We recently connected with Marissa Rotellini and have shared our conversation below.

Marissa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I am currently the Collective Manager of an online art collective, Break Away from the Everyday, founded by Adriana Finney. We are a collective of about 30 artists from all over the world. Many of our collective artists are located in areas that do not offer many opportunities to promote and sell their art, so our primary objective is to help them gain exposure to new audiences and get their work seen. We do this through online promotion, raffling and auctioning their work, and selling their art at local vending events on their behalf. Last year, we ran a booth at the Deep Ellum Arts Fair in Texas, where we sold over $3000 worth of art for 15 of our Collective artists. My role in the collective is to organize and host online events, rally our artists together to prepare for events, and continuously seek out new opportunities for the collective.

In addition to the core collective, we also have a Facebook group for the art community as a whole, where artists of all mediums, styles and skill levels have a platform to share and sell their work. Every three months, we select an artist from the community who may be struggling financially or suffering a personal hardship, and we organize a fundraiser raffle for them. Other artists in the community graciously donate artwork as prizes and we set a goal to raise $500, 100% of which goes directly to the sponsored artist. To my knowledge, we are the only art group on Facebook who does this, and we are very proud to say after 12 of these fundraiser raffles over the last few years, we have raised thousands of dollars for struggling artists.

This ongoing project is so meaningful to me, and I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished. The economy is struggling right now and is especially impacting creatives, forcing many artists to stop creating. It is so fulfilling to make even a small difference to the art community and help artists continue bringing life and beauty into the world.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have been painting for about 10 years now, but was a bit of a “late bloomer” to art. I was 23 when I first started painting as a hobby. I had just left an abusive 5 year relationship, and needed a way to find myself again. I felt that I had lost my identity and any sense of something being “mine.” A coworker shared with me a painting she had done at a paint & sip party, and I was so intrigued. I began watching YouTube videos, reading books to learn art techniques, and studying as many tips as I could. I began painting on my own and quickly became addicted. I felt like I had finally found peace and clarity. As I improved my skills over the years, I received more and more inquiries for purchases and decided to begin professionally selling my art as a side business.
I take commissions occasionally, but often only open a couple of spots per year, as I prefer to work on personal projects. I always strongly encourage commission inquirers to closely look at my style and previous work first and ensure it fits the vision they are looking for. I love when a client requests a commission that fits with my style and gives me a fun and inspired piece to create! Those are always the most fun.
My style is very surreal and dreamlike. Most of my paintings are inspired by strong emotions or life changes, but sometimes I do random subjects just for fun or as commissions. I have always been a very visual person and tend to visualize abstract thoughts or emotions in what some might call a weird way. It is fascinating to me to be able to take these images out of my head and bring them into the real world. Sharing your art is very vulnerable in this way, because it gives others a look inside your mind. The most satisfying sales for me are when a buyer tells me they instantly connected with my work or it deeply resonated with them. It makes me feel oddly connected to that person, often a complete stranger, because they understand what was going through my mind at the time that I created it.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There are many things society can do to help an artist stay afloat, and it doesn’t always involve spending money! Social media has become the primary marketing platform for artists, but unfortunately the big platforms have implemented algorithms that suppress small time artists, reducing our reach and making it so difficult to be seen. You can help artists simply by interacting with their social media posts. Liking, commenting, and sharing their posts all help boost their visibility, as Meta tends to increase reach for posts that are gaining a lot of engagement. This is a 100% free way to support creatives!
In Break Away from the Everyday, we also help artists sell their work via raffles. For example, if an artist wants to sell a piece for $500, we will sell 50 raffle tickets at $10 each. The artist gets the value of their work, and interested buyers get a chance to win the artwork for only $10. We love doing these because it is a much more affordable way for someone to snag a beautiful piece of art even if they do not have hundreds to spend.
If and when you do have the funds to purchase art, seek out local creatives and small businesses. Big corporations and home decor stores sell mass-produced, factory printed artwork for very cheap, but buying from a local artist gives you something so much more unique, heartfelt, and meaningful. You may be spending a little more money this way, but it is going into the pocket of an artist trying to survive, rather than a billion dollar corporation. In Break Away from the Everyday, we give art collectors a platform to shop for artwork of all mediums and styles and the opportunity to support an artist.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Social media can be a blessing and a curse. The algorithms Facebook and Instagram have put in place vastly decrease the reach of many artists unless they are paying for Meta ads. One of the key ways to fight the algorithm is engagement. The more you engage in art groups and with other artists, the more you establish your presence in the community and build connections and followers. I have made so many meaningful friendships over the years through the online art community and we support each other by sharing each others work, recommending them to potential buyers, and lifting them up. The best way to increase your following is to not make it all about yourself – reach out to others and invest the time in making meaningful connections with your audience, other artists, and potential buyers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mrotelliniart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrotellini.art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marissa.w12
• Other: Break Away from the Everyday Links:
  https://linktr.ee/BreakAwayFromTheEveryDay