We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brittany Busch a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brittany, 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?
My bread-and-butter is my job as a public school art teacher. Not only because it offers a salary, but also because it gives me access to materials and a daily responsibility to hone my craft. It’s no joke that teaching is the most effective way to learn something; being an art educator has ultimately made me a better artist. As I’m teaching my students, I’m also learning and collaborating, and I bring those ideas to life in my studio on my weekends and summers off. That personal work either sells or I get commission work from it (I shamelessly promote myself on social media).
Brittany, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Right after I graduated with my BFA, I had no idea how to make a living as an artist in the city I was in. I honestly don’t think it would have been possible at the time. When I got offered a job to be a high school art teacher, I took it as an opportunity to have a steady paycheck while I figured out how to build myself a sustainable art career. I’m now 9 years into my teaching career, and it’s been an incredible experience. My teaching and freelance careers have both taken off. What’s amazing is that most of my commission work is done in the same city I didn’t know where to begin. I embraced where I was at, poured that love into my work, and my community embraces it.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
As I began to embrace the landscape where I live (it’s very flat and notoriously boring to most), my work was naturally reflecting the people that live on that landscape. Through posts and shares on social media, my followers embraced what I was creating. If you’re wanting to build that online presence, my advice is to learn to love where you are and find the gold in the people around you. Promote not only yourself, but also the people doing what you’re doing. It’s not a competition, it’s building community.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
I think society uses the word “just” too often for creatives. “It’s just an art class.” “It’s just doodling.” “It must be so fun to just sit around and paint all day.” Honing in skills as an artist is an unpaid gig. When you buy art, you’re not only paying for the materials and time that went into that particular piece; You’re also making thousands of hours of practice and likely thousands of dollars in supplies used for practice worth the investment for that artist. So, buy original art. Invest in that one piece from a local artist rather than multiple mass-produced prints from a corporation.
Contact Info:
- Website: brittanybusch.com
- Instagram: @brittanybusch