We recently connected with Caleb & Madelyn and have shared our conversation below.

Caleb & Madelyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

We shared our art online for nearly three years before finding a way to earn a full-time living. Practically surviving off of odd jobs and contract work, you could say we were starving artists. Somehow we always met our needs and were able to continue adventuring, but there was a yearning to sustain ourselves independently. Early 2021 we were camped out in the Utah desert when we learned about non-fungible tokens. Investing what little money we had to spare, we minted our very first NFT: a VeeFriends Series 1. GaryVee’s content had motivated our entrepreneurial spirit for years and we believed he was on to something. Fast forward a few months and we found ourselves traveling solely off of crypto gains and NFT flips. Quickly reshaping our outlook on both money and art, we knew this was our opportunity to establish ourselves in a new market. As we started our 2,200 mile trek, our very own collection came to fruition. Sitting in our tent atop a Pennsylvania mountain, we released 24 pieces of our ongoing NFT collection ‘Appalachian State of Mind’. Feeling inspired and excited, we hopped on a train a few days later to attend our first crypto conference in NYC. Hiking clothes and packs on our backs, we were the most feral but spirited NFT enthusiasts to hit the streets. That week we met some incredible people that would soon become our first collectors.

This journey to fund our passions took time and patience. The most important lesson being that, to create something meaningful, you must dedicate without expectations.

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 back background and context?

Patchwork Canteen has been a pseudonym for the collective artwork of Caleb & Madelyn for almost four years. Sharing a love for in-depth adventures, we identified a specific interest in using our respective art forms as storytelling devices. When we decided to hike the Appalachian Trail this year, we each chose a creative focus that could relay this journey properly. Caleb fixed his energy on mastering photography for the visual story, while Madelyn poured her heart into written words of the beauty and lessons found along the way.

Nearing the end of this thru-hike, we’ve had so much time to blossom. Being in this natural environment day after day allowed us to understand more about ourselves and the role we play as artists. Although every great journey must end, there’s things that evidently carry on. Our hope is that, through our art, we can provide insight into various lifestyles and leave a lasting legacy of “saying yes to adventure”.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Although it took time to truly recognize where we wanted this creative journey to take us, we feel confident that (for all the seemingly failed attempts) we are exactly where we should be now. Our adventures always present some level of discomfort and sacrifice. Pursuing a creative career comes with endless unknowns that you learn to embrace and we stand with arms wide open. Our mission is to explore the different ways one could live an outdoor-centric life and to document those endeavors. The goal being to inspire others that it’s okay to start over or change up your life, you just need the courage to chase your dreams.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

While there’s so many use cases for NFTs, we found value in the possibilities they provided for artists. Being able to fund your passion, via the art you create along the way, is both rewarding and sustainable. In the physical world, after your work sells there’s a financial dead end. With NFTs and the web3 movement, artists will generate passive income as their work resells and earns royalties. The technology of smart contracts benefits both the creator and collector without the need of a third party.

Our NFTs represent a piece of our journey and we can continue to bring value to our collectors even after the specific adventure comes to its end. That value could be through IRL meetups, exclusive access to content or products, and the special access collectors now have to artists they support. Thanks to NFTs there’s a network of growth and encouragement that allows artists to focus on the most important thing: creating their art. No longer will artists/creatives rely solely on outside opportunities or brand deals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://opensea.io/collection/patchworknft
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patchworkcanteen/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/patchworknft
• Other: tiktok.com/@patchworkcanteen