We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dee Rovetta. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dee below.
Dee, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I’ve found an immeasurable amount of contentment and happiness in making art. My passions include my art, sharing the freedom of working in abstraction with others and providing mental health counseling through my internship starting in a few months. The last time I considered having a regular job was a few months ago — I was struggling to see the worth of my work, starting my application for field experience in grad school, and stressed in every sense of the word. I was looking for some kind of reason to not focus on the thing that brought me peace because I felt like I didn’t deserve to. How could I be happiest making art and designing earrings when it wasn’t immediately profitable? Sometimes, it still doesn’t make sense to me. I didn’t start creating to make money or even be good at it. I started making art because I found relief through letting go of perfection and control.
Luckily I have an incredibly kind, supportive partner and so many people from around the world I’ve met through my Instagram page. They not only appreciate my art but remind me all the time that I’m doing something that’s worth it. It helps to have both an active support system and a mind that is constantly dreaming of the next project!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Rovetta Design Co. is a one-woman show run by me, Dee Rovetta. I chose the name because I didn’t want to limit myself to one type of creating or making. I believe the human experience is beautifully complex, unpredictable, and wild — my art reflects that. I chose to make abstract art for this reason as well. It allows me to relieve my anxiety at the moment, let go of perfection, and give myself space to process my emotions in whatever ways I see fit. It’s truly a sacred space. My previous creative endeavors include being part of my school’s concert band as a clarinet player for 8 years, joining Color Guard during marching band season in high school for 4 years, teaching myself how to make animated music videos when I was 12 and nurturing that skill throughout the years, and plenty of other forays into creativity that I didn’t consider artistic in any way until recently.
I started dabbling in watercolor paints first in 2018. I decided to explore acrylic paint a year or so after I began researching how to get my work into galleries and exhibitions. The core of my art is experimenting, processing life events and feelings, and leaning into intuition. I’ve found that, since I started my graduate program to become a Clinical Mental Health Counselor, my work is informed by my life experiences and vice versa. I’ve been able to merge what I’ve learned in my courses with my artwork. One of the things I catch myself saying over and over again is that my art doesn’t have to be pretty, profound, or even good. All that matters is that I made a conscious choice to create even when I feel like I don’t deserve to. Abstract art gives me the space I need to express myself without the expectation of making something good, familiar or that has been seen before.
The significance of being a black woman artist working in abstraction with no prior academic experience isn’t lost on me. I’m proudest that I started my art practice with the sole purpose of helping myself out of mental health battles and it has resonated with so many people. My artwork is in spaces in 20+ states across the nation, I participated in group exhibitions in the Durham, Raleigh, and Greensboro areas, and had my first solo exhibition this year in June. I’ve also been able to find community in the form of the Black Women’s Art Collective, based in Greensboro, NC, and celebrated what it means to be black women artists supported by the community around us. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to share myself and my art fully, especially in times like these when we feel disconnected from others and not sure what the future holds.
When I’m not making paintings, I’m designing earrings made from polymer clay, and making digital designs for clothing and home decor. I’m not a small business because nothing I do is small: I’m one person with so many ideas and dreams floating around in my head that I have no choice but to make them reality!
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I was that kid that was glued to their computer in the early 2000s: I made friends in chatrooms for cartoons and recently met a few of these friends in person for the first time. It’s where I learned to connect with people and one of the reasons why I’ve been comfortable sharing my artistic process in the past couple of years. I get questions about how to engage my audience and how to grow a following all the time. The best advice I can give is to be real and genuine with yourself first. The rest will fall into place.
I didn’t go into social media trying to be an influencer or gain any kind of fame. I want to connect with everyday people who like watching satisfying art videos, want to learn with me (as part of my process involves making connections with people), and curating a corner of the internet for those who desire a space to participate as much or as little as they want to. I won’t say that it doesn’t bother me at all if I don’t get a lot of engagement, comments, or likes, but I know that the people that follow me genuinely want to connect with both me as a person and my art. I don’t want to be seen as perfect or untouchable. I want to be seen as a real breathing person, someone who makes art for herself first. I’m lucky to have supporters that want to see the messy, real part of being creative rather than an illusion of perfection. I’m human. Imperfection is the only choice.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Art needs to be seen as a viable and legitimate career path, period. Artists need to be supported and paid timely for their work There should be no reason that a lot of artists, especially those that work in abstraction, have to put months and years of emotional and physical labor into their practices for free without any kind of compensation. In many ways, we’re expected to be ok with exposure as a form of payment.
I’m not going to speak for other creatives — I can’t create in good faith without stability. There have been so many times throughout the year that I’ve either deprived myself of artmaking or haven’t had the mental energy to because I wasn’t financially stable. I’ve put a lot of my personal finances into my artmaking: paying for booths at markets, exhibition entry and application fees that cost between $15 to upwards of $40 an application with no guarantee you’ll be selected, paying for website hosting (around $200 a year), plus the costs of supplies (paints, surfaces, brushes, varnishes, etc) and shipping artwork. Inflation has us stretched way too thin. Society’s perception of art has made it difficult for those of us that price our work to make a living. We’re expected to just be grateful our work is selling for anything at all; that, to me, is disrespectful and inhumane.
In order for creatives to thrive, especially black women artists working in abstraction, we need continued support and better pay for the work we do. We provide an invaluable service to the world and should be compensated as such.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rovettadesignco.squarespace.com
- Instagram: @rovettadesignco
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/rovettadesignco
- Twitter: @rovettadesignco