.mindfulrelease.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/shanehuss
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/mindfulrelease
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/mindfulrelease
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCorXHAmusn4Hb0IHFjjrK1g