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

Elizabeth, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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 earning a living as a full time artist for at least past 10 years. I did not start out as a professional artist although I always knew I was meant to be one. When I started college, I really struggled with choosing a major. I loved art but I was fearful of not being able to make a living. Growing up in a home with a single mother who did not have a degree, I understood first hand how hard not having a stable career could be. I decided to play it safe and major in computer science. I told myself that if after I had the degree I could return to school for art if I was unhappy. I loved figurative sculpture and decided to create sculptures in my free time. After creating a portrait sculpture of my husband and myself for our wedding I realized I had a marketable talent. My husband bought me the URL WeddingSculptures.com for Valentines Day in 2000. I received my first commission for a portrait cake topper the day I was laid off of my dot-com programming job. I took that as a sign I was meant to sculpt! Until 2007, I only sold my art from my own website. In 2007, I opened an Etsy shop and expanded my online presence. Over the years I had to change the types of sculptures I create and sell because I found creating only one-of-a-kind custom portrait sculptures was very limiting. I simplified my style, learned how to make molds and reproduce my sculptures so my productivity and profits increased drastically.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I began sculpting professionally over 20 years ago. In the early 2000s I became famous for my polymer clay portrait sculptures and wedding cake toppers. The five-foot life-size “bride’s cake” (where the polymer-clay-sculpted head and shoulders emerged from a six tiered cake) brought me international acclaim! My work has appeared on CNN, Inside Edition, countless news stories and in Inside Weekly Magazine. I have appeared on HGTV’s That’s Clever!, and my art dolls have been published in several national magazines. Currently, I have large outdoor sculptures on display at the Georgetown Sculpture Tour in Georgetown, Texas, in the Bee Cave Sculpture Park, in the Cedar Park Community Sculpture Garden. A few of my smaller sculptures are in the My Art, My Cause exhibit in Round Rock, Texas. Of course, if you are not in central you can still find my art online on Etsy, Amazon Handmade and WeddingSculptures.com!

My artwork is inspired by life, love, and above all, family. After getting engaged, I was greatly inspired by the idea that when a couple gets married two become one. This comes to life as the figures I sculpt are formed into a connected image. Once I became a mother, I began to add children to my artwork. This theme of connectedness continues by creating the children around the parents all emerging together.

My original designs are sculpted out of clay by my own hands. I then make a mold of the original clay sculpture. Depending on the size of the sculpture, it will be cold-cast with bronze, aluminum, or copper (“Cold-Casting” is the process of mixing metal powder with a resin to create castings that give the appearance of solid metal) or cast in stone and painted with a bronze metal coating (ground bronze metal suspended in an acrylic binder). Finally, the sculpture is finished by polishing and waxing by hand. This intense finishing process reveals the metal’s shine and highlights the details.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When I started selling my family Christmas ornaments I found them to be very successful but they were a seasonal product and I needed something that would sell year round. I came up with a way to use the ornament designs on a plaque so they could either be hung on a wall or set on a shelf with an easel. The main problem was I had no idea how to market these family plaques as it was not an item people were searching for online. Thankfully someone contacted me saying I made the perfect 8th anniversary gift because of the bronze finish and bronze was the traditional material given to celebrate 8 years of marriage. The lightbulb turned on at that moment and I started calling my family plaques “Anniversary Plaques” which led to an increase in sales immediately. After that I researched other traditional materials to give on anniversaries and development a marketing plan to sell my sculptures, ornaments and plaques as anniversary gifts and now have sales all year long.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Have heard people say the art heals? I used to think that art only heals the artist but I have learned the art I create can help others heal as well! I have received several letters from collectors who commissioned special pieces from me that have something in it that represents the lost of a loved one, usually a baby or child. These collectors have told me that having a physical representation of their baby or child that is no longer with them but never forgotten has helped them heal in unexpected ways. Helping others through my art is the most rewarding aspect of being an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bonurastudios.etsy.com/
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/weddingsculptures
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/WeddingSculptures
• Other: https://weddingsculptures.com/ https://www.amazon.com/bonura http://instagram.com/elizabethbonura

Image Credits
Sandy Allen, Moments From The Heart Photography