We recently connected with Del Shearrow and have shared our conversation below.

Del, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Well, like most artists, it is mostly feast and famine. In the twenty-three years since beginning this creative journey I have usually, not always, but usually had a more reliable steady income with a full-time job or owned my own business to help provide for my family. There have been years where our business was slow and the sales of my artwork saved the day. And, I was blessed that there were many months in a row, over several different years, that I did make a living working full-time on my artwork. I don’t do “assembly line” work nor order prints and sell those, everything is a one-of-a-kind design and creation that I fabricate, so, that is certainly what made it more of a challenge to stay busy.

I visited three restaurants in downtown Chicago that all had a lot of custom steel work in them. Their logo outside the building, the door pulls, railings, table & chairs, light fixtures, bar, shelves, candle holders, big floor mirrors,…even a trip to the bathroom was like stepping into a mini art gallery! There was so much functional art everywhere you looked. My first job after getting married was as a rough framing carpenter and later as a finish trim carpenter. So, I knew how to use hand-tools, how to read a tape measure, and how to put things together, I just needed a welder and learn how to weld.

From day one it was tough. Making one of a kind hand-bent functional artworks and sculptures was satisfying, hard work. People seem to love my functional artworks and sculptures but couldn’t necessarily afford them. And at that time I was pricing my artworks by time and material, I wasn’t asking for $10,000 proclaiming, “But this is ART!”, I wasn’t even asking plumber hourly rates. Sadly, not much was selling. Then a friend in the Washington D.C. area asked me to come stay with him and help him with his new business and bring all of my artwork with to sell it out there. So, I loaded up a truck and trailer with everything I had made and drove out there. What did not sell in a year back in Northern Illinois sold out East in just weeks, and for more money.

There is really nothing that I would’ve changed to speed the process up. Early on some artists and crafts people shared with me some of the pitfalls and how they regretted loosing their creative process and artistry by having to do assembly-line. They’d have to work for many weeks making enough “Smalls”, “Mediums”, to sell at festivals, art shows, etc. and hoped to sell two or three “Larges” to somehow make a profit because usually the Smalls/Mediums just paid their overhead to get there, be there, and get back home. That didn’t appeal to me. I wanted to be able to design and create one of a kind artworks every time and never loose that creative spirit and the satisfaction it brought.

Del, 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?

My new event rental business came to be over the Covid crisis. Just shortly before the complete lock-down Covid I attended a business anniversary open house that a client of mine had invited me to. When I arrived at 5:00PM sharp when the event was slated to begin I found myself holding the doors open for the event rental company so they could roll in the two halves of a circle-shaped bar that was supposed to be there two hours ago. The business owner, my client, was obviously upset as other items were also still being set-up as guests were arriving and he began telling me what he was paying for each and every item “…and they can’t even get them here on time!”. It hit me like a ton of bricks, “Why was I making these one off’s, selling them, and then hope for the next commission to come? I can make better, more unique event rentals than these and just keep renting them again and again versus selling them!” Once I was home that night I began to sketch and sketch and scribbled down plans and made my mind up,…I’d start a whole new business and offer the event industry something different, something unique, something that would be both functional & usable, plus one of a kind sculptutes on display, a real art gallery brought to your event. Real Artistic Entertainment For Your Event that will truly “WOW!” your guests with things they’ve never seen or experienced before!

So, I made that pivot, I had to. All art festivals, fairs, holiday events, and any and all opportunities vanished overnight. Email notifications and refunds about cancelled events started coming in and I even had to pick up all of my artworks from a couple of galleries. There was nothing. I had the time, the materials, and the space to get busy working my way through that sketchbook of event rental ideas and artistic entertainment I wanted to make and share with others. I began to fabricate one rental display at a time.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The event rental business my wife and I just launched in 2024, only a few months ago, is something that we’re very proud of. I am so happy that I can share my artworks with any and all and those original artworks can make a difference because they are so flexible in how they can be used.

The flexibility of our event rental designs work well for weddings, corporate events, expos & trade shows, private parties, and more, but, they are also great for fundraisers for non-profits in a similar way that golf outing fundraisers work. But rather sponsoring 1 of 18 holes a Sponsor would sponsor one of our artistic displays. Be that a sculpture display, a functional art display, or one of our other unique event rental displays. We can bring all of our rentals in and help any organization have a great fundraising event that is sure to bring the “WOW Factor” to both clients and guests that have never seen any of this before, truly Artistic Entertainment For Events!

If my artworks can both entertain people at events, plus, help raise needed funds for local organizations that help improve, change, and even save lives of folks in my community and the State of Wisconsin, how lucky am I to be a part of that blessing.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It is a simple one. It may even sound a bit selfish, but, to see a client’s face, their awe, that huge smile, even tears sometimes and getting that big hug, that long handshake and then feeling that huge relief instantly melt away and replaced with the same exhilaration the client is now feeling. That stress from the creative license they gave you, along with their hard earned money, that trust – it is no small thing and you feel the pressure of it every day you are designing and fabricating and finishing, praying they lovr whay you created for them. When that anxiety leaves you and you hear, “It’s perfect! It’s exactly what I wanted and I didn’t even know it! Thank you, thank you so much.” Whew!, honestly, THAT is what makes it so rewarding. THAT,…that’s the good stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m keeping the money, little did they know, some of those times I was holding back tears for another reason altogether. God’s timing is always perfect and He provided again, because now I can buy groceries this week, make the car payment, pay the mortgage, and have enough gas money for yet another week or month. And THAT feels pretty good too. I’ve been extremely blessed with a beautiful supportive wife and a God-given ability to see things others don’t see and an ability to make things fit together in an artistic manner.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artisticeventrentals.org/
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/del-shearrow-001941154

Image Credits

Jessica Williams from https://www.whimsicalcelebrationsllc.co/

Del Shearrow at https://www.artisticeventrentals.org/