We were lucky to catch up with Brittany Willoughby recently and have shared our conversation below.
Brittany, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
The thing is, I‘m currently existing in this happy medium between the two and I absolutely love it here. I have a “regular” job where I’m a Sr. Manager within the electric vehicle charging industry. I love the stability that my 9-5 affords. I can pay my bills, support my family, and use my income to help finance my art business as well. While art is what I’m passionate about, I also value my success in my career and the security that it brings. The beauty of my job is that it’s work from home, so I’m better able to manage my time and more easily carve out creative time without having to factor in being out of my home/studio for 8+ hours a day. I’m also lucky enough to have a job that not only values work/life balance, but encourages us to share our interests in our personal lives, where they are actually invested in one’s interests and passions. As a matter of fact, one of my largest and proudest commissions came from a colleague who I had shared my art with and they subsequently entrusted me with two paintings to complement their gorgeous dining room.
While I don’t know if I will ever come to a point where I’d prefer my art career to supersede my corporate one, I do aim to continue prioritizing my art, building my business, and utilizing my skills in both fields to grow as a person, artist, and corporate professional. I tend to exist in dichotomies, where I am a blend of a variety of skills and aspirations. As far as my art career goals, I hope to get to a space where the work I do as a creative will become just as present in my every day life as my regular job. I’d love to open a studio, showcase my work, and use my reach to highlight other amazing black artists in the community.
Brittany, 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 Brittany (Bee), and I am the artist behind B. Michelle Artistry. I specialize in abstract art combining textures and mediums to create complex and unique pieces. Currently, my art portfolio features my palette knife, stippling, and flow series (typically utilizing resin and/or mixed media). Some of my favorite pieces have been commissioned, where I get to work directly with clients to bring their vision to life. There is something about the connection that commissions bring between a client and artist where they join their ideas to create art that is personal, inspiring, and one of a kind. My art has been sold across multiple states and I’ve had various pieces shown on exhibit in Northern Virginia’s Open Space Arts Studio. I believe that being able to reach people with art and form the ability to spark conversation over a piece that I have lived and breathed and brought to life – that is such a pure form of self expression and affirmation for artists.
While my work is abstract, I also love creating works that blend expressionism and realism. I love for my work to keep viewers standing there a bit longer, eyes adjusting beyond the first impressions of the work, to the finer details that expose the long hours and intricate techniques that went into the piece.
While B. Michelle Artistry provides original creations, I also create prints of original works to provide more accessible options for people. Please find my art on Instagram @b.michelleartistry and stay tuned for my website launch where you can view my portfolio and request commissions!
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I think that non-creatives may not understand just how innately intertwined creating is with one’s emotions and how vulnerable of a process it can be for an artist to create work. When I create, there is a whole journey with self that happens where I dive deeper into myself and pour out parts of me on the canvas; parts that I am often times uncovering as I create. For an artist that emotion can be directly related to the piece- fears of a daunting project, anticipations of how it will be received, or even simply the vulnerability required to put paint to canvas. That emotion is also often times driven by our lived experiences and the very real journey we have of showing up consistently, taking up space, and releasing our emotions in one form or another through our art. Even doodling or practice drills have an innate link to self, body, and mind as a very personal conversation and exploration. To the viewer, they’re seeing the end product as a beautiful completed work of art, but to artists, every single stroke has a story. The three layers of paint until I finally got the background and values just right, that one detail that I obsessed over for weeks, or the joy and validation that came from the first moments my work came to life before my eyes… after hundreds of hours of painting and “trusting the process”. Art is a journey. For me, a completed piece is simply a visual diary of it.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I’ve unlearned, particularly as a black, queer, woman, is that I don’t have to take up space for anyone but me. This relates to my corporate life, my personal life, and my artistic life. There have been many times where I’ve been in a space and felt a responsibility to reflect what others expected of me, for my art to reflect the existing trends, expectations, or cater to styles that would sell. That kind of thinking puts you in a box of your own creation; and in turn required a liberation of sorts. There is a wonderful freedom of creating art that reflects ME; bringing something brand new to the world, something that breaks molds, inspires questions, curiosities, and wonder. My only desire now is to create art that is a direct reflection of myself, a visual manifestation of who I am, how I see the world, and how I share my vision of the world with others. I don’t want to creat art that is humble, easily duplicated, or quiet. I want my art to be proud, challenging, and as unique and complex as its creator.
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