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

Hi Chelsea, thanks for joining us 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 been working as a full time artist since 2017. Although, I studied art in college, I didn’t have any idea that painting would be a career for me. I think at the time I thought it would be more of a stepping stone into a creative roll. That idea lead me to a job at Amazon as a designer for six years. While I worked there for a long time, I knew pretty quickly that this was not the creative outlet I was looking for long term. Still, I wasn’t in the mindset that painting could make me money. I just never saw myself as being good enough. But, with some encouragement from a friend I started painting again regularly and selling some pieces mostly people I knew or friends of friends. Within a few months word of mouth had lead clients and galleries knocking at my door. Within a year I was able to leave corporate life behind and paint full time. I’d like to say I wish I would have trusted my ability sooner and started painting full time right out of school, but I really do not see how that would have played out. Being a full time artist requires a lot of self introspection, a serious drive to produce and create, and real world knowledge of how to run a business. I am a big believer in manifesting the life you want but also that it takes time, hard work, and experience to get to that place.

Chelsea, 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?

I have always considered myself as a creative, even as a young child. I did not have the words then but I had an innate instinct to create. I really didn’t dawn on me that being a creative is a unique trait until I was maybe a teenager. It’s beyond an interest, it’s a deep desire that drives my entire life. That lead me to a degree in painting and eventually a full time artist. Growing up in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, I have always been an intense observer of the things that surround me; Surfing, figures in water, oysters, and organic elements of the life here. I see myself as a an observer through art. I see things that stand steady in my mind, and recreate them on canvas to evoke a feeling for a viewer. The art side of it is how the viewer interprets that image in time. They, themselves, become their own story teller. As the artist I become the road between the image and the feeling. A vessel you might say. I don’t see myself as the only creator involved. If I am able to stir up a feeling in the viewer, then without even knowing, they become the artist as well.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

After a very successful but grueling solo show I had just completed, I was talking to my husband. He asked me how I felt. I explained to him, it’s always a very surreal feeling to work so intensely, alone in a studio for months then see it all on walls and people looking at the work. It almost feels like being naked in a room full of strangers. You’re vulnerable, scared, and hearing people praise or compliment almost feels too intimate. I am a very shy person, but I have learned to try to separate act of creating of the work to the final product. I literally will see paintings I have done and have no clue I was the artist. That has happened on multiple occasions actually. I think this detachment is a form of self preservation. If I did the piece and don’t like it, when I see it years down the road, it’s no longer a reflection of something I don’t like about myself. However, I will say most of the time, I am surprised I created a piece that I have not seen in a long time. I am able to appreciate it visually for the first time.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

The most significant book I have ever read about the feeling of being an artist is “A Giacometti Portrait” by James Lord. It tells the story of James Lord sitting for the artist Giacometti as he paints him. Giacometti works and reworks, painstakingly. The artist is in a constant loop of self doubt and a compulsion like instinct to keep going to get it right. I felt completely seen when I read Lords view of his artist friend. It gave me perspective that true creatives have two major things in common. One is that self doubt is the driver of creativity. And two, to create is not a hobby or even a desire. It is survival. If we do not create, we do not have meaning. And a meaningless life is one not worth living.

Contact Info:

• Website: chelseagoer.com
• Instagram: chelseagoer
• Linkedin: Chelsea Goer

Image Credits
Artist Photo by Elizabeth Faye