We recently connected with Jeanne Rietzke and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jeanne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

When I graduated college, I immediately jumped into being a full-time creative. I worked in restaurants to help pay the bills. That worked well until I got married. Finally, I started a more professional job and made the art nights and weekends. The most important lesson I learned was handling sales and marketing. Artists are not taught in art school how to write a resume, approach a new buyer, show their work to new customers, handle customer service issues, etc. They rely on others to do that, and it costs them money. I have always been able to market and sell my work.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born and raised in Charleston, SC. I moved to Columbia, SC, and earned a BA in Fine Art from the University of South Carolina. I spent my formative years painting with E de May Smith, a prominent watercolor artist in Charleston. I developed my colorful, coastal, and marine-themed painting style in college under the mentorship of Artist and Professor Harry Hansen. My paintings have sold nationally and internationally in my 30+ years as an artist. I have won numerous awards, been accepted into dozens of juried shows, and featured in national and international publications. Preferring the fluidity of watercolor paints, I have evolved into all water mediums (acrylic, ink, acrylic ink, etc.). My work is easily recognized by my creative use of watermarks, intense colors, and unique perspectives. My portfolio contains marine life, nature, patterns, and abstracts.
In 2020, I decided to write and illustrate my own children’s books, which were published on February 24, 2022. The series is called Caroline, The Painted Turtle. I have two books published, and they have won multiple awards.

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

You need a road map for a society to support creatives and create a thriving creative ecosystem. First, give them every opportunity to show their work to as many people as possible. This can be in your business, multi-tenant properties, restaurants, car dealerships, City halls, doctor’s offices, or anywhere people work or live. Second, if at all possible, offer this for free. Artists can not thrive with everyone charging them a fee or a commission. Galleries get away with high commissions because they will bring in media and buyers. It’s what they do, but most artists do not have gallery representation. Third, stop buying “art” at big box stores. Most artists have a website or Etsy page that can easily be found. You don’t need to go into a gallery to buy local art. Look around you. I bet the art in your favorite local coffee shop is for sale. Fourth, get friends to do the same. Fifth, follow the artists you like on social media, share their posts, and comment when you like something they create. Art will be everywhere in no time, and artists will want to live in your city.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I recently started a “movement” called Free Art Wilmington (in Wilmington, NC). I have lived here for ten years, and the art scene has issues. In the Cape Fear Region (three counties), we have over 2000 artists known by the art leagues, among others. We might have 50 galleries? There is no way that all of the artists can be fully represented. I am one of them. My work tends to appeal more to commercial art buyers, and the galleries here carry art for residential buyers. I decided to use my 18 years of sales and marketing training to contact commercial building managers and find us some wall space. I was successful, and on July 8, 2024, we hung our first commercial installation. As of September 9, we will have hung four commercial installations. We are just getting started.
Free Art Wilmington offers free art for the building. The artists are never charged a fee, and we do not take a commission. It’s just artists professionally helping artists. The installations are curated by myself, Erika Pifher (my partner), and the building manager or owner. Our goal is to have installations in Wilmington’s new City Hall and New Hanover County’s new administration building.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jeanne-rietzke.pixels.com
• Instagram: @painted_by_hand_ilm
• Facebook: Painted By Hand
• Linkedin: Jeanne McIntosh Rietzke
• Other: Free Art Wilmington is on Instagram and Facebook. Jeanne also has accounts for her book: Caroline The Painted Turtle and is on Threads @Painted_By_Hand_ILM

Image Credits

All photos by Jeanne Rietzke.