We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christine Riutzel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Christine, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I come from a strange background. I grew up in an Evangelical Fundamentalist cult. (Think Duggar family) This wasn’t the kind of environment to encourage creativity. From a young age I thought my only purpose was to get married young and have as many kids as possible to further the Kingdom of God. There was never talk of a potential for me to have a career in the arts, or a career at all. My family thought I was talented; that art “just runs in the family.” Thankfully my mom did a great job homeschooling me. She saw my interest in all kinds of art which is not easy to teach from a book. She enrolled us in weekly homeschool art class. That teacher changed my life. She validated my love for the “weird modern stuff.” And though I knew I couldn’t show that side of myself to my parents I dreamed of a life where I was in charge of creating weird things in my own environment.  The art ended up in notebooks under my bed or on Deviantart. I formally started my career at the age of 28. And though age has nothing to do with it I felt like I had a lot of catching up to do. College never happened, but I believe that made me focus on being my own teacher. I dove into YouTube tutorials, Skillshare, and Masters Academy. Anything to get me to make art. Yes, I wish I had started sooner. I had no control of my circumstances growing up but I am now and that’s what gives me drive now.

I truly believe the lack of art community and mentors was the biggest reason I didn’t start sooner and one big tip I give to younger artists desiring to create. It’s not just going to happen, you have to find it, you have to seek it. Don’t get left behind.

Christine, 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?

I’ve always been interested in many forms of creativity. My first love was interior design and photography. At 20 I did photography gigs on the side, thinking I’d eventually be a full-time wedding photographer. Because of the lack of business skills, boundaries, and confidence, I burned out quickly. Realizing I didn’t want to hate photography I quit, knowing  I’d have to fully commit if I ever wanted to pick it back up.

My husband got a “big city” job which gave me the opportunity to quit my day job and truly figure out what I wanted to do. I tried a few things that were big failures, but I started painting again. I hadn’t picked up a brush since my homeschool art classes. It took me a few years to figure out what part of the painting industry I fit into. Being in SouthWest Missouri I didn’t see much of a fine-arts market here. And at the time I had never met a full-time artist in my area.

On my wedding anniversary in 2018 my husband and I stopped at our local skate rink. He had worked for the owners years ago and wanted to catch up. The owners showed us their plan for updating the rink. I asked what they had planned for the inside walls of the rink and they had no clue. Out of nowhere I asked if I could sketch something for them and they agreed. Thinking it would go nowhere, I began jotting down ideas. I grew up going to this rink every week so I had a soft spot for it. I got some brown contractors paper and pencil to sketch a mural. I knew this mural would be 300 feet long but I had nothing to lose. I suppose knowing the owners, the rejection would be less harsh if they didn’t see my vision. I nervously showed them the draft for the first 150 feet and they were on board. I was shocked. This mural would be my first of many and it fell into my lap. I feel lucky. Lucky in a sense where I didn’t have time to over analyze. My biggest enemy has been myself. These people trusted me to give them an incredible mural and I did it in 6 months. From that point on, I got many local jobs. I blew up. I guess I was going to be a full-time muralist. Knowing that if I didn’t seek out business knowledge I’d fail again like I did with photography. I seeked out mentorship and found a few muralists in the area to pick their brains. “I’m going to be a professional!”

While I do other types of visual art, my main income is commercial murals. When consulting with a client I tell them why my work stands out because I’m creating a custom work of art that makes their business unique. I reject concepts that we’ve seen a million times. I want their mural to tell their story and give them feelings of sentiment. Explaining that this art isn’t just about advertising or social media posts. It’s a part of themselves and their legacy.

 I am most proud of the art community I have cultivated here. Years ago there were a handful of artists who would get together expressing their concerns about the limitations in our  town. How this town didn’t offer much for visual artists. But after a while we saw the fruits of our labor and created an incredible artist community through our non-profit The Southern Missouri Arts Connection. And now I feel confident in the future of my home town. If I had seen murals and public art here when I was a kid I believe it would have inspired me to do it too. Now that I have done several public art projects I hope to inspire those weird art kids that their work is important and needs to be seen.

I love mentoring younger artists. Especially those kids like me who grew up in an extreme legalistic household like myself.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Knowing that I have total creative control over what I make for myself is extremely rewarding. Growing up with an extremist background, having freedom in every aspect of what I do is what keeps me going forward. For example, learning how to use power tools was terrifying because I thought that I couldn’t do traditional masculine things. It’s silly to hear, but it happens and there’s many women out there who are terrified to take risks because of the patriarchy. I had to learn to not rely on a man for anything because I would be reliving the past and therefore feel as if I’m losing my freedom.

When others see themselves in my work and we make that connection, it’s like we’ve known each other for years. Art is doing social work for me. Making deeper connections with others through my art is something that I crave, that keeps me putting myself out there. I feel seen, they feel seen.

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.

I get misunderstood daily. It used to destroy me. When I realized that it’s part of life as an artist I embraced it. I didn’t know who I was so everything felt like an attack. Once I realized it was my confidence that lacked it’s less offensive when a rando makes an ignorant comment about my work. Now I take it as an opportunity to get to know them. To show them that they are closer to art than they think. That art is all around them and they just don’t see or value it. In a way it gave me the power back. I’ve been misunderstood my whole life which has scared me into not discovering myself through creating art. The judgment held me back, but in a way I held myself back by giving that power.

It’s still hard to take criticism or comments from non-creatives but I don’t value them as much, especially when they don’t want to understand the work. I suppose my feedback would be: ask questions. Take more than 3 seconds to look at work. Tell the artist what it makes you think of or how it makes you feel. If you don’t connect with it, look at it longer and if it still doesn’t, don’t say anything at all. Besides, isn’t that what your parents taught you?

I realize that art isn’t important to everyone but it should be. And by putting myself out there for judgment I hope to change the way people see and appreciate art. And it challenges me to grow, therefore making me a more complete individual.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.beautyfromlight.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beautyfromlight/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beautyfromlightart
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-riutzel-65379a200/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/beautyfromlight
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@beautyfromlight3160