We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sarah Calzada a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Sarah , appreciate you joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you as a business owner?

Well, a fun fact about me is that I never went to school for art. I got a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Most of my jobs before deciding to start my own art business were rooted in environmentalism. I was hopping from job to job, I lived in Nevada for three months while I worked on a desert restoration crew before I moved back to New York and worked on a diving crew that removed aquatic invasive plant species throughout different lakes in the Adirondacks.

My work was very rewarding because I knew my efforts were going towards helping preserve the environment for future generations. My experiences working in this field solidified my belief that having a deep connection with nature is super important, especially when it comes to getting people to care about preserving the world’s beauty. Because of my love for the environment, all my artwork is inspired by nature. I paint what I find beautiful about the small creatures and ecosystems that make up our enchanting planet in the hopes that it will inspire others to build on their relationships with nature.

If people feel connected, they feel a larger appreciation for the natural things we may take for granted. When people appreciate something, they are more willing to put forth the effort to take care of it. If we truly care about the environment, we are more likely to make changes to help preserve it. And this is the whole message my art is based around. Without my previous experiences, I wouldn’t have found my main source of inspiration for sharing my work.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Growing up in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, I knew from a young age that I was passionate about environmental activism. My musical family always encouraged me to follow my dreams and to nurture my creative side. I’ve always been captivated by all types of art and I knew I had this passion for painting. I had an amazing art teacher, Mrs. Sawyer, who taught me classical techniques and inspired my creativity throughout advanced high school art classes. However, I never thought that being a full-time artist was an option if I wanted to support myself financially.

Because of my love for nature, I decided to go to school for environmental biology. to pursue a career that would help to preserve the environment for future generations. Throughout college, I always painted on the side and even made some money by painting commissions for friends and family. After graduating college I skipped around with seasonal environmental work: from working in Nevada on a desert restoration crew to diving for aquatic invasive plant species in the Adirondacks. This was all very rewarding work, but I knew something was missing. I knew in my heart that I just wanted to create.

My inner artist was just fighting to be set free. So I continued painting. I painted between seasonal jobs and during the off season. I painted what I found beautiful and then I just started sharing what I was creating, and it filled me with such joy to know that other people could experience what I was trying to release from my soul through art. I realize that most of the things I found beautiful could be found in nature. I was drawn to sunsets and sunrises. The smallest of flowers and insects would captivate me. I would paint my dreams and find kindred spirits in wildlife.

Then Covid hit, and my environmental work was not deemed “essential” so I new I had to change my perspective and switch gears. I thought to myself, what if I kept my commission list going and continued to paint for friends, family, and their networks full time? I mean what do I have to lose? As I created, word spread and my artwork gained more traction on social media.

My small hometown of Bolton Landing was extremely supportive. I was hired to put up murals in local businesses such as Trailhead Pizza and Bear’s Cup! Bolton Central School’s senior class of 2021 commissioned me to paint a giant mural of the view from Bolton’s Pinnacle hike during all four seasons as their senior gift to the school. People who knew me growing up would purchase prints of my original work to hang up in their homes or give as holiday or birthday gifts to loved ones. I knew having the support from my hometown was essential in helping me grow my business as an artist, and I’ll be forever grateful to all the people who believed in me back when I was first starting. Today I also have murals in Lake George, Glens Falls, Queensbury, and in private residences throughout the local region.

Now I am still working full time as an artist and muralist. This year I have to give thanks to Glens Falls Muralgarten for giving me the opportunity to paint my biggest public mural yet! It came with a big learning curve, figuring out how to navigate getting my design approved by the city planning board committee as well as getting certified to operate a boom and scissor lift! I’m grateful for this experience and to see more murals from all different artists beautifying the Glens Falls area.

Today, I continue to create custom paintings and murals as commissions as well as find time to create original “soul-work” paintings to sell on social media along with prints. I will forever be inspired by the beauty found in nature, and that’s why I paint – to share the beauty and joy that fills my soul.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The number one focus you should have when building your social media presence is to be authentic. Don’t be afraid to dig deep and figure out who you are, and why you love to create.

I recently sat down with my thoughts and wrote down why I create art. I wrote page after page digging into my earliest memories and writing down my feelings and emotions throughout life. I learned a lot about myself by pouring out my thoughts onto paper. I found that when I got down to the core of who I am and why I create nature-inspired art, it made it so much easier to talk about with others. Knowing yourself is a huge part of being able to express yourself authentically online to strangers and being able to get into genuine conversations with people who connect with your work.

It’s a vulnerable thing, to be honest and put your naked soul out there for everyone to see, but being genuine will help you find your target audience who connects with you as a real person and with your message. Share your process, including the ugly stages. You aren’t some machine who can whip out immaculate finished works everyday. You’re a human being and art takes time. People seem to appreciate the process and it gives them the sense that they are with you during your journey. I think that’s the key to having people fall in love with your art and with you without them knowing you in person. You have to be true to yourself and bring everyone along for the ride.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

There was this one instance when I was working on my very first outdoor mural at this beautiful family-owned cafe and bakery called Bear’s Cup in Bolton Landing where I was relying heavily on using a projector to make a perfect circle for the base of the mural design. It turned out that the sidewalk facing the mural wall where I was planning on putting the projector on a ladder was on private property.

I was caught by complete surprise when the property owners refused to let me set the projector up there for liability reasons. I was extremely upset because I knew I couldn’t hand draw a perfect circle at such a large scale. It was my first outdoor mural that everyone in my hometown would see and I wanted it to be perfect. I even considered changing up the entire mural design so it wouldn’t involve a circle at all.

But after calming down and admittedly shedding some tears I figured the entire problem could be fixed with a string and a second pair of hands. The second pair of hands belonged to my mom, Michelle, and the “string” we came up with was an extension cord. I measured out the radius of the circle with the extension cord and had mom hold one end where I wanted the center of the circle to be. I held the cord taut and marked the other end of the radius all the way around the circle, creating the perfect round shape for the Bear’s Cup Mural! I was planning on hand painting the rest of the mural so the projector wasn’t going to be needed after the circle tracing stage anyway.

With the help of my mom, we overcame an obstacle I was convinced would destroy my chances of bringing my circular mural design to life. It being my first outdoor mural, it was a definitely learning process, but I am thrilled with how this funky, colorful, Adirondack bear-cub-themed mural turned out! Thank you, mama, for always being willing to act as my second pair of hands whenever I need it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://acrylicearth.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acrylic_earth1997
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/AcrylicEarthbySarah
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@acrylicearthbysarahcalzada

Image Credits
Elliot Semcken Eric Unkauf