We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Barret Lee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Barret below.

Barret, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

My fine artist journey began at the Minneapolis of College of Art and Design. When I started there I knew I had to be all in on making this art thing happen. When I graduated in 2016 I learned you no longer need the gallery system. You can have buyers come to you with social media cutting out high gallery cuts on sales and long wait times for shows. I went straight into the Art Fair circuit around the Midwest building personal relationships and directing people straight to my social media presence. I got a studio at the busiest studio building in Minneapolis to host and be apart of my own events cutting out the middle man. You can do everything on your own in the internet day and age. I was lucky enough to figure that out early and blast off into my fulltime art career now 9 years later.

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 got into the art world by being creative at a young age and carrying that into adulthood. I always loved animation, comics, graffiti and surrealism. Those passions all inform what I make today. Continuing to make the work I would of loved as a child. I try not to take myself too seriously creating fine art and illustrations that are whimsical and at times silly. I thought for the longest time I was going to be an animator so much of my work feels like a frame of an animation. Packed with bold colors, action and emotion all through my characters eyes. Art is about connecting with people and when a person buys your work they are buying you. If I can help someone escape reality for a second or take the world a little less seriously I’ve done my job.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

From my personal experience people under estimate the work and cost it takes to do Art Fairs. It can be a roller coaster of unknowns. To be an Art Fair artist you apply in a jury system not knowing if you’ll be invited to the event or not until months after applying. If you’re accepted you pay a fee typically ranging from $300-$900 to be there. On top of possible hotel and travel expenses to get to the event. Then you prep leading up making sure you have enough work and prints to sell along with a good set up to display everything. When you start doing fairs the cost of a set up can be upwards of $4000 for the tent and walls to show in. At the event you hope to reach your goals in sales but that’s never a given. From weather , crowd sizes, to having a bad spot in the fair, a bunch of variables can hinder your profits for the weekend. Then you rinse and repeat and go onto the next one.

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

Social media is constantly evolving but the one thing that’s always there is meeting person to person. When I started I did every event I could building relationships and directing people to my Instagram. This helped branch into new gigs and events all centered around the people I met early on. Now people go to my Instagram to see where my next show is, find my store updates on Shopify or reach out about a commission. People meeting you in person and then following you will always be one of the best ways to grow a following online. The algorithm can be unpredictable and is constantly changing but meeting face to face always stays the same.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Barretpaints.com
• Instagram: @Barret_Lee
• Other: Shopify
  https://barretlee.myshopify.com/