Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Frankie Runge. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Frankie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

In a short simple answer, yes. Yes i am much happier as an artist, as a painter and a model. Though I think every day about how much happier i would be if i were doing something more financially stable, to be quite honest.

I used to be many things before i dove into creation full-time. I was a line cook, a janitor, a factory worker, a retail associate, and even a zipline instructor. I loved some of those jobs, and some were incredibly fulfilling in certain ways. However, none of them paid much better than minimum wage. All of them left me crying in bed each night from the pain that i would come to find out was caused by chronic illness. Ever increasing panic attacks or full on breakdowns were ruining my mental health, as well.

I had a difficult time transitioning to creation full-time. I had no idea where to get started, and many saw my childhood dreams of being an artist and considered them just that- childish. Being given the privilege of staying home to focus on art was its own price to pay, for many reasons.

Coming to the conclusion of knowing when to stay put and when to move is a challenge, but knowing I couldnt keep going that way was what drove me to change. It was gradual and difficult and in so many ways much harder than a 9-5. True change is hard in the way that you have to commit to the monotony of it while waiting to gain the perspective you desperately want overnight. Drawing or painting every day, practicing poses, resesrching the history of fashion and styling, studying color and composition and proportions and makeup, vending and packaging and editing, it all instills a knowledgeable confidence.

Confidence often comes from slow intentions, and deliberate actions every day are what seperate my fulfilment as an artist from simply existing as a person. I started going to therapy, too, and started medication at my own pace, and eventually i wasn’t even very nervous about putting up a collection in a gallery, meeting a new photographer, or even vending anymore, and i looked forward to the challenge instead of dreading it the next day like i used to with other jobs. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to create like i do. I’m very happy.

Frankie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Ive always been an artist. Ever since i could pick up a crayon as a toddler. I model now, too, but I’m a painter at heart. I can still recreate the most common picture I drew as a child. I remember being in preschool and seeing my big sister’s doodles getting turned into magnets while she in 1st grade, and thinking that was magical, wanting to make that magic, too. I’ve always wanted to be an artist. However I didnt know becoming a model would also be in the cards as a kid.

I had a difficult youth, and i did try to make money more conventionally over the course of my teens and 20s. In dealing with trauma and health challenges, i turned again to making art, learning more about it, acknowledging the emotions that were brought out when i looked at art and when i made art. Taking the time to ask what people saw from my early work helped me see myself in a new light; i hadnt ever been able to pinpoint the feelings i was exploring. I will always love hearing what people see when they look at my work, and what they feel.

My childhood influences my work more than even i can realize sometimes. Ive been told my paintings evoke a sense of calm isolation and melancholy, but filled with wonder and not always loneliness. I also like to think that much of my modeling can invoke a distilling emotion or ethereal wonder. I’m very proud that i can reach such a deep place for some people in their hearts with the things i create. Having seen people start crying before my eyes over my art, or being sent messages about a set of particularly moving photographs, it means more than money ever could for me.

I think my biggest passion, at the core, is connection. Being vulnerable and letting people not only see my art, bit buy it and take it home, it’s such an honor on both sides. You’re letting people take home a part of your soul, and you hope that they treat it well. It means knowing part of you is existing tangibly in other peoples lives, even though you yourself won’t one day. I still think that its magic, to this day.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In my most humble opinion, society as we know it wouldnt exist without art. I’d go so far as to call it a notion of pure conscious thought. Being able to create and appreciate creation is something we take for granted as a species. Respect and support lie at the base of that. Just as in nature, a thriving artistic ecosystem is comprised of many parts in coexistence with each other; respecting and supporting each other in balance. Appreciators will always outnumber creators, so the general support and upliftment of those actively creating will inevitably mean more art, better art, and a happier society. When artists have stability, they don’t just create; they invent. Necessity may be the mother of invention, but togetherness is the heart of collaboration. A society that supports and respects its artists supports and respects itself, for art is at the core of every great culture, expounding upon its rituals, rules, etiquette, infrastructure, and engineering. In a society where artists are respected and admired, you know by association that it is a healthy population, full of happier people.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The goal driving my journey, the beating heart inside of my chest, is my goal for connection, exploration, and awareness, both with ourselves and our world around us. I want you to think of the places you see in my art; they may not even be here in a few years. Think of the lonely things in your heart and sit with them. Be aware of your connection to the earth, to other people, and to your own life.

It would be entirely too much to ask everyone to cry over my art, but maybe it isn’t asking too much for you to have a think about the first word that pops into your head when you see some of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://frankieannemodeling.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/idontgiveaflyingfrank
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/beingfrank_art

Image Credits

Kelsey Caruso
Mariya West
Hannah Dobbs
Frankie Runge