Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Charlotte Schembri. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Charlotte, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I was always drawing, painting, or participating in crafts with my family and friends. We would buy art supplies at Michael’s and then create our crafts during sleepovers. I always looked forward to taking art classes in elementary school as it was my favorite subject. Whenever my classmates and I would work on projects, they would look at my work and tell me that my drawings or paintings looked really good. Those compliments helped me strive to become better at drawing and to always push myself. For some reason, I was obsessed with drawing homes and families. Because I always drew homes, my teachers suggested that maybe I become an architect when I got older. But as I got older, I soon realized that it took more math than it did design (math was not my strong suit).

Once I reached middle school and high school, I had the option to take more advanced art classes. In these advanced art classes, not only was I able to build my skills as an artist, but I also got to learn all about the history of art. I was completely mind-blown at how long humans have been making art and all the different art movements throughout history. Seeing how far I’ve come building my skills and learning about different styles of art, I knew that art school was my path into college. Knowing that I wanted to go to art school, I took AP classes and tested out of them to gain college credit ahead of time. It helped me get a semester ahead!

Throughout my college career, I learned how to make art using many different mediums, including drawing, painting, photography, and print-making. Each medium has its own unique qualities and gives a certain meaning to the work you create. Going into college, photography wasn’t my favorite medium, but after working with film, I fell in love with it. I used my photography skills in almost all of my projects. Being able to take portraits on my camera and reusing them to create interesting drawings and prints was so fun and made all of my work connect. My professors also taught me that meaning, not just skill, is what makes a good piece of art. Knowing that a concept or a story can make or break a piece of work, I developed my voice as an artist through writing artist statements and speaking about my work during critiques with my classmates and professors.

I use everything I’ve learned throughout my childhood and at the University of Texas with my work and my clients. My family and friends ask me to do commission pieces now, which helps me build my referral base. I’ve also had the opportunity to sell my work online through SAATCHI. Knowing that people from around the world can purchase my artwork is an amazing feeling. It’s also helped me gain confidence knowing my work is strong (in both design and meaning) to apply for art shows.

Charlotte, 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?

Building your own name and brand is never an easy process. Today as an artist, social media is as important as ever to help build your business. It’s a platform where you can show your followers who you are as a person and the process of how your art is created. Knowing how important social media is for business, I had a part-time job working at Realty Austin as a marketing coordinator while going to school. I learned skills that helped me build up @charlotteschembriart on Instagram and Facebook and the importance of building your brand. Engaging with your followers is important, and it shows them that you care and are always working on your art practice. It also helps build leads that can turn into commissions, and later on, referrals. I’m now currently working at Wexel Art, an amazing art and framing company based in Austin. At Wexel, I work as their Marketing and Social Media Coordinator and help with sales and customer service questions as well. Wexel has a super great artist program, where we work with artists to reproduce their pieces and sell their work. I’ve had the opportunity to help find some of these artists and see their brands and company grow. It’s the most amazing feeling ever (especially being an artist myself).
With my experiences in marketing, social media, sales, and customer service, I take what I’ve learned from my jobs and use them in my own art business. I’ve had to deal with different clients with different needs and wants. I’ve also learned that the customer is always right, even when they are in the wrong. I always want to make sure that they are happy in the end because, hopefully, they’ll come back to purchase more art.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is seeing your client’s reaction to the artwork for the first time. It’s rewarding and also scary at the same time because you never know what their reactions will be. Also, seeing the artwork framed for the first time is super satisfying! It completely elevates your piece and makes it look so professional.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’ve only had one bad experience with a customer, and it was not fun to deal with. Especially when it’s someone you know. It was my first time shipping a piece out, and out of the country. I didn’t realize that shipping would be super, super expensive, and never gave a quote to my customer before shipping out the artwork to her. That was a big mistake on my end. I didn’t have a UPS business account, so I wasn’t able to offer her good shipping rates. Once I gave her the total for the artwork and the shipping, she was surprised and didn’t want to pay for the shipping cost. I was initially upset with her because I assumed she knew that it would be expensive to ship artwork to another country. I’ve learned that I can’t assume things, and just need to ask. I felt super guilty and made up for the shipping cost. That was the first time I didn’t make a profit from a commission piece and actually lost money. Now I know that I need to provide a shipping quote before shipping out a piece of artwork and make sure that the client is ok with it. I’ve also learned that it’s not cost-efficient for me to ship out artwork to another country. But, now that I sell my artwork on an international art site, SAATCHI, I am able to ship out my artwork to customers in other countries!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charlotteschembriart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/charlotteschembriart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-schembri-431278130/
• Other: https://www.saatchiart.com/charlotteschembri