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

Christianne , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

Abolish the myth of the “starving artist”. Growing up in the 1980’s Midwest, I remember seeing television commercials that advertised an art sale called “The Starving Artist Sale” in which no work was priced over $200! The appeal, of course, was that you could take advantage of these artists who are supposedly starving and are therefore selling their art for bargain prices. That’s not a message that embraces Art-repreneurs. But, as a kid, when asked “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, I would say, “An artist.” This answer never impressed anyone and sometimes even caused worried glances towards my parents.

When it was time to head off to college, my mother finally confronted my dream, saying, “At least get your teaching degree so you don’t starve.” I never took to babysitting, nor did I raise a younger sibling. So pursuing a teaching degree was terrifying, but I relied on my mother’s guidance and went all in, leaving college with a Master’s degree in Visual Art Education. That career was a tough road that helped shape me into what I am today and it provided a steady paycheck.

Twenty years later and I burned myself out. Teaching is exhausting and often thankless. I discovered my personality doesn’t handle those stressors well. With health issues mounting, I needed a change.

From teaching, to what though? With much reflection and heartfelt conversations with my husband, I decided to finally grow up to be that artist I always wanted to be. I developed a business model, secured a business license, and created my first social media accounts at age 43! I was entering an online world I knew little about while dipping my toes into the real world arena of juried art fairs and live event vending. The learning curve was steep and intimidating.

Thankfully, while I was teaching kids for 20 years, the world was making strides to crush the “starving artist” myth. While establishing my business, I started to see that a career in Visual Art no longer meant teaching in a school or working for a company that owned the rights to everything you created. I saw that self-employed artists had access to online marketing avenues and direct communication with customers worldwide. I started seeing online courses of how to make money as an artist. I discovered the wealth of free business help for all kinds of entrepreneurs in my own city.

Revenue streams are plentiful for artists today, including teaching online, selling physical and digital creations, licensing visual art to manufacturers, launching products on print-on-demand sites, and even product development via small batch manufacturing. This is only a sample of what’s possible today. And it’s the bare minimum of what I hope high school and college courses are starting to embrace and foster, arming future artists with the tools they need for a sustainable career in Art-repreneurship.

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?

No matter my personal challenges or professional circumstances, the physical act of creating Art has always been an integral part of how I perceive life and my journey through it. I find great joy in the gritty resistance of a charcoal pencil as I move it along a page, the cool smoothness as I sink my fingers into wet clay, and the nuances of manipulating a paintbrush across a toothy canvas.

When establishing Artist KC, LLC, I learned to narrow my focus. I chose acrylic painting as my medium, as it offers so much versatility. Regarding style, I personally prefer Non-representational Art, but my own talents are in Realism. As for a subject matter, the choice was a no-brainer for me: animals. When I was a kid, my mother taught us to respect and honor our stewardship of animals, domestic and wild. Whether it’s spotting & observing wildlife in the Rocky Mountains or snuggling with a purring cat on a lazy afternoon, I find my life’s memories center around my experiences with animals.

The most accessible animals are the ones we cherish and live with in our homes. From my home studio in Kansas City, I use my talents to elevate pets in every work of art. My business model is centered around providing hand-crafted custom pet portraits for happy households across the U.S. Capturing a pet’s beloved likeness is my way of honoring my mother, the animals I love, and sharing joy while bridging the pet-parent and the Art communities.

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

Providing custom pet portraits to private individuals is a specialized service. When any potential customer is thinking of hiring such a service, it’s important for them to be able to know, like, and trust the service provider. I have found that to help people discover me and get to know me, it helps for me to go to them, where they already are spending their time. For me, that was art fairs and pet-centric events. Those folks already share an appreciation for art and animals.

Every client I secure is immeasurably important to my business. I work hard to exceed their expectations and to provide a professional and high level of customer service. My goal is to provide a flawless and comfortable experience they want to brag about!

Fostering that relationship with my clients turns them into advocates for my brand. Nothing speaks louder to potential customers than the endorsement of past customers. Once the project is finished, the work isn’t. Securing reviews, post shares, and testimonials after the project is an integral part in the process of directing future clients my way.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

As I mentioned, clients are everything to my business. So it’s important to be gracious and to treat them well. I offer all repeat clients a discount. I also offer bulk discounts. To keep in touch, I mail handwritten thank you cards after the project is finished. I email newsletters about where they can find me at local events, offering retail discounts on merch in my booth. It’s really all about treating a client the way you would want to be treated. So the next time they see my logo or my face while scrolling online, or strolling an art fair, or reading an interview like this one, I hope it evokes a good feeling and an interest in seeing more.

Contact Info:

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

Image Credits
Ashten Evans Rachelle Glenn