We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vicki Morris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Vicki, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
As a “creative”, textured materials always snag my immediate attention with the big question: “How can I use this to create the most unique, meaningful artwork yet?”
Kicking around a farm/estate sale in South Carolina I spied a large 4 ft x 8 ft piece of beautifully patinaed turquoise and amber barnwood. I approached the seller with a barter — she gives me the large barnwood from her grandfather’s estate, and I would paint her beloved Rottweiler mix, Cleo, on the wood in any size she wanted. The rest would be mine to use for other artwork or portraits.
I wasn’t quite ready for the wonderfully emotional, positive response, but I took on the challenge to make a 3ft x 3’ft special portrait around which she decorated her entire house. What I discovered in taking this risk with a new substrate was truly magical. Every dog I painted on this wood was ETHEREAL with the wood showing through at the most perfect places.
The unveiling of Cleo’s portrait in my studio with her owner was heartwarming and revitalizing as a creative, risk-taking artist. I always knew that stepping out of my comfort zone was the only way to truly be fulfilled, and this absolutely reinforced that. My advice to others is to always just take that creative chance.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Vicki Morris (the brainchild of the Fireplug Studio) is known for her all-dog-art studio in Taylors, South Carolina, where she paints commissioned dog portraits and donates a portion of the proceeds to dog rescue groups. Her preferred medium is acrylic, but she also incorporates everything from watercolor to wood burning to achieve the perfect portrayals and memorials. Vicki’s creative process stays in overdrive, with her most recent dog portraits coming to life on 100+-year-old local barn wood, lending an “ethereal” effect to her paintings. She paints every size, from 6-inch square portraits to giant dog-driving VW Bus murals on the sides of buildings with her favorite motto: Go Big or Go Home. It took over half a century of the shotgun approach to life before Vicki felt the overwhelming urge to start painting dogs. Starting with YouTube videos on using alcohol inks, her first portrait was a 4 ft x 6 ft mural of a friend’s Schnauzer who had recently passed. She then painted many portraits of friends’ pups but eventually realized that using 91% alcohol ink without ventilation was a huge mistake as it hurt her lungs and throat. She switched to other art forms and loved those even more. Eventually, friends of friends contacted her for commissioned portraits of dogs, cats, babies, and family portraits. She has difficulty saying no, as evidenced by her acceptance of a special commission to “realistically” paint three giant 6-ft tall patinaed metal sculptures of ducks taking off from sea grass and a life-sized bald Eagle. Variety keeps her creative brain engaged, and that’s where she shines.
You can contact Vicki Morris at the Fireplug Studio through her Instagram page @fireplugstudiodogart and see her work. She falls in love with every dog she paints and always gives back through rescue.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
The biggest pivotal point in my career was Covid and the associated business nightmares it caused. Because of the panic, social distancing, mask mandates, and quarantining, I chose to NOT open a full art gallery but instead scale back, relocate, and “reboot” to just a small art studio doing custom pet portrait commissions and other special painting requests. In retrospect and being totally honest, this was a blessing in disguise giving me more time and energy to handle other family health challenges and spend with my own four rescue dogs and two parrots.
Things happen for a reason, and if I lost the ability to paint precious pets today, I would be fulfilled knowing how many smiles the portraits I created have elicited and memories that have been honored and preserved. And it’s truly been an honor to capture those magnificent fur friends on canvas (or wood).
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Doing more than just “liking” artwork on social media goes a long way to support and further the career of all artists — that means commenting positively on what you like about a posted piece, sharing that with your network of friends, and promoting the artist to friends and event planners in your area and beyond.
Artists get submerged in their work and most don’t have the time or resources to promote themselves in an effective manner. Most “creatives” are just that — and not great business people. Anything you can do to help promote their presence on social media or through your friends and family networks will help. If you truly care about them, promote them, especially if they have done work for you with which you are pleased. If nothing else, do a Random Act of Kindness — it will go a long way to make this world a better place.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.fireplugstudio.com
- Instagram: @fireplugstudiodogart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fireplugstudiodogart