We were lucky to catch up with Anna Kidd recently and have shared our conversation below.
Anna, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
This past fall someone reached out to me to make them a custom oil painting of a forest scene. I thought, heck yeah, this is right up my alley as nature or wildlife inspired pieces are what I am best at and what fuel my creative fire the most – not thinking it would lead to the most meaningful piece of work I’ve done to date.
This client (H) ended up giving me some insight into why they wanted this picture/scene captured. She said she wanted to gift this to her friend as she had just lost her father, one of the most heartbreaking moments a person could go through. I immediately felt this weight and pressure on my shoulders, this couldn’t just be good, it had to be amazing and I had to embody something bigger than me (than all of us) to make this look amazing enough for her.
Although I tried to finish this in a tight deadline for her, while working a full time day job I ended up being about a week late with it after drying and varnishing the oil painting, which I was beyond disappointed in myself for… but it worked out exactly as he wanted and I knew that pressure I held at the start was him holding my hand through the process.
Throughout making this piece I tried to feel him with me and ask for his help, I wanted each brush stroke to represent his laugh, his fatherly advice, his tight hugs to his daughter and when I finally shipped it to H and she delivered it to her friend when she was back from a needed week away, H was kind enough to share her reaction, “Oh H. I don’t even have words right now. Just tears feeling so grateful for you and your beautiful heart… That painting-whew-I feel like its my Dad talking to me…Wow. This is incredible. It has so much soul and meaning and magic. It draws me in and invokes a feeling of calm…makes me smile feeling like my dad is just radiating from it… And I think the present was made to have a delayed delivery. This was such a soul filling gift to come home to after a long week”
It was one of those projects that confirmed that I am doing not only what I love but I get to be a part of such special moments between loved ones and get to bring these meaningful moments, memories and visions to life. I am grateful every day for those who trust me to create for them or help them gift something unique for the most special people in their life.
Anna, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Anna Kidd with Wild Kidd Design, a small business where I take thrifted clothing and canvases and give them a second lease on life with oil paint, a sewing machine, and/or linoleum hand-carved blocks. I also have a passion for capturing people’s beloved pets and moments in nature with oil paint on a canvas for a unique and personalized gift that will last lifetimes. Recently, I have also starting hosting classes in the community where people can use my hand carved blocks to decorate their own bandana or bring old clothes to spice up.
I am proud to say this is my 5th year working on these nature creations and, even with moving across the country, I am able to continue to bond with the community through art of many kinds. I currently am located in Duluth, MN for the 3rd year which has such an inspiring music and art scene and can’t wait to see what more comes out of living in the North Woods, but do miss the mountains of my past home in Bozeman, MT where I still get and use for inspiration.
I graduated in 2020 from Montana State with a Conservation Ecology Degree and so hope to continue the passion I have for keeping nature wild through my art and advocate every chance I can for our planet. Mother Nature is the backbone of my creations and without her I would not be where I am today and my goal is to continue to expand ways Wild Kidd gives back to her.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Right now we are in incredibly trying times. There are a lot of people making decisions at the top that are only for the betterment of themselves and not the general public (which includes the majority of artists and creatives). One of the best things you can do is put your money into the right pocket: local artists, musicians… heck, local gear stores, small grocery stores, farmers markets, etc.
Small businesses and artists are getting hit the hardest right now and you buying even one thing from them pays their health care bills, gives them the ability to buy groceries, pay rent, care for their family, and continue to pay bills so they can work to create and inspire through their creations – while buying from big companies just puts more money into the ones with already overflowing pockets. One of the best things we can do is put our money where our mouth is, or more-so, put your money where it leads to feeding other mouths in your community. This world is nothing without art and music, it surrounds you wherever you are and would be a much more boring place without it.
I know these times put most of us in a pinch and if you can’t afford to support all the artists/musicians at the moment or buy everything local, start small and strengthen that muscle so in 1, 2, 3+ years it adds up. Another big thing is to just share; speak well of your art and music friends, because these days word of mouth can be just as important as a paying client/listener and gives us the confidence to continue our passion for you and for ourselves.
Have you ever had to pivot?
One thing artists and creatives have to be good at is pivoting. The world around us is constantly changing and with social media being such a large part of the job today, we need to be able to adapt to the ever-changing algorithms.
When me and my partner left Bozeman, Montana to move to Duluth, Minnesota I did not realize how much it would affect my art business. Covid left Bozeman too expensive for us – and many native Montana residents – to exist in, we took a chance and moved to Duluth without even being there before, starting completely fresh. Don’t get me wrong, I am so incredibly happy we made the move and over the past 3 years have met incredible people in the music and art scene here – but it was extremely difficult to basically restart with my art.
Just the difference in economic outlooks and abilities in the two towns made me have to completely pivot what kind of art and services I offered and forced me to rely on social media for leads on pieces and services I offered in person in Bozeman. Thankfully, I have such amazing friends and family in Montana that continue to support me and let me live through them while recommending my work to others. I truly would be nothing without the people I met there and am so grateful every day for the almost decade I got to spend out there. I am also so so eternally grateful for the people I have met here in Duluth and can not wait to continue to embed myself more in this amazing community.
While I may have been more painting focused in Montana, the shift to wearable art and prints in Minnesota was a challenge I accepted with a smile on my face. I think we all need to learn how to flex under pressure as it makes us better people and creatives.
My job at a local brewery and the desire to find another niche in the area led me to hosting a class this January where I brought over 40+ of my hand carved linoleum block prints, bandanas and ink and let people go crazy while enjoying beer during the process. I encouraged people to also bring old or thrifted clothing to decorate if desired and the outcome was more than I could have ever expected. I now have hosted 5 classes, sold those all out and have more coming up in the future. I know that those times I have been down and had to pivot, led me to these and honestly are some of the most fun I have had with my art to this day. The people I have got to meet through these classes warm my heart and I have gotten to connect with amazing organizations and companies in the Twin Ports.
I still do commissions and markets on the side – which I still have such a passion for – but these classes have felt like the sunshine peeking through the clouds after a rainy week, and I have my amazing community to thank for that.
Shout out to Earth Rider Brewery, Alchemy Superior, Wild State Cider, Ursa Minor Brewing and the Duluth Public Library for allowing me to host classes with them, without such amazing places to host, these could not happen and I am forever grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://wildkidddesign.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wild.kidd.design/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildkidddesign/
