Dedication, Burnout, & Vulnerability on Social Media
Gianna Andrews
So nice to meet you. I feel like I've been following you for I don't even know how long, it's just one of those Instagram things where I just found you years ago and like started following your work and I love what you do.
Laura Burkhart
Thank you. Same, I feel like we both kind of started around the same time or Instagram was a very different situation. I feel like you're one of the original artists that was also kind of new in the space and I follow along. It's been fun to see all the things that you do. I actually don't know how we've never met
Gianna Andrews
I know. Where are you based right now?
Laura Burkhart
Well, I'm a little bit north of Seattle and Lake Forest Park. But where are you?
Gianna Andrews
I'm in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula. Maybe one day we'll connect in person. Small world. So much has changed since that time of 2018. I didn't fully declare my LLC until 2018 but I was out of college trying the art thing. In 2017 it started picking up speed and then in 2018 they're like you need an LLC because you made this money. That's when it all kind of happened
Laura Burkhart
That's about the same time I left my position and went full time into self employment around 2017/2018.
Gianna Andrews
That's so funny. Well, you're still here crushing it.
Laura Burkhart
Still going, living to fight another day.
Gianna Andrews
I totally feel that. I kind of like these interviews to be a conversation. We'll kind of start with your story and who you are today. I'll just ask some questions about where you're at and I like the more conversational style. I've been getting so much out of doing these interviews and it's been such a good excuse to reach out to artists and people I look up to. I think it's like a cool way to just connect and my audience benefits from it a lot. I'm sure you have many budding artists following you, you get questions from people. It's cool to share these stories with people that are trying to figure it out. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. We're gonna dive into your background story and your origin story with art. But to start out, why don't you just give a brief introduction of who you are today?
Laura Burkhart
I'm Laura Burkhart and I'm an artist's living north of Seattle. I've dabbled in tons of mediums over the years. But these days, my real bread and butter is landscape painting and woodwork, like woodwork/ sculptural/wall art. I'm a mother of two, I have an almost two year old and a four and a half year old. That takes up quite a bit of my time but I work out of my backyard studio, which is where we are now. I do everything from launching collections to working with clients one on one on custom pieces for both residential and commercial. Everything from murals to front door type stuff.
Gianna Andrews
I feel like you've got a really wide range of skills and what you're able to do. To have the wood elements and some art that's just purely focused on like woodworking. Then some art that combines the painting and the wood and then some just paint like it's really cool. You've got quite the skill set.
Laura Burkhart
Thank you. Yeah, I feel like to some people it can feel like very different mediums. Some people get confused that I do both things, but I feel like most artists like to dabble in a lot of different mediums. You may be known for one, but most of us have tried all the creative outlets at one point, right?
Gianna Andrews
Absolutely. I think it's cool when you can merge the painting with the wood. It all seems cohesive to me.
Laura Burkhart
Thank you. That's good to know.
Gianna Andrews
When did you start kind of being creative? And what was your origin story with being an artist? I know, a lot of us as artists have, like, started as kids. But sometimes it's not something you realize till later in life. How did you find that?
Laura Burkhart
I'm definitely the started it as a kid and never put it down story. I can remember at age five, it was like I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. Definitely lots of iterations throughout time of whether that was actually possible. I think I really grew up in an era where it was not. There were very few role models that were doing that. It was my understanding of “ that's great and you're good at it but it doesn't really happen for people to actually make it a career”. It was more figure something else out for your career. That was an era and generation of: you go to college to get a degree in something very marketable and then you get a job with a 401k. That's how you do it. Then you can do your art on the side. I was always super passionate, any chance I got I was always taking art classes, entering art competitions. Everything in my community was always a huge part of my life. Then I went to UW, which is University of Washington, if people are not local to here. I tried a couple other majors to get more of what I think was seen as the “marketable major”, like what am I going to do for a career. And just really ended up going all in on art. I said this is what I really want to do, I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. I know that I'm gonna have to work really hard to make it happen, but I'm willing to do that. I went the art route, became an art major and every job I've ever had has been a creative job in some aspect, whether it was working for other designers or companies as a creative. Even in college, my friends were maybe working at restaurants and stuff and I was like at a pottery painting studio, doing custom paintings and teaching art classes and stuff like that. I've sort of never strayed from the artist career. I always kind of had my eye on that. It's had a lot of different iterations throughout the years but it's always been the path, always been the goal. All I've ever wanted to do.
Gianna Andrews
That's amazing. I love that. It's special in life to have that type of clarity because I think there are a lot of people that don't have that clarity on that one thing that really makes them feel alive. I always feel grateful for that in myself. I'm really glad that I know that this is like what I like to do.
Laura Burkhart
I think that's such a true point. I come back to that all the time. I know that it's a gift in itself, just to have the clarity to even know what you want to do with your life. I come back to that all the time when I'm struggling or things are not going as well. There are a lot of other things I could have done and at any point I would have been trying to come back to this. This really feels like my heart and soul’s purpose. That kind of keeps me working really hard at it, making it happen. I just feel grateful to have had that clarity for so long.
Gianna Andrews
That's awesome. Before you became a full time artist back in 2017/2018, you worked a couple of corporate jobs. It sounds like they were also focused on design and art aspects. But what was it like making that transition from the corporate world into working for yourself?
Laura Burkhart
It was hard. I have to say, 2017 wasn't the first time, I did it earlier than that. I wouldn't say I failed, but it didn't go that well. I sort of freaked out and ended up getting another job and going back to working for someone else as a creative and an artist. But I think I wasn't fully prepared that first time. At this point, I’m 20 years out of college, I'm almost 40. It's been about 20 years of being in the creative and design field and working for other people, and then always doing my own thing on the side. I'd say for quite a few years, I was very seriously doing my own thing on the side of jobs with very creative roles that were very much like dream job scenarios for an artist with great companies and brands. But it still always felt like I was craving doing my own thing. It was hard for me to leave because I think from the outside people are like you're doing the thing, you're getting paid to be creative and do these artistic things. It was much more comfortable, I had a little bit of 401k and I had the benefits. All that stuff that you and I do not have as creative entrepreneurs, but I just really knew that I wanted to be living a different lifestyle and doing it on my own. The first time, like I said, I left one job, I didn't quite know all the taxes and the actual realities of living and doing it. So I just ended up finding a really great opportunity and going back into the art field. I like to say that just because it might take a little bit of time. That second time, I was working a more than full time job, this is before I had kids, and then every single moment I had outside of that job, I was really working my butt off on putting all my creative stuff out there. But also really saving every dollar I made, really tracking and understanding my costs in a very different way. I like to say I really diligently built the net so that when I left it wasn't like, leap and the net will appear. It was like okay, leap and I know that I've really built a foundation for myself. I had clients at that point, I had been selling work at that point. I had things lined up before I left. I knew after having gone back and forth that being on my own was really just the lifestyle and I needed to make that work. It was a little bit scary. But that time at the end of 2017 I was super prepared, maybe to the point that I could have left sooner, but I was overthinking it at that point and so scared. I finally had to have a wake up call. I actually had a pretty traumatic miscarriage and that is what ultimately pushed me into leaving.
I'm trying not to be as much this way. But I'm one of those people that the universe has to really be like, it's time and shake me into doing the next step. That was one of those things. It was sort of like, Okay, we want to have a family and I had this idea in my head I needed to be very much, as society says, in this corporate role. I had to have the security of a company if I wanted to have a family. So even though I knew so much in my heart I wanted to be on my own as an artist that felt really scary. So when I miscarried, I kind of was in eff it mode and kind of like a new lease on life. Everything's shift into perspective, I think when you have any kind of loss. I was just like, this is what I want to do. I'm gonna go for it. I kind of left everything behind but I had been preparing for so long, I think it was just like that actual leap, that had a lot of overthinking and a lot of self doubt. But I finally just did it and never looked back since then, honestly.
Gianna Andrews
That's amazing. There's a lot of gold in what you just said. I relate to that so much too, in a way. I was definitely not prepared at all, when I became a full time artist, because I was straight out of college and had little life experience, even ever having a real job. But I think for creative entrepreneurs, people that want to be entrepreneurs, I always recommend having that security and having some sort of plan to a certain point, but you can only plan to a certain point, right? Because you could try and then you have to go back and get a job. But I do also feel like there's a thing about listening to the universe signs. If you're one of those stubborn people, which it sounds like, you might have that, and I definitely had that in my own way. It took me breaking my back to find my path to art because I was going to school for something that was depressing me. That injury helped me find art. I think sometimes these really hard things that happen in life definitely happened for a reason. And I've found that with many people I've talked to. It makes sense why you finally decided to do it. That's the silver lining of going through a really hard thing.
Laura Burkhart
Yeah, I totally agree.
Gianna Andrews
Thanks for sharing that. Now you're a full time artist, you're also a mother, I love how you share parts of your life on Instagram. I think that's what everybody wants to see, is the artists behind the art. That's what makes our art more powerful is the storytelling. I love how you add your kids into your storytelling, or how your daughter is doing art on your desk while you're creating. How does that balance go for you? We all struggle with work life balance, especially as creative entrepreneurs and hard workers. How do you find that? Do you allow yourself more time in your life now to have free time?
Laura Burkhart
I think that's a hard one for me and it is tricky to balance. I think, of course, now having kids it's like a whole other ballgame, too. But it also sort of forces me to have more work life balance. I would say the first few years of going full time by myself, I just had it so in my head that it was going to be hard, I was always going to have to work so much harder, so much more than I would ever get paid for. It was this acceptance that I just need to make a livelihood, I'll work my butt off and I just kind of accepted that I would be burning myself out, running myself into the ground, and it would be worth it because I'd be doing what I love.
I think I had to rewire that in my brain to some extent, because I burnt out a lot. I would have these days in my studio, where I would have the time to work and the space but I was hitting a wall, I couldn't do anything. I was trying to dig myself in even more and sort of make myself do it. And as I'm sure you know, that is just not how making art works, like almost ever. It's very hard to just force it out of you. I think the times that I've done that I've made the worst stuff. I've made myself create and just bust stuff out because I just felt like I needed to. I was at such a level of burn out and those were not my best. The time that I was doing the most and sort of head down working are not when I had the most productivity and the best creation. I had to really learn that it's okay to step away, not only that it's okay to step away but it's actually really vital to my process, these days especially. I know that if I'm not giving myself time and space to rest and recalibrate but also to be inspired, be out in nature, do the things that are actually inspiring my work, the work suffers. It doesn't actually help to just stay in the studio and try to make work all the time but never go see the mountains that I'm painting. The same goes with the kids, my kids inspire me so much. I love hanging out with them and becoming a mother has been like this whole new level of self. Of me being an artist it's really opened me up in a different way. The more I try to multitask too much, it just doesn't work. I have to really allow myself space. That said, of course, there are days where I am totally multitasking, it's just the reality of it.
It's fun to have my kids in here, well not my son actually, he's not really allowed in here. He's almost two and the terrible twos kind of crazy age. He doesn't come in here much. But my daughter loves painting and drawing. She will spend hours just painting, drawing, and not wanting me to even look. She has her own thing going and I love her and being side by side. As much as I would love to be one of those people that my whole feed in my life is just like white walls with beautiful artwork, and like really curated spaces. That's not the reality of my life at all, ever. It’s always a mess, always a little bit chaotic, the kids are always here, I'm in and out and that's just true. I can't really separate, to act like I'm like a mother here and then an artist to keep it totally separate is not authentic, and also just not doable. I think it's allowed me to have more work life balance just by accepting that. Just saying this is true to me. The more I try to keep it all separate, neat and tidy, it just doesn't work. It kind of has to be all a mishmash.
Gianna Andrews
Absolutely. I think that's what makes it more powerful for the viewer, your audience or your customers to feel like they know. If everything was curated and all perfect and white, that's just not the reality of anyone's life. It's like an airbrushed model. It's just not who we are. I really think, especially these days, the more real we can be, is really inspiring. I appreciate that you carry that into the message you share with the world and your art and everything.
Laura Burkhart
I feel like with social media. I don't know if you feel this way. I've never been someone that has just been like, this is a business, I'm just going to be strategic and treat it like a business. For me the actual interpersonal connection of it all keeps it interesting and keeps it worthwhile for me. I think I never really felt like I could be someone that just sort of had the strategy and put out the marketing, and the branding. My art is an extension of me and myself and my life and it just doesn't feel authentic to me and my art to keep it so separate, curated, and strategic. It is raw, touchy, feely, emotional, and all over the place. That's the truth.
Gianna Andrews
Since starting full time in 2018 on Instagram do you feel like the way that you share has changed? Because I feel like I've been going through this a lot where I used to write these paragraphs about how I felt and share them with my art. It was also during a time when I was going through a lot of stuff. I was in my early 20s to mid 20s. I just had all this angst and was like a little bit less stable in a way than I am now. I almost feel like my life's more boring now and there's not as much passion. I have passion like there's just not as much chaos to post on the internet. I'm wondering for you because you've also grown up and gone through a phase of your life with this. Do you feel like your message has changed since then?
Laura Burkhart
I feel like the whole landscape of social media has changed. It feels like there's more pressure to be delivering content. Whereas of course, like when we started it was just like posting daily instant photos and your feelings. I'm still pretty heart on my sleeve but I feel like these days, the focus has to be so much more on creating interesting content that someone will actually watch and engage in long enough. I'm usually exhausted by that point to then actually write an authentic real caption. Then sometimes I do and no one sees it or seems to read it. For me, it's like partly that and then more overthinking it, even though in a lot of ways in my life, I'm much more relaxed and able to just be more authentically myself. I think it was less serious back then. I don't know what it is about now, it just feels like it has to be so much more. I mean that was back in the day when people just posted their meals. I feel like we would just post like the color palette that you were working on, and just say how you felt. It was simple. It was real. It was raw, I do miss those days. I think I'm still like that on Instagram stories here and there. But, I do think it's changed for multiple reasons. I feel like there's also so much more strategy and this is what people actually want to hear and see. We've become so much more disconnected with our audiences and communities alike. It's hard to know how to approach it. I feel like I'm constantly like okay, I'm just gonna do this and keep posting. I don't know if it's even reaching anyone anymore or if anyone wants to see. I just kind of keep doing my thing. Then I come back to how great it is as a tool and a connector. Meeting people I never would have known you or your work or other people. I feel like I constantly go back and forth on that all the time. I am just grateful that we have it though, because when I was looking through my old files with these portfolios, I would print out and literally walk into a shop or gallery as a student, like, “Hi, I'm Laura. Here's my art” that was it, there was no other way, right? Having this essentially free platform to put yourself out there to connect with people in such a real authentic way. I don't take that for granted. I think we're very lucky that we even have that because that was not a thing especially when I graduated with my art degree. Back then it was like what now what do you do? To be able to put yourself out there in that way and that artists can grow so quickly, just by a viral reel or something it’s an pretty incredible time. It has its challenges, I think.
Gianna Andrews
I think all of that makes sense and it does seem like these days, it's more hit or miss. But it is still a great connector. I feel like I go through my cycles with it where I'm like, oh yeah, this makes sense. Then I'm like, no actually I don't know what I'm doing on here, I just need a week off. It's a good way to connect. Are you at a point now where projects come in and there's more of a steady flow of business?
Laura Burkhart
Yeah, I mean. I'd say yes and no, it constantly ebbs and flows. I've had times where I have felt like more is coming in than I can handle and it's a little bit overwhelming, but great. Then times where it feels like total crickets. There are just such huge peaks and valleys to this and I think just the longer you do it, the more you realize that it’s just part of it. It's gonna have slower times, it's gonna have busier times and to sort of not freak out in between. Nowadays, I do feel like I have this pressure. I need to keep growing my audience because for the kind of work that I do, I don't have tons of repeat customers. It's not like I have a product that people buy over and over again. Maybe people buy one big piece and then that's like all they'll ever purchase. Maybe they're still a fan and they're still following but I do feel a little bit of pressure that I need to keep posting, keep putting myself out there and hope I’m reaching new people. But at the same time at this point I do feel like every project always leads to another project, even off the internet. People are seeing things in person and there's enough of a steady flow that I feel like I can sort of just trust that as long as I keep doing the work, it will keep coming through and keep coming up. Keep saying yes to the right projects and more of those projects will come through. A little bit of both. This is weird to say when you're not as busy and you don't have as many projects coming through. If you can go back and tell that version of yourself to enjoy it to savor and enjoy this time. Because like some of the best work is created in that time. Where no one wants or needs anything from you. No one's asking anything of you. You're creating purely from that drive and that excitement to create with zero pressure. It’s a feeling that I wish I could capture and recreate for myself now. I think the best work kind of comes out of that time. Then that will turn into the next thing and then gain some momentum. It's hard to get that back. I don't know if you feel that way. I feel like now, most of the time I'm creating specifically for people who want something specific. Then when I'm creating new work, I have so much more pressure on it for myself, it's very hard to get back that feeling of when no one cared. I could just throw something out there and if one person saw it and said they liked it, that was success. That was so exciting. The longer you do it, you sort of lose that and forget that. I constantly have to remind myself of that. Nowadays, I'm disappointed in myself if I'm not selling out a whole collection. I'm like, that's crazy. It wasn't that long ago that I would put collections up month after month after month and when one sold like seven months in I was so elated. That was such a different time.
Gianna Andrews
It's almost hard to one up yourself. Once you hit the bar this high, then that's your expectation or better as an artist, Then I’m like wait people don’t like me anymore. It's like, no, that's not the reality. But like some things do just do better than others, or the right person at the right time sees it. It is a total ebb and flow. I always just try to remind myself during the slower times to maybe take an afternoon off like because there'll be a time when I don't get to do that, because I have deadlines. That always comes back around. Not burning myself out in the slow time so that I can like work hard during the busy times to totally
Laura Burkhart
I don't know if you feel this way, but I feel like sometimes the slow times the burnout is totally mental. The worry and the self doubt. Then you burn yourself out just spinning your wheels. Are you ever going to be able to do this again, and then like it does come back around. Then you're busy and you’re like man, had I taken that slower time to decompress, do some different things, make some work just for myself, go on an adventure I'd be in such a better place now. Such is the cycle of an artist. On one hand I think if we had the ability to completely cut that off and not feel emotional about our work, we wouldn't be making the work we're making. It’s a catch 22. I feel like my husband even keeled. Sometimes I really envy that because I feel like I'm just like a friggin roller coaster. I'm up, I'm down. I feel everything so deeply. It's exhausting, but it's also so raw, and I feel like I can create from that place. But I'd be nice to just sort of be that mellow, even keel person, but I know that I would lose some of how I create that way too.
Gianna Andrews
And that's what makes you guys such a good match.
Laura Burkhart
Yes. Definitely complimentary. It would be a disaster if he was as emotional as I am.
Gianna Andrews
This is kind of my final question. You hear right now people talking about how hard the world is, it's a hard time to be alive after COVID. We have this environmental crisis, there's a lot of stuff to be worried about if you look at the news. But I find that often, artists and creatives have more hope than others, because we are connected to our purpose in our life as far as creating, but what's giving you hope about the future in the world right now?
Laura Burkhart
Yeah, that's a hard one. It's that and also the ability to sort of escape and what we're doing. I have a lot of guilt about that, because I do sometimes feel like I'm so focused on sort of what is essentially fluff, you know the extra, just like art. But then I remember that we do need that optimism. We need the hope we need people focusing on just the good and the beauty. And that's where I feel my calling is. I feel like at any given point, even if I'm personally going through something or the world's going through something, I feel like my purpose and my work is to focus on the beauty and focus on the light, always in the darkness and in whatever's going on. That's kind of what keeps me going. I don't know if I would say that it totally gives me hope on what's happening in the world, but I think I can see that in every aspect of life. I'm definitely someone that is going to look at the the silver lining, look at the more hopeful side, look at the good and honestly hope that that outweighs the bad. Hope that we keep moving forward on every little thing. A step in a better direction. Keeping it moving.
I think it can get overwhelming and I don't know if that's a really definitive answer. I try to focus on the good, the beauty, and on the light. I feel like alone will have a ripple effect and more of us can do that. That's how I know I show up best in the world. Hopefully that will affect something. Yeah it's scary out there and having kids growing up in this world wondering what it's going to be like. I think that's always the reality to some extent.
Gianna Andrews
Yeah, and I think the more we can focus on the hope and the joy and remind others to do so. It's really important, because there's a lot of negativity. That's no way to live in your mind all the time just being worried about what's going to happen or what could happen. I appreciate that answer.
I was curious about if you could just talk briefly about the trade program you do on your website, going back into business a little bit. Have you found that to be a good way to connect with designers and consultants? Did that kind stem from your interior design degree or how did that come about?
Laura Burkhart
I did interior design after my art degree, it was sort of like a more marketable skill and wanting to do something different. I did some design but always kind of came back to the art but I love working with designers and have worked with both clients directly and designers over the years. I honestly never for a long time did any kind of to the trade discount. To be totally honest, I was pricing myself too low. The idea of then giving any sort of discount to anyone on top of that was like, I quite honestly couldn't afford to do it. That was just the reality. Things were coming through enough directly but I had to come out of that and go big picture to price myself in a way that I can actually afford to do this. I realized how great any time I've worked with a designer has been and that designers are a great way to connect with clients and designers themselves can be repeat customers for you as an artist. Whereas direct clients are probably not going to continue purchasing pieces from you forever, right? But a designer is going to have multiple clients and if they like working with you and they like your work and you're also able to give them you know an advantage, then they'll keep coming back to you. That's ultimately what I came to. It's been great and I wish I would have done it sooner, because there's so much value in that. I had plenty of designers that did come back. It all came back to this scarcity and sort of lack mentality that I was always so afraid that I was not going to be able to afford to keep doing this and keep working. I didn't quite price myself high enough, because I was so afraid of rejection, and it was a whole thing. Now I'm able to sort of step back and see the big picture. Realize A. I need to be pressing myself high enough that I can actually afford to do this and do it well. And spend the time I need to spend on something because when you price something lower you want to get it done, because the longer you spend on it, the less you actually make. Also so that there's some room for overhead for working with designers. Galleries are a whole other thing, I don't do much of them but they take quite a cut, everyone's taking a cut. I had a hard time with that when I was younger and just hustling so hard. I was like, I can't afford for someone else to take a cut and just then trusting that people could be paying bigger prices right. To the Trade Program is when I release collections, I release them to designers first. That came out of a couple of designers who were trying to snag pieces before it sold out. And I was like, I don't want you to have to work that way. Especially when someone's purchasing fine art. As much as it's great for my ego when things sell quickly. I kind of had to step back and be like, that's not the way I want people buying art for their home. You want to be able to really like to feel into it, it's an investment for life and your space. Giving them a first look for up to a week to decide with their clients. Then I give them a discount so that they're able to sell it to their clients. I think it's a good thing to do because so many interior designers purchase art, through galleries, or through people that are curating the art for them already. They're sort of often afraid to work with artists directly. The more that you can make that direct connection and make it worth their while because they're doing work on their end to get these pieces in their clients home. That’s really where it came from. I have a few designers here in Seattle that I love working with and have done many things with but it should be more of a marriage of artists and designers working together. I think sometimes it's really separate for some reason.
Gianna Andrews
Yeah there doesn't need to be that gallery in the middle necessarily. Because then that's more cut from the artists. I just have never seen a program like that before and it was like that's really interesting concept.
Laura Burkhart
Yeah, I wish that I would have done it sooner. I recommend it to other artists if you can because ultimately our work is going in interiors. The more you can connect with people that are already designing spaces and being thoughtful. I don't know if you feel this way, you have great photography always, I've never had a decent camera. I have photographer friends that I work with sometimes and try to hire but I haven't always done that. One of my biggest regrets of having six years of creating, selling, and putting work out the door is like a lack of documentation.
Gianna Andrews
Do you like the high res scans of the paintings?
Laura Burkhart
I have a good amount that I have high res photos of but I have years of collections of work that especially during that pandemic time when things were selling really quickly where I was doing a collection every month and just like snapping photos of it with my iPhone in my house and then selling it and shipping it. There was no pause for documentation and I'm kicking myself. One thing working with designers is like they're usually going to get a project documented. Then it's going to be in a really beautiful space that is designed and curated. That's another way, I actually tell a lot of designers I work with feel free to reach out to me if you need art for your space, even just for the photoshoot. Because if I could get a photo of this piece in a beautiful space, that's where that's like gold to me.
Gianna Andrews
There are also apps if you have the high res photo, it doesn't necessarily look as real. But like where you can put the photo into the app and then you can even add frames.
Laura Burkhart
Yeah, I did just start using those. I feel like I resisted for a long time. But most people can't tell the difference. People really can't tell the difference. That's an amazing new tool. But I also think having the art in a real space, there is something to that too.
Gianna Andrews
That's interesting. I never thought about that. I definitely have high res images of most of my art and I have photos with me of most of it. But I don't have photos in a space.
Laura Burkhart
The apps are great, but that's exactly it. To see the work in context, having high res photos of the work in context, especially if it's a designer who has created the space. I always ask for people to send me photos after they take a piece home. Like, I'd love to see your space. Most of the time, it's not going to be a very high quality photo or the space is not going to be like how you would have staged it. A lot of designers finish a space, and maybe the clients run out of budget for art so they'll actually go to Home Goods or something to just add to the space just for the photoshoot. Like I said, I worked as a designer and for designers for many years and that was a really big part of it. The art layer would just be thrown in at the end sometimes if it's not budgeted in. Which is a waste for everyone so I do offer when I have them, even lending out a piece of art for that kind of scenario. Because then they can maybe give me a photo and then you can see it in that space. I also think it's hard for buyers and collectors to picture a piece in their own space. I think the more that you can give them that context and show them. It comes back to that concept of knowing the artist, knowing the story, or the lifestyle that you're creating around your work.
Gianna Andrews
It’s product education too. That's been part of the way I'm transitioning in my business too, I would like to go more that fine art route, with my art curated in nice spaces. That’s the reality of how I'm having to price my art to afford to keep doing what I'm doing. If it's going to be that price, it's gonna go in a nice space. So what does that look like? I think that's a really good point and definitely something I'll take home and think about it more.
Laura Burkhart
Yeah, that's exactly it. I don't have a nice, beautiful home. I'm not someone that's collected by an art, I'm someone that's creating art, right. So the photos of my home are not gonna do it justice that way. I think that's where working with designers can be really key and connecting in that way. Putting it in the kind of space you imagine the art going in. It's good for everybody and having those designers that vibe with your aesthetic, they're going to design in a similar way for all kinds of clients and your work might fit into many projects that they do in the future. I think a combination of hitting the streets and just reaching out and cold emailing but also for me, I had a few that have worked with me and purchase pieces and so I was like hey, “how can we work together more I know that you already like like my work and I like your work let's do this together”. That's been like a great partnership and like I said, I wish I would have kind of seen the big picture earlier.
Gianna Andrews
That's really cool. I think it's not necessarily about quantity but more about the quality of the relationship and how often they repeat because you could have a designer that's just working with you and one other artist. You're like their chosen artists and then you don't need to have 12 designers that want to work with, you only need a couple. That would be ideal.
Laura Burkhart
Especially in Seattle, there are a couple people that a lot of designers just work directly with that are sort of like a gallery for all intensive purposes for a certain amount of curated artists. And then they're only ever showing those designers those artists' work. I think that's a middleman that you don't necessarily need. If you can connect with them directly. But because of those setups and situations, I do think some designers feel like they can't directly reach out to an artist. Which is crazy as an artist whenever a designer reaches out to me I'm like, “oh my god, amazing”. But there are these weird things that make it feel like there's a barrier of entry and that's not the route they should go.
Gianna Andrews
There are so many barriers of entry in the art world. Maybe a reason they don't reach out to an artist is that there is this preconceived notion of artists that like they don't have their shit together.
Laura Burkhart
Like we are just here painting.
Gianna Andrews
Yes and thinking that maybe artists have no idea even how to send an invoice, which just like is not the reality. Especially with all the artists now that are like full time doing it. Artists used to only be making money when they were dead, off their work. Now contemporary art has grown a lot. Maybe it is just part of the old system too.
Laura Burkhart
Yeah. I don't want to bash a certain way of doing things or anything. But I do think for both a client, a collector or a buyer, you're investing in a piece and do you want 50% of that investment to go to a gallery or someone that's just holding the art for an artist. If you're going to invest that much in a piece, do you want to actually support the artists? I think that’s the reality of the middleman situation when you're buying from someplace like that. I think connecting directly with artists and having designers and artists work directly that's a really important and vital way to support the arts and support artists and allow us to keep doing it.
Gianna Andrews
I love that. Thank you so much for all your thoughts today. It was great to hear your story and meet you. Hopefully we can connect again in the future. It'd be fun to do something like a show sometime or if you have any collaborations in mind don't hesitate to reach out or if you ever need anything.