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

Elizabeth, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Well anytime you open a small business it’s a risk. My business partner, Barbara Gerdeman and I knew we wanted to work together after running the education department at our local art center. For me deciding to make running Creative Liberties and making art my full time job was a risk that really terrified me and excited me. I was so focused on keeping a steady job and paycheck. But my job had taken over my life. Work life balance was my new years resolution for 4 years running. Then COVID happened and I realized that I am capable of running a business on my own and that a change of job was needed. It helped that I had the support of my husband, family and friends in all this. So I resigned as the Director of Education at the art center and we opened Creative Liberties Artist Studios & Gallery. Creative Liberties opened in the fall of 2021 and has been running strong ever since.

Elizabeth, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Thanks for inviting me and I’m thrilled to be able to share my story with your readers. I hope it inspires others to follow a dream. So I’m an artist, a teacher, and a scientist, in no specific order. Oh and now a small business owner. I’m one of those people who asks why, a lot. So much so that my work usually starts with research and digging down to the roots of materials and techniques. I have a BFA in printing making from Ohio State University and an MFA from New Mexico State University. Most artists do not pursue a MFA unless they want to teach and I did. When I graduated in 2008 it was the worst time to find a job especially in an art department at the university. So I worked lots of part time jobs and made and sold art at local shows to make money.

In 2012 I started as the Education Director at our local art center and did that for the next 10 years building a great group volunteers, teachers, students and youth that flourished into a large and profitable program for the center. But as we all learned over the past few years, you need to pivot and I did. Now I have my own gallery and working studio space and its like Grad school community again.

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

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

For us it really is word of mouth and collaborating with other artists and galleries. Sarasota is still a small town especially with the art crowd. We are not competing with our fellow galleries, we work with each other to support the artists of this town.

Another huge factor is visibility. Just going to openings and other art and non-art events and being seen and representing the gallery is a big part too. Our business does not stop at our door. We mingle with the community at large all the time. We also invested from the beginning in a PR person. She helps us get our happenings onto the top of the pile at the local and regional level. Social media has also been a huge support. Instagram especially.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Graduate school was a learning experience for me. First apartment, first time teaching at college level, and first time helping to run the university art gallery. Lots of firsts and lots and good times with my fellow classmates. But grad school was more than that. It was three years of me on my own really finding who I was and what my art is. Now looking back I realize that grad school was probably not necessary but I needed that time to grow and really find my own voice. I graduated in 2008 and it isn’t until a few years ago that I see where all of the various mediums I worked in have led to. I was a knitter and embroiderer as a kid, mixed media in high school, a printmaker in undergrad, a bookmaker and installation artist in grad school, a fiber artist and sculptor during my time at the art center. Now they are all starting to meld. My sculpture involves fiber, prints, books, and other mixed media. All the time in grad school they pushed me to focus down on one medium and fought them tooth, nail, blood, and so many frustrated tears. My message to anyone who asks should I focus on one medium is no. Keep learning. Keep dreaming. Keep creating and find a way to combine all that you love and what fascinates you into your own creation. Artwork is your soul made visible, not anyone else’s.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.elizabethgoodwill.com
• Instagram: Instagram: @clever_bookmouse