We recently connected with Andy Braitman and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Andy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents encouraged me and my siblings to be whatever we wanted to be, to pursue whatever we wanted to pursue but to do it as best and as earnestly as possible. We were to have opinions, passions, and not to be concerned with the outside world which may find our interests inconvenient. By example they taught us to accept everyone’s observations but not to accept any one’s judgement.

My curiosities outside of art would better inform my artwork that my curiosities inside the art world, Read, understand, ask why and understand how.

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

I have been fortunate to have been a creative artist for my entire working life. In my early 20’s I was selected to be included in a program that paid me to proselytize about my painting. There was money available to promote the arts and support the artists in exchange for sharing and teaching our individual and unique creative disciplines. This far reaching and forward thinking approach to embracing the arts in our communities is no longer available and (in my opinion) we are poorer without such programs.

At the conclusion of the two years I was a visiting artist in Prince Georges County Maryland… I continued to create, strive for gallery representation, while developing my skills and process. I was able to fluctuate between adjunct teaching positions, Visiting Artist positions, and part-time work for the next two decades. As my reputation and image continued to develop, I moved from Baltimore, Md to Charlotte, NC. I was working in a non-representational direction and had experienced some critical success (being represented by galleries in Pittsburg, Washington, D.C., Millburn, NJ, Santa Fe, NM. and of course, Charlotte, NC.

It was quite an eye opener for me because, while I was actually beginning to get serious recognition and making regular sales I was, unfortunately, still unable to live in an acceptable life-style. Having had twenty years of life on the edge, living sale to sale, building up no credit and unable to support myself let alone a family, I had decided that I needed a change. I had no desire to be a struggling artist into my dotage and I wanted to be with someone I had met. It was she, who suggested that I shift my studio from a place of individual creation and exploration to a teaching studio. I started teaching figure drawing and painting and eventually established a fine reputation as THE place to go to learn painting in the southeast. I found new galleries that were willing to show my new work (more representational and basically landscape derivative).

Now I am very happy, I still going into the studio daily, I have three adult step sons and seven grandchildren, and I live a very contented life.

I continue to try to express my wonder of the physical world of nature and have learned to share my excitement and insight with other interested burgeoning artists.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

The E myth, computer for dummy’s, any book of poetry and or haikus, Scientific American issue on Image, Object, and Illusion.

There is no short cut to being successful as an artist. One HAS to be an artist and have no other options; that is the only way I can think of that empowers the individual to sustain all of the degradations and disappointments that lie in one’s path.

If you have a calling you will find a way and it will be different than any one else’s. Society does not encourage or reward the creator. Still, society and civilization require creators.

The creator must develop an authentic curiosity or interest that they explore with a god given talent to persist. If you want to be an artist then learn to explore and experiment and try your best not to perform.

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

There are as many different personality types in the world of creatives as in the world of non-creatives. I am not ditzy, but like a research scientist or any other driven person, I am hyper focused. My focus is not on the tangible qualities of living in America today but in a visual world of emotion and genuine curiosity. What do I see and how do I see it in a way that is unique to me.

Contact Info:

• Website: andybraitman.com, braitmanstudio.com
• Instagram: [email protected]
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• Linkedin: [email protected]
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