LA-Based Muralist/Artist Steph Rager on Creativity and Community in Los Angeles
If there’s one word I would use to describe Steph Rager of A Dapper Line it would be open; open to connecting with new people, open to possibilities, open to evolving her craft. I recently met with this LA-based muralist/illustrator/artist at Civil Coffee in Highland Park to chat about how she became a muralist/artist, the importance of coffee shops in LA creative culture, and where she sees herself heading next. If you’re not familiar with Steph’s bold, colorful work, you may have in fact already seen it around Los Angeles at places like Coolhaus and Hi-Lo Liquor in Culver City, or LightLab in Atwater Village.
What were you like as a child? Where did your creativity stem from?
[I was] totally artsy. What’s interesting is I’m adopted so I have two sets of parents. My biological parents are very creative, my dad is an art director for film. My (biological) mom growing up was similar to me, she painted and drew a lot. My adoptive parents are not creative at all - they have a different skill set, different set of talents, and ways that they express themselves. I didn’t meet my biological parents until I was 18 and that’s when I started seeing these reflections like “wow, that’s where I have this from…” I wasn’t just artistic, I did a lot with cardboard boxes, I did a lot with building small towns for creatures that had whole worlds.
(Image via Steph Rager's Instagram: @adapperline. Photo taken by Skandia Shafer
Did your parents nurture your tendency towards creativity?
To the best of their ability. They encouraged it, validated it. But creatives are sometimes hard to relate to…in the way they take on challenges and experience the world. My process is a lot less linear than theirs, less pragmatic than theirs.
In middle school they let me and a friend paint my entire bedroom however I wanted. I had a VISION. It was split diagonally from the ceiling with a day sky and a night sky. And every friend that came over put their hand print on it and signed it and there were quotes,..When I moved out [my parents] painted over it immediately! They let me do it with zero confines over what it would look like.
Is that when you first thought of becoming a muralist?
I had no intention of becoming a muralist. I’ve always been drawn to larger scale work but that has more to do with how I operate physically. Sitting and doing meticulous small things for long periods of time is hard for me. I like bigger scale work..more movement, physical work is exciting for me. So that’s one of those things where you can look back and tether it back to something [from your past[. But it was not like I was intending or practicing to become a muralist.
After college I did a 2 yr teaching program called Teach for America. The philosophy behind it resonated with me a lot. I learned with certainty I did not want to teach at all. From there, I moved to LA, and started working as a barista at Intelligentsia. I credit Intellegentsia with being solely responsible for how I’ve been able to build my career here.
The freelancers and small business owners who have the time to sit and work at their computer in a coffee shop during the day are where this creative community comes from. I pictured the artistic community to be competitive but instead I’ve found this city to be so collaborative!
(Image via Steph Rager's Instagram @adapperline. Photo taken by Amanda Proudfit)
The freelancers and small business owners who have the time to sit and work at their computer in a coffee shop during the day are where this creative community comes from. I pictured the artistic community to be competitive but instead I’ve found this city to be so collaborative!
If I had to break my work down into 3 bubbles - referrals, introductions, or business advice - I can pick out a person in each bubble who has fundamentally impacted the large scale community that I’ve been able to get work with. I’ve met all three of these types of people in coffee shops. My time in coffee shops like this one are like my lifeblood of having a business.
"My time in coffee shops like this one are like my lifeblood of having a business."
How did you discover that murals were what you enjoyed doing?
I did a lot of signage and calligraphy work before I started any murals. I did a handful for friends getting married, and I worked at Hedley and Bennett for their events division. I would start doing super small scale projects (little sandwich boards, little chalkboard signs). I did a lot of free work in the initial stages before I was confident enough to start charging and had enough intention to create something bigger. When I left Hedley & Bennett I left with no plan to get another job.
There’s nothing that’ll motivate you to find jobs as a freelance artist more than realizing “I have zero other income” and so I launched my business out of necessity. I had to pay rent, and I started saying yes to every version of every job which allowed some jobs to get larger in scale. People would be like “I know you do sandwich boards, can you do a cool wall?”
I finally hit a point of enough momentum where I was like ok, I can’t do all the jobs coming in so I have to say no to some which is an empowering place in someone’s growth. When I needed to say no, I had to decide what I would say no to. Calligraphy for me, once I learned how to do it, was really solitary, stationary and meticulous in a way that was really exhausting for me so those jobs got cut pretty early.
(Image via Steph Rager's Instagram @adapperline. Photo taken by Amanda Proudfit)
[Murals entail] more one on one collaboration with the client, and it’s a more interactive process actually painting. You’re on the street, people are walking by all day - it’s like an open invitation for strangers to talk to you and it’s one of my favorite parts of the process. You hear a lot about the community. There’s an ongoing conversation about gentrification which in doing this work I’m a part of. It’s been really informative to my understanding of the city and how it’s changing. I love hearing about what a community is at it’s base level.
[Murals entail] more one on one collaboration with the client, and it’s a more interactive process actually painting. You’re on the street, people are walking by all day - it’s like an open invitation for strangers to talk to you and it’s one of my favorite parts of the process.
How do you see your work evolving as you look ahead to the future?
I don’t have work that communicates a philosophical message, and in my own growth that’s something I want to move more toward, asking why do I create? When I am just making a living and I have some room outside of that to create as an artist, what does that look like and why am I doing it? That’s something I don’t have the answer to yet. It’s my growth that I’m fully in right now.
As an artist there’s some depth that I’m in the process of exploring…That’s my shift right now, asking “why do I create”? If I care enough to create based on a why, what is [that why]? What am I accomplishing other than representing someone else’s brand?
People have been willing to challenge me, and to say “you can do better than that” I feel so grateful for the people who’ve taken the time. I benefit a great deal from community that’s willing to come along side and say “you can do this, why aren’t you”?
