We recently connected with Bethany Hissong and have shared our conversation below.

Bethany, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

Thanks for asking me to share my experiences! I have been learning art all of my life. I think everyone agrees that personal practice is the best way to learn. I did study Graphic Design and then Fine Arts at the University of Cincinnati, College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning. This past summer I named my “summer of learning” because at the end of May I signed up for online painting classes with five artists who I admire through Penn Studio Art School and with professional artist Claudia Rilling. This was so beneficial as it was an intense focus on things like color with Nicolas Uribe where we used specific limited palettes or really interesting still life arrangements with Ed Praybe. Artists were from all over the United States and even Columbia, so Zoom made it possible to be live with them without the travel expense. 2020 actually caused a lot of artists to look to Zoom classes to teach which made it more affordable for students. I learned a lot about technique from seeing how other artists approached their painting and I also learned more about composition, color theory and mixing, choosing subject matter and even how artists work and exhibit professionally. I wish I had done this sooner, but I’m not sure that this was as widely available as it is now. I think taking classes in person will be my next step. Learning is essential in continuing to be a better artist. Of course a lot of that learning comes from applying it. I have stacks of painting books and videos, and I’m always going back to those too. I think everyone struggles with the obstacle of enough time or even space to work. But I also believe that if you truly want to learn, you’ll find a way to overcome the obstacles. Right now we are renting a home while we build and I have a tiny bit of space but I am using it to the maximum of it’s possibility!

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 background and context?

As I mentioned, I got my degree at the University of Cincinnati in Art Education with a concentration in drawing. I started studying Graphic Design which was a great foundation in Bauhaus design. That has helped my compositions in painting. I had wanted to be an illustrator but the college didn’t offer illustration and I wanted to draw more than do typography so I chose a degree that I knew I could get a job in after college. I taught Middle School Art right out of school and started freelancing and doing commissioned drawings. When I moved to Columbus, Ohio as a newlywed, I ended up getting a job at a great ad agency who was doing work out of NYC and I loved being around other creatives. That’s when my illustration career really took off. I think being asked to do so many illustrations quickly in lots of different styles let me experiment with technique. I had a great Creative Director who put me on a great variety of projects. It helps when you have a mentor who sees your potential. When my husband was finished with his degree at The Ohio State University, we moved to his small town in Pennsylvania and I continued freelancing in design as well as worked for a short time for a small Christian publisher designing book covers and other book-related publications. I raised my two children but also took part-time teaching jobs because I am a big advocate for good art education. I believe that the problem-solving that happens with good art lessons is applicable to students in many future careers! After the boom in handmade crafts, I opened a brick and mortar Art Studio & Gallery and showed work by indie artists and craftspeople as well as my own. I taught classes and held summer art camps there. My own son and daughter attended which was fun and both are now professional designers and illustrators! I continued to freelance and do painting. My husband and I recently moved to Middle Tennessee and I am now focusing on my painting professionally. But occasionally I will do illustration if someone asks. I also wrote and illustrated a children’s book about a friend from high school who passed away so his son could read his story and that’s available on blurb.com called The Big Life of Bryan.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think the biggest lesson with my career in art and design has been that a degree is secondary to talent. At every change of profession I’ve had someone tell me that I couldn’t do it because I didn’t have a degree in it. Obviously as a public school teacher I need a degree and license, but none of the other careers I’ve had ended up requiring it. I probably would have tried to do more if I had realized I could. I do have a story about how I got my job at the ad agency without my design degree. I had actually taken a temp job as a receptionist while I was pursuing my freelance work in illustration. I mentioned was freelancing and one of the art directors asked to see my portfolio. They were impressed so I got the idea to ask them if I could work in the creative department for two weeks for free so that I could see if it was something I would want to pursue. The Creative Director agreed to it and I worked like I was a new hire— some of the people didn’t realize I wasn’t! By the end of two weeks they saw my hard work and they offered me a position there! It ended up being one of my favorite experiences! Being surrounded by other creatives was exciting and I was really proud of the work we did there. My best friend from college had said that I couldn’t do that job because my degree wasn’t in graphic design but because of my part-time work experience during college at a typesetter and being willing to learn and work hard, I was successful at it. Now I am entering a different world– the fine art world. I don’t have my Masters in Fine Art like I had wanted when I was in undergraduate school. I was lamenting that on social media when Claudia Rilling told me that I really wouldn’t learn much if I went back for my degree so I should just take the classes I wanted and pursue painting without it. So far she has been right– I’ve learned a lot more from finding classes that are exactly what I wanted to learn. I currently have been doing commissions from friends but my goal is to actually start supporting my practice with my work. I know I have to be really good despite my lack of having that piece of paper!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I consider myself an “encourager” on social media. I started blogging back in 2007 and met some of my good friends today through our interactions online from back then! When everyone seemed to move to Instagram, I did too. Obviously building social media friendships is not a lot different from building in-person friendships. Just “liking” someone’s post doesn’t really create that personal connection, and not everyone wants to have that anyways. But I think genuinely offering your thoughts in the comments, especially if it’s encouraging, is a great way to connect because we all want to know that we are succeeding at our work. I think meeting other artists through online classes has helped to make a lot of connections I have recently. Just looking up classmates on social media and following them has helped to make great connections. I actually just made a new friend locally from connecting through a Zoom class and then on social media. We have gone out to do plein air painting together because we both just moved to this area from different states and realized we now live so close to each other! Technically, I have a public account for my art on Instagram and to keep the algorithms connecting only to artists and people interested in art, I do not post about anything else but my art and I only follow art related accounts. I have a private account for family news and friends and I keep it separate. I hope to meet more of you on Instagram!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bethanyhissong.com
• Instagram: @bethanyhissong_artist

Image Credits
© bethany hissong