My Journey, Am I There Yet?

I am on the e-mail list for http://www.SUBvertMagazine.com . It is run by two people who’s goals are to help us creatives succeed! What a concept huh? This morning I opened up an e-mail from them with a link to their journey to where they are now in their careers/lives, and it inspired me to write up mine. Its a rough unedited version, but so is the journey, rough and unedited!

I went to school for fine-art at a state university. I knew I was an artist, but I realized very early on that I had no clue how to have a career as an artist. There are no jobs to apply for when you graduate with a BFA. Even though I was in the art department I also had to do general education, which is why I went to a state university instead of an art school like Pratt or The Art Institute. In my english classes we were given very loose topics to write essays about so I found myself researching how to make a career as an artist. I focused on artists in many different arenas to figure out what the possibilities are and where I wanted to land. I discovered there were the art festival artists, the commercial artists, and the gallery artists. I know there are many more ‘categories’, but that is what I focused on. I wanted to focus on how to be a gallery artist. Throughout my college career I sought out opportunities and got my work in some great spaces. I sold paintings and approached my general education teachers to get commissions. Towards the end of college, I took this class that all BFA students at the University of South Florida are required to take. Its called “The Real World”. It was taught by a great guy by the name of Richard Olinger.
We were taught how to ‘do the dance’ of going to art galleries and networking, how to properly document our work, write up artist statements, and the business of art. After this class I spent a lot of time researching opportunities to show my work online. As a result of that I had a chance to have my painting in the Smithsonian as part of a traveling exhibition, and another piece in the Kennedy Center which was sold. When I was on my way to DC for the opening of the show I stopped in NY for a few days. I decided to bring my little portfolio that I carried around with me everywhere around Soho, Chelsea, and as many art galleries as my feet could carry me to in 2 days. Nobody cared to give a girl who looked like she was 16, but was actually around 21 or so even a first glance. I was pretty persistent and most people told me to go to White Columns in Brooklyn. One instance I vividly remember is going into a gallery called The Martin Lawrence gallery and asking the owner how artists are shown in his gallery. He was very mean at first and asked me “You think you are worth 100,000 dollars?”. Really he did! I responded saying, not now, but I will be. I flipped open my portfolio without asking if I could show it to him. I was showing him my piece that was about to be hung in the Smithsonian. Once he saw it he started giving me the goods! He told me to get this book “The Complete Guide to New York Art Galleries”. It has every gallery in New York listed in it, how to contact them, what they are looking for, who they cater to, ect. He told me about the rent of the gallery and how they need to make sure the art on the walls can pay the rent and so on. I eventually went to this White Columns everybody was directing me to. I told the lady where I have been and what I was doing and she was very nice. She asked me if I was OK, because of course those other galleries could care less about me or my questions. Apparently walking around NYC with your portfolio is NOT the way to do it!

In between all this school, life was really tough. I was homeless for 3 months after a break for freedom from my possessive boyfriend. I had friends so I couch surfed and slept on my studio floor while in school. I had no help from family while I was away from home and I am also a severe asthmatic, which prevented me from finishing school at one point because I got so sick living in this off campus dorm that I was hospitalized twice and had to take a semester off to go home and recover. I returned to school the next semester and graduated with distinction because of the drive my art advisor and the dean had seen in me despite all the struggle my advisor also saw me deal with.

After graduation I moved to NY because thats where all the ambitious artists go. Turns out it was so dog eat dog and so overwhelming that I knew I wouldn’t be able to thrive in that atmosphere. During the six months I was there I felt like a little fish writhing for a new place to go and a way to survive and still be able to make art my priority. My thoughts quickly whirled around many ideas and I chose to apply for a job as a flight attendant thinking I could be on call and paint whenever I wasn’t working and that it would be a great way to meet new people from all over. I got the first job I applied for in NY, but didn’t want to live in NY. My second interview was in Chicago and I was flown out there to interview with United. I took the blue line from O’hare downtown for the very first time ever and popped up above ground at Dearborn and Monroe, and I was shocked by the expanse, cleanliness, and beauty of downtown Chicago. I just felt ‘right’ here. The interview was going great until they asked me to take off my shoes and reach the letter ‘A’ on the back of the office door. The interviewer said that my personality was great for the job but that I wasn’t tall enough. I was a little upset, but I found my new home. I came back a month and a half later to visit and figure out a new plan and moved here two and a half months after that in the thick of winter!

This was my first winter ever having lived in Florida most of my life and originally being from South America. I decided to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to make new friends and network. I took classes I didn’t have access to at my former University. A few months into school I found myself running very low on money that I had saved from a few commissions I did in NY. I had to get a part time job, but had a very hard time finding one since I was new to Chicago and in the winter job opportunities are low. Everybody told me to come back in the spring. I eventually stumbled upon an interior paint store in my neighborhood on the way to go get groceries. There were no girls working there and I went up to the counter to ask if they were hiring. The guy at the counter told me the wallpaper department was not hiring, and I corrected him politely stating that I wanted to work in the paint department. He got me an application I filled it out and had an interview with the GM of this small independent business owned by the great grandson of the gentleman who started it in 1886. I was down to $400 dollars when I got the job, but the catch was that I had to be full time. That meant I had to drop a few of my classes at school and waste loan money! AHHHH Long long story short, I worked for 9 months full time while going to school on my days off and then convinced the owner of the store to let me go part time because the GM would never allow it. I showed him my art and told him about my goals and he was happy to oblige. I now work weekends only and I am in the process of firing up my art career for good!

Thanks so very much for sharing your story and helping others! I am also really into helping others. I have a handful of people that I have helped push themselves back into their love of creating. I have also helped artists sell their first paintings and just recently I helped an artist get into a huuuuge show at the Merchandise Mart here in Chicago.

You can find their story here: http://www.subvertmagazine.com/blog/about-us-the-unedited-story/
and I suggest signing up for their e-mails and reading their interviews, its all very genuine, and thats hard to come by!

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