We recently connected with Brian Somerville and have shared our conversation below.
Brian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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 have worked as a creative for the past 20 years and I’ve been able to earn a consistent full-time living for the past 10 years. My journey has never been a straight path. It’s taken me all those years to collect contacts, clients, and collaborators to build a career as a creative. That career has consisted of fabrications, commissions, collaborations, restorations, and the sale of my own personal artwork. My journey started when I was young. I was always interested in creating things in three dimensions and I gravitated towards ceramics and sculpture in school. I earned a BFA from the University of Evansville in Southern Indiana and an MFA from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. After school I completed residencies at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach and The Mary Anderson Center near Louisville. Up to then, I had pursued a career split between making my own work and teaching, but I was getting burned out and needed something different.
I altered my path and started working as a sub-contracted commercial sculptor at Weber Group, Inc in Sellersburg, IN. They specialize in themed construction projects for zoos and amusement parks. My time at Weber Group was short, but I gained an incredible amount of knowledge about alternative materials like epoxies, resins, and foams. It was also a great experience to collaborate with a warehouse full of other artists and skilled tradesmen on projects that were expansive in complexity and scale. What I learned most during this time was that big, crazy sculptural projects don’t always have a rule book on how they get made and typically include stages of wild brainstorming and educated experiments.
In 2010 I met artist and art collector, Cano Ozgener, in Nashville, TN. He had recently sold his company, CAO Cigars, and was redirecting his energy into art. He purchased some of my work and commissioned me to help bring some of his own sculptural ideas to life. Within the year, Cano offered me an Artist-in-Residence position at a new art institution he was founding called OZ Arts. This position involved visiting art organizations around the country, meeting creative leaders in Nashville, and fabricating large-scale foam sculptures sealed in fiberglass in a 16,000 sq/ft. warehouse art studio. Over the next 5 years, OZ Arts evolved into the cutting-edge performance-based organization it is today and my role shifted from in-house artist to independent contractor. In 2016, I moved my work and tools to a shop in my backyard.
For the next two years, I worked for a few different companies and collectives as a sculptor and took on more side work. In 2018, the side work was frequent enough that my wife and I decided to take a chance and start our own company. My wife, Molly, would help me with taxes, paperwork, bids, and invoicing, and I would find the work and make the stuff. The Grit Shop, LLC, an Artistic Fabrication Studio, was born.
There are probably a thousand ways I could have sped up the process of my journey, but I’m not sure how I could have done things differently. When I was in graduate school, someone asked me why I needed an MFA to be an artist. I always saw art school as an accelerant for gaining knowledge and developing skills. I may or may not have gotten there on my own eventually, but going to school for art saved me years. The same accelerant theory could also be said for my time at Weber Group, OZ Arts and all the other stops along the way.
If I had to single out one regret in my career, it would be that I wasn’t open enough to different creative routes along the way. For example, I was never involved in theater in school, but I routinely build sets and props for film and theater and sometimes work on an art department crew on set. It’s a whole world that my varied skill set fits perfectly into and I have only explored those options in the past few years. These days, I’m much more open to anything new that comes along.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
The Grit Shop, LLC is an Artistic Fabrication Studio that specializes in making adventurous ideas a reality. I work with designers, companies, and other artists to help them design, fabricate and install creative projects that are unique and dynamic while also being safe, efficient, and well-crafted. For the most part, The Grit Shop is a workforce of one. However, to say I do everything without help would disrespectfully overlook everyone I regularly work with. In addition to my wife helping with the books, I also have a vast network of designers, contractors, tradesmen, and artists I frequently consult and collaborate with. My years of experience has taught me that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, and the best results usually required a team.
My own strengths include sculpting clay, foam, wood, metal, fiberglass, epoxy and concrete into 3-dimensional forms that meet the needs of my clients and reach my own obsessive standards. My versatility sets me apart from other creatives and companies and allows me to always use the best product for the job.
The tenacious work ethic I bring to each project is what I’m most proud of. I go above and beyond to ensure things are done right, on time, and at a reasonable price. Building a reputation rooted in dependability and ingenuity has allowed me to take on some incredible projects with amazing people and I always look forward to the next adventure. Anything can be created with knowledge, skills, and grit.
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’ve learned countless lessons over the years, but the biggest has been how to move past the fear of “selling out”. Early in my career, I was always worried, if I created something that wasn’t fine art, it would negatively affect my career as an artist. I probably got this idea from conversations with peers or teachers. Fairly or not, I think this fear is deeply rooted in visual art education at all levels. In some ways, my anxiety of selling out was based in some truth. I’ve been told by collectors, curators, and gallery owners that my body of work is confusing. They’ve said it’s difficult to separate the commercial work I do as The Grit Shop from my original “Claybeasts” sculptures. The more I’ve matured as an artist and as a person, the less concerned I am with this confusion. My creativity is a renewable resource and I’m not worried about using it all up. It’s ok for me to use my skills, knowledge, and education to help other artists, to work on commercial projects and to make money to support my family, and to help fund the creation of my own work. A specific example is a 10’ concrete fire-hydrant I recently sculpted for a pet food store. That project will not win me any art grants or turn the heads of anyone at Art Basel, but it was a good project for me and my business. It connected me with a new local business owner and her construction company, it paid my bills for a month, and it gave me the chance to explore new ways to sculpt with concrete.
I’ve also learned a lot from collaborations with dancers, musicians, authors, directors, and producers. They seem less hung up than visual artists on the concept of selling out. It feels like they can better understand that the practice of working creatively can be pure and independent of the final product. An example of this for me was the creation of TANK CHICKEN. This 12’ tall, interactive sculpture was created by Sean Perdue, Trey Gossett, Jason York, and myself as a collective we called TANK 615. Visitors could enter the tank from the back where they could flap the wings, turn the tank wheels, move the chicken’s head, and shoot plastic eggs out of the cannon. LED lights and a custom soundtrack of tank noises and chicken crows made this a memorable project that everyone enjoyed. Before TANK CHICKEN was even introduced to the public, working 24 hours straight with a such a talented group of artists remains one of the highlights of my artistic career.
Letting go of my selling out fears has allowed me to work on some killer projects that were silly, fun, and entertaining. This new attitude has helped me build an eclectic career while other artists flared out and gave up.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
As with most creative careers, I feel like my path has been an almost constant pivot. I’m always exploring new products and new ways to use them and I’m always pushing The Grit Shop into new creative avenues. The industries of interior design, themed construction and theater and film offer limitless opportunities for creative projects. When I look back over my career, I expect the time I’m in right now will probably be one of my most drastic pivots. For the past 5 years I’ve developed a haunting feeling that I’m not working to my creative potential and that I’m just capable of much more. Recently, I’ve taken a more proactive role in making new connections to propel The Grit Shop in new directions.
One of these new directions is the use of new vertical concrete carving mixes that can be used for sculptures, relief murals, and rockwork. Another direction is pursuing more public art opportunities. My newest work, To Tame A Beast, combines the materials and sculpting techniques of my fabrication work with the concepts of my personal “Claybeasts”. This 14’ tall, interactive sculpture is currently on exhibit in Nashville’s Germantown in the Assumption Sculpture Garden – 1213 7th Ave North in Nashville, TN. My hope is to fearlessly continue taking on projects that push myself and The Grit Shop.
To see more about The Grit Shop, LLC, please visit: www.thegritshop.com
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thegritshop.com
- Instagram: @thegritshop
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/thegritshop
Image Credits
Brian Somerville – Image Credits Somerville – Mug Shot Artwork included: The Weight of a Whisper H-84” x W-37” x D-25” ceramic, wood, metal, foam, epoxy, antlers Photo by: Sheri Oneal Photography CMT Underwood Belt H-16” x W-36” x D-2” leather, epoxy, faux rhinestones, fringe Commissioned by CMT Presented to Carrie Underwood for a record 25 CMT Awards Created in collaboration with, Art Director, Duncan Ragsdale Donelson Gateway Arch H-8’6” x W-6’ x D-6’ foam, metal, concrete, fiberglass, epoxy Located at Briley Parkway and Lebanon Pike in Donelson, TN Created in collaboration with The Donelson Gateway Project, Creatives’ Day and members of the community. Funded by a Metro Arts Nashville’s Thrive Grant Fire Hydrant H-10’ x W-4’ x D-4’ concrete, metal, drywall Located at Dee-O-Gee in Franklin, TN Parke West Sculpture H-12’ x W-2’ x D-8” concrete, foam, metal, wood Located in Lobby of Parke West Luxury Apartments in Nashville, TN Designed and commissioned by Lyne Interior Design Studio TANK CHICKEN H-14’ x W-9’ x D-6’ wood, metal, foam, LED lights Created by TANK 615 Art Collective (Trey Gossett, Jason York, Sean Perdue, Brian Somerville) The Snake Cries When The Bunny Lies As The Crow Flies H-10’ x W-26’ x D-8’ concrete, metal, wood, foam, fiberglass, epoxy, acrylic Public Art Proposal To Tame A Beast H-12’ x W-6’ x D-4’ concrete, fiberglass, epoxy, foam, metal Located in Germantown’s Assumption Sculpture Garden 1213 7th Ave. N Nashville, TN Made possible by The Public Arts Committee of Historic Germantown Neighborhood Ultra Lounge Bar H-12’ x W-8’6” x D-3’ foam, fiberglass, epoxy, acrylic, LED lights Created for OZ Arts in Nashville, TN