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

Diane, appreciate you joining us 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?

I feel incredibly fortunate to have carved out a successful career in the arts. It has been my full time job for almost 20 years, but the first 10 of that journey were pretty slim. I am a self-taught jeweler and the first time I picked up a torch I absolutely fell in love with it. At the time I had 3 other jobs – substitute teaching, doing part-time counseling work for an adoption agency and trying to get a gemstone business off the ground. The gemstone business was what inspired me to try to make jewelry as selling gemstones involves a very small market and selling jewelry opens up that market to include just about everyone. Every moment that I was not at work I was learning how to make jewelry. The trial and error process is not one I would recommend as it came with a lot of frustration. It was slow and somewhat painstaking but I was broke, stubborn and extremely determined so it worked out in the end. I never looked at it as a hobby, the goal was always to sell the work I was producing, and there are few things more motivating then needing to pay the rent.
I made jewelry for a number of years before opening my own gallery and that was the change that finally brought success. The process definitely could have been sped up had I come into it with more wisdom on a number of fronts. The list of what I didn’t know back then is very very long… But I think that every step in the process, no matter how painful, was important. There are some things that can only come with time. I needed 10,000 hours to become a decent jeweler and another 10,000 to become a decent gallery owner.

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

I opened my art gallery, Diane West Jewelry & Art in 2011 in Durango, CO. I started making jewelry in 2000 but had struggled to make it a living at it going to art shows, selling through other galleries and marketing online. Though I had not met with much success up to that point I was absolutely determined to make it work. I had met a number of artists at shows and in my own community and I had a vision of putting together a group of work that was hopeful, bright, innovative, eclectic, interesting and well crafted. I wanted to bring a group of people together in a warm and welcoming setting that would benefit all involved, creating a sort of family. When the gallery opened it focused pretty heavily on my own work but over the years my focus shifted away from the art of creating jewelry to the art of creating a gallery of work that I am extremely proud of. We now have 29 talented artists from around the country and showcase not only handmade jewelry, but a wide variety of fine art including abstract, modern, landscape, figurative, encaustic and ceramic.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

So many people walk into my gallery and tell me that they don’t have a creative bone in their body, and I always tell them that can’t be true. Everything that we do in life can become art if we do it intentionally. We have all witnessed someone turning an everyday practice into art. Cooking, writing, conversation, skiing, the examples are endless. You don’t have to be able to create a painting or piece of ceramics or ring to be an artist. We are all artists, choose something in your life that you are good at and make it art, I guarantee that it will be incredibly rewarding. The flip side of this is that when your art becomes work (the way that you make your living) it can not only change the process but also change the energy around it. People often ask if I love what I do, and the answer is yes, but not all the time. It is work and every job comes with ups and downs, good days and bad. I have spoken with a lot of working artists about the guilt that comes with not always loving what they do. People have an idealistic image of an artist’s day and while I certainly don’t want to take away from what a gift it is to be able to be a full time artist I want people to understand that it is also hard work.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

2020 was a challenge for everyone across the globe, and I know that I was much luckier than many in that time period but like other small business owners I was terrified of losing my business. During the months that we were shut down I would ride my bike or walk down to my gallery and go to work in my back office. I spent that time working on the website, social media and client building mostly through email campaigns. Coming into 2020 I was burnt out. Having a small business can be very stressful and demanding and it can be easy to lose your original vision. Having those months alone in my gallery with all the beautiful work laid out around me, photographing pieces, re-doing the website and imagining how to continue I fell in love with it all over again. I decided exactly how far into debt I was willing to go and then made a plan of how to fight to keep afloat. I worked endlessly in 2020 and by the end was burnt out again but in a different way. My artists, clients and employees had all shown up in force, and together we had made it work. I am so grateful for all of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dianewestart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dianewestart/

Image Credits
Wink Pedolsky (ceramic piece) Diane West (all other shots)