A Cowichan Valley fine art landscape photographer and poet is hoping to use his skills to make an impact on the world. Lucas Morton, 19, was born in Duncan and graduated from Frances Kelsey Secondary in Mill Bay, where he still lives.
He now works at Canvas Plus! in Ladysmith, though, where he gets to work with other artists to help them bring their creations to life.
“It’s been a great job for me,” Morton said. “It’s very inspiring to see how much talent there is on this island.”
As far as his own future in photography goes, Morton said “it’s far from something I’d consider my career yet. It would be lovely to get to the point where I can create my art full time at some point, but I’m in no rush,” he added. “What I’m focusing on currently is just improving my skill set as a photographer and poet, creating as often as I can and seeing where that leads me. I think a lot of artists nowadays fall into the trap of feeling like they need to monetize everything they are doing right from the get go, which really crushes the creative spirit.”
Still relatively young, Morton said he’s in the process of discovering who he is as an artist, trying to unearth what he wants his message to be, and figuring out how he can use that to benefit others.
“Slowly I am working my way up to turning this into something that could be a career,” Morton noted, admitting he does sell his prints sometimes and has a photo and poetry book in the works.
“I may offer workshops at some point,” he said. “But at the same time, I’m not rigidly attached to needing that to be my life’s outcome. I will always create, because that is my passion. But I’m open to my career heading in any direction that feels natural. I’m a big believer in following your ‘gut feeling’ and just listening to your inspiration. That’s how all my art comes to be. And all my decisions.”
That gut might mean heading back to school at some point — or maybe not.
“No college yet but I’m still open to the idea,” he said. “I may take some business and art courses at some point; maybe learn some more about earth and climate science as well. I’ve always hoped that at some point I’d use my art to make an impact of some kind and I really see climate change as one of the biggest issues we are facing as a species today. If I could find a way to use what I’m passionate about to start a productive conversation about how we could move forward, I think that would be awesome.”
But for now, art for art’s sake remains his life’s passion.
“At the moment, I feeling like slowly moulding this into some sort of career could be very fulfilling. But at the end of the day, my goal is to create things that I enjoy and that can touch the hearts of other people, not to make money.”
