We were lucky to catch up with Mike Egan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, thanks for joining us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

Well, before becoming a full time artist I was actually funeral directing and embalming in funeral homes. It was a very stressful job with long hours. I would be on call 24 hours a day four days a week. There were plenty of sleepless nights up driving to pick people up so I could bring them back and do the embalming. While I did this job I’d keep dreaming of being an artist but just didn’t know how to go about it. I spent many evenings in my apartment working on my art and trying to perfect my craft and luckily had some big breakthroughs. I think the lesson that I learned going through this whole experience was firstly, I didn’t want to do a job because I needed a job. It was something that I didn’t want to do and I wanted to follow my dreams. Also being around death and dying all of the time made me think about not only my death but my life as well. I felt like there was something bigger for me out there.
I don’t feel like I wasted my time in funeral homes and love that I got the experience. As an artist now those experiences have become my backstory as to what I paint about which is skeletons, death and dying. People love making that connection.

Mike, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Pittsburgh born artist who received my BFA at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2000. I focused on printmaking at the time which is where I learned about artists like Jose Guadalupe Posada and the German Expressionists like Kathe Kollwitz. After I finished school and returned home I did not have the necessary supplies to continue making my prints, so I turned to painting so I could keep making art. While I wanted to be an artist I felt having a day job that I found interesting was important. I had discovered that there was a mortuary school in Pittsburgh where I could get licensed as a funeral director/embalmer. I knew nothing about the business or what I was getting myself into. I went to school for a year and followed that up with an internship for another year. I learned how to do removals, embalm, do restorations, dress and casket people, do the cosmetics and assist on funerals. I continued to paint and made a lot of bad art. I eventually got a job as an embalmer out in Reading, PA in 2005. Between four locations we did 500 calls a year, so it was a busy time for me. The hard thing about being an embalmer is that you’re on call when someone dies, so I spent a lot of time alone in my apartment waiting for the phone to ring. This is where I learned to craft my paintings and style. I thought back to my printmaking days in 2000 and how I loved the bold line work I was doing. So I started to paint in that style and things started to click for me. In 2006, a friend of mine put together a gallery show in Pittsburgh and included my paintings. I sold three the opening night and thought I’m doing something right.
Since then I’ve been showing paintings in galleries all over the world. I’ve also have gotten to work with companies creating artist toys, digital art collectibles and created a clothing brand.
I’d say that I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve always done things my way and will continue to do it that way!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I used to think that being an artist was all about selling physical art to collectors and that was all it was. However I absolutely love making a personal and emotional connection with people through the stories that I tell with my paintings. It’s always so amazing to hear people’s stories and why they bought a certain painting from me and that continues to drive me to keep making new work.

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

I think that social media is a great tool for us creatives and it’s a must if you want to be seen today. What I’ve learned about social media is well….. you need to be social!!! I use it to connect with people and interact with everyone who comments on my photos and takes time to DM me.
I feel like a lot of artist use it to post a painting and walk away and don’t respond to people and I think that is a terrible way to approach social media.
Your fans want to know about you, how you are feeling, what’s your studio look like, etc. Giving them those peeks into your life actually will end up selling more work because they are now connected to you in a more intimate way.

Contact Info:

• Website: mikeeganart.com
• Instagram: @mikeeganart
• Twitter: @mikeeganart