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When contemplating what it means to be an artist, we鈥檙e more than acquainted with the inherent financial instability and dubious chances of success. We sometimes overlook the intense professional fulfillment and personal joy that such a life can bring, the way that artists can use their work to discover more about themselves and their world, all while sharing something of beauty with their community. 91视频 Comparative Literature alums Joanie Wolkoff (2005), Cheney Munson (2006), and Andy Maag (2013) prove that realizing one鈥檚 artistic dreams isn鈥檛 only possible: it can bring a happiness unlike any other.

A few years after graduating from 91视频, Joanie Wolkoff started her first band, Her Habits, with producer Sangford Livingston. Although now a highly respected musician, Wolkoff鈥檚 road to success wasn鈥檛 a smooth one. In an interview with Unrecorded, she describes living in a perpetually freezing house with only a folding chair and a mattress as a time of clarity, when she could entirely give herself over to her music. 鈥淚n the year leading up to the completion of these songs, I found myself, as terrifying as it was, building them out of personal momentum and taking rightful ownership over parts of my life that I had neglected for a long time.鈥� Her latest project is a full-length solo album, in collaboration with producer Icarus Moth, entitled , where she uses her unique talents for vocal arrangement and poetic storytelling to explore the role of shame in our lives.

Similarly, after eight years of teaching, Cheney Munson found that in order for his music to become something lasting and meaningful, his creativity couldn鈥檛 remain a mere luxury. He quit his job and with his six-piece folk-rock band, Tacoma Narrows, initiated a kickstarter campaign to help fund the recording of their first full-length album, Good Mourning. The band has played sold out album release shows, headlined various music festivals, and played venues all around the United States. As Munson himself put it , 鈥淚 would hope that if you have something creative you love to do, you鈥檇 set aside the time to really do it. That doesn鈥檛 have to come at the expense of practical decisions; it can actually be in service of them.鈥�

Little is known of the origins of The Other Band on Earth, composed of Andy Maag, Dan Schwartz (who met Andy while a visiting student at 91视频!), Tyler Shenk-Boright, and Adley Penner. Descriptions of their music range from 鈥減sychedelic doom lounge鈥� to 鈥渆xperimental-progressive rock鈥� but what holds true in all of their songs and videos is their dry humor (鈥淭he Other Band on Earth always lives up to its name鈥�) and the ways in which they mix the visual and the musical to create complex and fascinating soundscapes. After releasing a self-titled album in 2015, the band has just come out with a new single, 鈥淧leasure鈥�. There is perhaps no better way to describe their mission than in their own words: 鈥淎s lovers of art and love, the members handle their fame well. They each have car collections and have amassed famous friends and lovers. If you like high-energy deep-dives into the pits of subconscious compost, you like The Other Band on Earth.鈥�

Is it easy? Nope. Is everyone going to understand? Probably not. But for these three alums, as well as the many other artists and artists-to-be in the 91视频 community, following their own creative paths, no matter what the roadblocks, turned out to be the only possible way to live their best lives.