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First Angel Media

Alicia Lynn Multi-Talented Performance, Beautiful Art, and Jewelry!

Alicia Lynn 2021 FAM Models ShootAlicia Lynn is a model (even for First Angel Media), performer, and artisan from the Pittsburgh area who is taking her crafts to new heights (even sometimes as a stilt-walker)! Inspired from a vast range of past influences, Alicia Lynn has always used fearless approaches to opening new doors and expanding her repertoire. I have had the pleasure to recently interview her and learn more about how she has blossomed her career, what some of her favorite career highlights are, what some of her upcoming endeavors are, and more! The answers even give me inspiration to be confident with taking new steps to blossom out my career in the entertainment industry! Here is what Alicia Lynn has to say about her career journey.

 

1.) What types of modeling art, performance art and merchandise art do you create? How long have you been creating?

Oh my goodness!  That’s such a wonderful and huge question! I’m going to do my best to answer succinctly!  Art has been my survival trade my whole life, so it’s been a constant state of evolution that has given me experience in both alternative and commercial lifestyles, such as dark-edged gothic-leaning burlesque, classic Vegas style showgirl, vintage circus acts (on stilts!), contemporary, and ambient flow dancing. It’s an honor to have run a gauntlet of opportunities that exhilarate a flux of cool I try to feed into my jewelry, resin art, paintings, and performances.

 

2.) What has influenced you to go into modeling and performing arts?

Alicia Lynn as BloomSo I alluded to art as my survival trade.  It has always been my go-to when I found myself powerless against my surroundings. I could dive into a world of creation to ebb the flow of what felt like my inevitable destruction.  Painting, poetry, and filling sketch books became a war cry fueled by The Crow, complex anime characters, and video game vixens.

When I mixed all that in with a love of theater instilled at an early age by intelligent parenting, Jem and the Holograms, and an ease for understanding Shakespeare, I had dreams.  Once I got my foot in the door of my first play in high school and found out all I had to do was try, I was going to keep trying.  For those who called me “too dramatic”,  I didn’t mind.  There’s a place for me to be dramatic and make it lucrative.  Put me in, Coach.

And I do not mean to say I haven’t faced rejection in performance when I said “all I had to do was try!”  It’s always been worth it to get the “no,” learn, grow, fight harder, and fight smarter next time.

 

3.) What helps you get excited for a shoot or a show, whether it be a song, a quote, or another type of motivation?

Getting asked gets me pretty hype!  I’m genuinely jazzed about every opportunity I’m able to take to perform that I’m usually subscribing to calming agents to maintain control when going to work.  I go into my zone.  I listen to my music, put my war paint on, and I get into character to rock my jam so I can entertain a room full of patrons who endured the workweek to dump their paychecks into their gas tank, cover the babysitter, buy the tickets, grab the drinks, bring their friends, and enjoy a night off.  Those folks want to take a ride, and I’ve built them a rollercoaster.  Let’s go!

When I’m backstage with anyone who is getting nervous about going on, I love reminding them, “Everyone out there wants to see you do well. They’re cheering FOR you. You know what you’re doing. Go show ’em how it’s done.”  There’s a light that goes on, and I feel blessed in those moments.

God gives us all our things to do.  I own performance as mine to the degree that I don’t get anxious unless there’s a reason to feel unsafe, which could yield a cancellation.  I never want to cancel, but it’s worth mentioning how important it is for performers and bookers to know that we have a right to assert when we feel unsafe.  If we have concerns, it shouldn’t be a problem to address those concerns. For instance, if a business is going to increase revenue by selling more food and drinks that yield bigger tips for their servers than they would without our talents, promotions, and ticket sales, they can help make sure we can keep doing that safely, respectfully, and at no less than industry standard pricing. It just seems like good math.

 

4.) What are some of your favorite moments from modeling and performing?

Alicia Lynn - Cover Model

Alicia Lynn was the cover model of the April 5th Edition of First Angel Media’s Artists Uncovered

I feel attacked.  There are so many!  Every time I perform in Harrisburg with Felicia O’Tool Buffington and that fabulously freaky family over there is otherworldly. Every time I perform with Phat Man Dee is a blessing.  She has amassed such a cavalcade of awesomely talented, heart-rich humans.  No show is ever anything like the last, but they’re always a blast.  We’ll be back at Starwood Festival this summer, and I can’t wait to get transcendental in the Puffer Dome (you’ll have to go look – www.starwoodfestival.com).

The first time I got to perform with my band, Venus In Furs  at The Rex (rest in peace!) opening for Lords of Acid. It was an epic come-to-life moment.  I grew up learning what naughtiness was listening to LoA as my brother would blast them driving to school every morning of junior high.  Dreams of leather, corsets, and boots up over my knee abounded.  I got to live it!

The one time I was doing The Atrocity Exhibition at The Rex (you are so missed!) and got to glitter bomb the stage while trick-riding on a mecha-pony to The Smashing PumpkinsTonight, Tonight” was a performance I will never forget.

There was that time I got paid to watch Jon Bon Jovi get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a cute outfit and help myself to the catering.  Pays to be the help!

So then there was this one time when I was a regular performer at a nightclub prior to the pandemic.  It was 2019, and it was the day of my grandmother’s funeral.  Heavy as that day was, I had two chances to perform, and I took them (after the service, of course).  I sang backup at an event and then I went to work at the club later.  While it might seem poor taste, art is my survival trade.  These were places I could put the pain and celebrate the life my grandmother lived so beautifully.  She sang all the time.  She believed in the gift of dance.  That night at the club, I was working with one of the girls I was closest with and safest with.  When we went out to get into our boxes for our last set, the DJ just happened to put on a particularly popular song by a particularly popular female R&B performer. Something just went off like a spark.  There was no spotlight on us, but the crowd noticed us (and our security escorts) as we came to descend the staircase, bopping to the music.  As they noticed us and grouped around the bottom of the stairs, we continued to amp up, dance harder, and they danced back at us.  It was just this pure moment of epic vibing.  We all lit up together, and I was grateful to God for it.  Love you, Grandmother!

 

5.) What advice do you have for those who are going into modeling and performing?

It’s true what they say about thick skin.  Get some, and it will be okay.  Find out who you are and stay true to that.  Don’t force anything.  Make healthy choices.  Practice in the mirror.  Hydrate.  Eat when you’re hungry.  Sleep well.  Stretch.  Get fresh air.  I pray a lot, and it does me a lot of good.

Alicia Lynn - Stiltwalker

6.) What has influenced you to create merchandise?

My mother had a Navajo and Hopi Native American jewelry store (which later expanded to include beautiful jewelry, clothing, and tapestries from India, Nepal, and Tibet) which she closed after I graduated college. So, I grew up in an atmosphere of creative loveliness and cultural exposure that taught me how to make jewelry, the importance of stones, and a responsibility to source material, integrity, and history.  My father was a History teacher (among so many things), so both of my parents had a call to be good storytellers. It all fed me.

 

7.) What are some of your favorite merchandise creation moments?

Honestly, finding Frenchies has been so completely cool.  Frenchies offers cruelty free, clean cosmetics and spa treatments.  As a vegan and animal rights enthusiast, it’s exciting to be partnered with a company like this who uses safe products and practices to promote wellness with beauty.  I have been desperately seeking a brick-and-mortar setup without having to build a store, and this is everything.  It is a next level blessing to have a company see your work, want it for their clients, and to promote you.  As much as the support of my friends and family has meant to me, it’s a different kind of confirmation that I have an ability to deliver something that helps others express who they are.  When you can give that to someone, it’s profound.  I feel very blessed every time I get the word that something has sold, and it’s time to bring in new stock!

 

8.) Are there any inspirations that help you decide what to create, such as nature, inspirational moments, or other forms of inspiration?

Everything!  Music, movies, walks in the woods, talks with God, my mother, my father, New Mexico, good books, and life experiences (the good, the bad, and the ugly!).

 

9.) What advice do you have for those who want to create merchandise?
Alicia Lynn - JewelryMentors are awesome and everything I said to #5.  Mentors should also be added to the answer to #5.  I’m someone who is mostly self-taught, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t get any help.  Mentors matter, and it matters to mentor when the torch is yours to pass along.  Don’t be stingy with good advice when someone is hungry for it.

 

 

10.) What makes your art forms unique from other similar artists and fitting for everyone? What do you think draws fans to you?

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

 

11.) Do you have any future new projects?

I’m getting into a new career as an events DJ for Keystone Entertainment, which will keep me busy much of the summer.  I’ll have some events peppered in with Phat Man Dee, Muscle of Love (Pittsburgh’s finest Alice Cooper tribute band), and Venus In Furs returns to the stage with Stabbing Westward at the end of August.  I might run away with the Pittsburgh Circus Arts Collaborative once or twice.  Usually, you can find me at a Steel City Comicon with Heroineburgh as my Catwoman-inspired character, Sintilla.  This August, however, I’ll be gussied up as the original cult queen, Regina with Ted Sikora and Hero Tomorrow Comics.  In September, I’m excited to be prancing in Pittsburgh Fashion Week for the incredibly talented Kaitlyn Berthold.

In the meantime, I’m polishing my online store while enjoying having my jewelry in Frenchies Modern Nail Spa’s South Hills location.  Frenchies offers cruelty free, clean cosmetics and spa treatments.  As a vegan and animal rights enthusiast, it’s exciting to be partnered with a company like this who uses safe products and practices to promote wellness with beauty.

 

12.) What do you like to do when you are not creating?

I tend to practice creating what I create when I’m not creating.  It’s an addiction. Just kidding!

Not really.  If I’m not creating, I’m learning something new that will make me a better creator or looking for new things to create, or praying or hunting for a therapist (mental wellness matters!).  Lately, however, I’m also spending time with my very cool, very handsome, very wonderfully talented, and supportive boyfriend, Matthew!  Among many shared interests in music and performing (he’s a profoundly badass musician!), we have been going on adventures, connecting spiritually, and dipping our toes into Muay Thai training.

 

Alicia Lynn has a wide range of talent that includes something for everyone! If you are looking for modeling needs, shows to attend, or even some beautiful new jewelry, be sure to check out her work. She is even a great guide to anyone who wants to follow in an artistic outlet and her interview speaks wonders of how faith and confidence can be  food to intuit seeds! Just like Alicia Lynn, do not be afraid to follow your heart and let your dreams blossom this spring. You may be surprised with how you will grow!