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

MK, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

Ever since I was a little kid I was always making art. My summer vacations spent in daycare programs were filled with drawing, making friendship bracelets, beaded knick-knacks, or whatever I could get my hands on really. I’ve always loved it. I had a teacher at daycare who was also an artist in his own right, and one day I watched him draw a portrait of me. I was so fascinated that someone could do that, and knew immediately that it was something I wanted to do. It truly brought me so much joy, I was just drawing all the time.

As I got older and went into high school, art had to be put on the back burner and academics became more of the focus. I felt broken, like I had lost a limb or a part of my being. Something was missing so I tried to fix it. I would begin working more creative aspects into any academic projects I could. Making posters, displays, interactive reports, etc. I remember even for speeches, I would decorate and draw on my notecards.

Naturally I loved English class, creative writing and poetry were my lifeline. It sounds dramatic, but as an autistic individual (who was undiagnosed at the time) art and these creative endeavors went beyond making something I thought was pretty. They were tools to communicate and express myself when I didn’t know how to. And not even just communicating feelings, but it also provided me with an opportunity to share about my special interests too. It was a way to say, “hey look at this interesting animal I learned about, aren’t they cool?”

My senior year in high school was when it really sunk in that pursuing a creative career was really the only option for me. I was blessed with an amazing opportunity to attend a great art school, but after graduation had to work a variety of part-time jobs to pay off my student loans. I had only been out of college for three years before COVID hit, and during the shutdown I just went all in on making art again. It was the last big push before I sat down with my husband and was like, “Hey, you know this has always been my passion, I think I want to go for it and make it happen.” Now here we are.

So I guess this is a very long winded, roundabout way of saying that I think I’ve always known since being a kid. It was a childhood dream that I’ve been fortunate enough to pursue.

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

My name is MK, a Minneapolis based artist, plant enthusiast and dog mom to the best blind and deaf Aussie named Hershey.
I’m a mixed-media artist, which basically means instead of doing strictly embroidery there are other art mediums included. It’s a collage of sorts, if it helps to think of it that way. My art subjects are all nature based, typically either landscapes or animals. I went to school for painting so I had experience working with that prior to getting into this industry. Embroidery really came into the works when COVID came.

As I previously mentioned, when the shut down happened I was going stir crazy at home. Since I had already graduated from school, I lost access to the studio space among other resources. Because of that I no longer had the space to make the big paintings and drawings that I did previously, and had to figure out something smaller I could do in our apartment. On a whim I saw a lady who did watercolor and embroidery on Pinterest or Instagram, I’m not sure which one anymore, but I thought “Oh that looks fun, I could do that.” I was very quickly humbled and realized watercolor painting was harder than it looked. I thought I would try it with a paint I was more familiar with, and gave it a shot with my acrylic paints instead. That was it, I was hooked.

The embroidery aspect of my work is all self-taught, but even though I had been trained in painting there’s always room for improvement, always a way to refine it.

One of the aspects about my work that I really enjoy, is the texture and the sense of space that the media combination creates. Many customers have noted it to me as well, that simply adding that little bit of thread makes the art piece feel more like a portal, like it’s 3-D. I really enjoy working with texture and playing with that in my art, so it makes me happy when I hear that others feel the same way.

Another thing that I’m proud of, this last year I was really focusing on the interactive aspect that comes with being a vendor in art fairs. I wanted people to walk away having learned something new, maybe it’s the ex-daycare teacher in me. Since I’m autistic, a special interest of mine is animals, I love learning about them and amassing all of these facts about them. Now I’m putting it all to use at art fairs. All of my little animal pieces have corresponding facts about their specific animal on the price tag, I made a chalkboard that I use for a “fact of the day” making a new fact every day of the fair. And I just had printed little fact cards to go along with my animal alphabet series, which is a series of small art pieces depicting different animals for every letter of the English alphabet. So there’s a fact card about frogs to go with the frog piece, and so on. It’s something that obviously brings me a lot of joy learning about, so I’m very pleased that it has also been received really well by others.

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

In a world where mass-production is at the scale that it is, one thing that many artists and creators get criticized for is the pricing of their goods. What some people don’t realize that the numbers on the price tag aren’t just for the price of the piece. It includes the time learning and the practice that went into the skills needed to create the product. It’s the cost of the resources and materials, the transportation, the packaging behind it. Even the cost for being able to display their products at the art fairs, it’s all included.

So just be a little understanding, that when you go to an art fair and find something you like, but it’s priced higher than you expected, there’s a reason for it. Thankfully I don’t have too many personal experiences hearing it, but as an artist to hear, “My cousin could make it 3x cheaper.” or “$XX for that?” is incredibly disheartening. Especially for a new artist. So even if your support is just saying telling them you like their work, it means the world to us.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Honestly, just having fun with it! Art is all about expression and freedom, right? So by embracing that freedom in whatever way it looks like to me, don’t take myself too seriously and explore. Whether that means trying a new material, a new subject matter, or something outside of what I usually do. Just go for it, have fun with it. If it fails, it fails, but now I know for next time. Then I can move on to try something else.

But I believe that when I have fun making something, that joy gets passed on to the viewer. For example, I recently made a Boa piece for my animal alphabet series. But I thought it would be really funny and cute if it was wearing a little birthday hat with a fluffy pompom. So that’s how I made it. At the following art fair that it was displayed at, I got to see all the joy and laughter that it brought to those coming through my booth, including the individual who bought it. So yeah, have fun!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.frommkwithlove.com
• Instagram: @mk.makes.art

Image Credits

N/A, images are mine