We were lucky to catch up with Christianne Bohannon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Christianne thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.

Since my beloved cat Copper passed in 2014, I was volunteering frequently at a local non-profit cat shelter. By 2017, I was good friends with the founder and director of the shelter, as well as her family. A few fateful things came together at that time.

I made the decision to leave my day job teaching middle school Art. While deciding which direction my work life would take next, I painted a memorial portrait of Copper called “Defending the Castle”. I designed it to show him as a Medieval warrior, dressed in chain maille and a helmet, defeating the stuffed mouse toy. You see bits of fabric and stuffing strewn across the stone floor as he shows us his game face! All of it is symbolic of, and honors, Copper’s last months of battling diabetes and old age.

My friends, family, and animal rescue pals took notice of the finished painting. Showered with praise and encouragement, I felt empowered to let Copper’s memory propel me into entrepreneurship. Hoping other passionate pet parents would value an original painting of their pets, I launched my business Artist KC.

My first client was the daughter of the director of the cat rescue I still volunteer for. One day the daughter and I met at the cat shelter, with cat fur gathering on our clothes, and the soft mewing of kittens in the other room, we fleshed out her goals for the paintings and we agreed on specifics. We had fun discussing her cats’ personalities to help us develop specific, fun, symbolic, and charming ways to depict her three cats. The process of working with her was creatively rewarding, emotionally fulfilling, and fuels me as I pursue more experiences like it. She loves the fact that I reproduce her paintings and offer them to the public at art fairs and online, thereby sharing her joy with others. In fact, the painting we designed of her black cat Jack is one of my best sellers! I call it “Little Eiffel”.

To this day I thank my experience in animal rescue and my dear Copper for his inspiration and impact on my heart.

Christianne, 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?

Creating Art helped define my identity while growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. With the vague idea of becoming an artist, I started my art training at community college with a full calendar year of nothing but studio classes…what a dream! I had unforgettable first time learning experiences like running my plate through a printing press, trying to contain my awkwardness while drawing a nude model, and suffering through critiques in sculpture class! But I had yet to plan my future. Despite my talents, my mom was worried I wouldn’t make a regular paycheck so she pushed me to pursue a career in Education. I benefited from many talented teachers and professors myself, so I thought having the opportunity to return the favor could be rewarding. I secured a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Art Education at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri in the late ’90s.

My lengthy teaching career consisted of 2 years of service in St. Louis, followed by 18 years in Kansas City area schools. The majority of those years I spent immersed with middle schoolers searching to define themselves as I had in my youth. Looking back, I hope I was able to give back to the education community and to be that creative and welcoming presence children need at that challenging time in their lives. Although middle schoolers are some of my favorite people, and the few who appreciate my silly sense of humor, it was time for me to open a new chapter.

Creating Copper’s memorial painting launched my business model of providing pet parents the opportunity to have their pets captured in hand-crafted, original art. Collecting original art is a time-honored way of expressing ourselves and connecting with the most valued aspects of our lives. Pets certainly qualify! Since establishing Artist KC in 2017, I’ve painted over 300 pets as standard portraits, pets in clothing, pets in exotic places, and of course, pet memorials. Hiring me to paint your pet is known in the industry as “commissioning an artist”. It just means you’re hiring an artist to create an original work of art to your specifications. It can seem daunting and out of your budget, but you’ll find, with so many artists at your fingertips today, it’s an easy thing to do! In fact, most artists I know are willing to accept commissions, whether it’s to capture the essence of a dream you had, a pet portrait, a person portrait, or even a house portrait.
Owning an original work of art is a special thing. How it’s special to you can vary. Perhaps it’s special because you have a connection to the artist who created it. Or maybe it’s one of the few ways you can get exactly what you want, in a one-of-a-kind way, truly custom. And of course, original art never loses its value and can even become part of your legacy. Knowing hundreds of clients find value in my work and choose to exhibit it in their homes, or most often, gift it to a loved one, is truly fulfilling for me.

Although I built my business on the foundation of providing unparalleled quality in custom pet paintings, I’m always open to new opportunities and try new avenues often. I stay sharp by attending business classes throughout the year and I recently completed my first classes in digital drawing. Currently I’m pursuing art licensing contracts. Art Licensing is an industry in which an artist essentially rents their art to manufacturers to be reproduced on products for sale. Hopefully you’ll see my pet paintings on jigsaw puzzles or in a wallpaper pattern someday! I never bore of the variety and challenge of entrepreneurship. For instance, this past month I painted 2 more pet paintings, fine-tuned my portfolio for art licensing, made plans to attend a national trade show, finalized this summer’s art fair schedule, and hung an exhibit at a local engineering firm, whew!

Most folks discover me in the Kansas City metro area as I vend at dozens of pop-up events and art fairs each year. On those occasions I have my large collection of original canvases available, as well as, giclee reproduction prints of my original images, plus fun stuff like stickers. One of my ultimate joys of being an art fair artist is watching visitors to my booth point and giggle at my creations. I witness a friend nudge a friend or a child fetch a parent to make sure they get the same joy of seeing my work!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Reputation is everything to me. I see it as built upon 3 components: quality, service, and value. Of all the business classes, presentations, webinars, networking events, and coffee shop gatherings I’ve attended, I find that to be successful in a product-based business (I provide custom paintings as a product), you must never lapse on quality. It’s not easy. For example, planning to frame a custom painting for a client, I received a frame shipped to me. I unboxed it and inspected its quality. I saw a couple of nicks, maybe a scratch or two. Bottom line: the hassle I save by not addressing the flaws with my frame vendor are not worth the risk of a client noticing those flaws I may choose to dismiss. Sometimes a little extra effort or an uncomfortable conversation is necessary when advocating to provide the best result I can for my client. Ultimately, it pays off. With online reviews a few keystrokes away, it’s integral that business owners anticipate being held accountable for every aspect of their performance. My Google reviews reflect the quality I provide.

Service, of course, reflects how you interact with your clients, whether it’s in person, via text, or online. Customer service is directly tied to your level of professionalism. As you build your brand, you want to be known as an expert in your field. To achieve that, you have to look the part, talk the part, and deliver what you promised. Have peers proofread your copy, poll your audience, accept feedback graciously, and give back to your industry when you can.

The umbrella over all of it is value. How much value does your product or service provide your client? Original art is a one-of-a-kind item, of heirloom status. Price it accordingly. Don’t set your prices low just to make a quick buck. It’s tempting to get the thrill of making sales, but over time you’ll see it’s at the risk of your reputation. By pricing your products cheaply or below market value, all you do is cheapen your own industry and undercut your peers. Charge the true value of your work and shop it to the appropriate audience.
Of all the business decisions you will make, you can stay the course successfully by asking yourself, how can I achieve this task or fulfill this order in a way that I’d be proud of?

Does your business have multiple or supplementary revenue streams (like a ATM machine at a barbershop, etc)?

Multiple revenue streams is a common approach to attaining a thriving business for many artists. I’m no exception. Although producing custom paintings has been a reliable revenue stream for me for five years now, I’m noticing more and more competitors entering the industry. If one or many of them undervalues their work and cheapens the market, my business will be at risk. I never want someone else’s decisions to determine the fate of my business. Sticking to just the one thing in my business runs the risk of becoming stale or may fluctuate due to changes in cultural trends.

To bring in other opportunities for income, I’m currently pursuing the opportunity to license my original images onto products. This excites me as a way to spread my joy of pets far beyond my bubble in Kansas City. Long term I’d like to work regularly with art directors to develop products with my artistic touch. In addition, I seek opportunities to exhibit my stock paintings at various corporate or retail spaces. Exhibiting at art fairs and pop-up events is a fabulous way to market my name and reputation while selling my fun pet art products and securing commission clients. That may sound like enough, but lastly, I plan to pursue wholesale opportunities as well. It would be so rewarding to see my art products for sale in my favorite local boutiques.

It may be a lot of irons in the fire, but multiple streams is a great way to elicit feedback on my work from various retail communities and to help my discoverability by future collaborators. Also, having my products and paintings in multiple locations around town can be a keystone of my marketing efforts. All of these actions culminate, feeding into my reputation and my visibility as an industry expert.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.artistkc.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistkcmo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistKCMO
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianne-bohannon-482765140/

Image Credits
Spacejoy