We were lucky to catch up with Evelyn Dufner recently and have shared our conversation below.
Evelyn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?
Despite doing art for a long time, and submitting my work to a national art show believing it was likely I would not be accepted, the early pains of believing in myself were through the challenges of being willing to put my work in the public realm. Art, specifically, is a vulnerable space to hold for yourself. So much of my feelings and perspective is demonstrated through the final labors of my craft. It is easy to be misunderstood, and the smaller parts of myself, from early belief systems and experiences, would have to come forward from the comfort of staying in my own space with my work and brave rejection and uncertainty.. I have had to arrive with some level of acceptance that rejection is just as possible as acceptance.
My first sale was after the invitation to a pop-up art show in St. Petersburg Florida, where a local artist was renting out vacant spaces for one night during the art walk, ensuring it was on the trolly stop, and letting artists on a “first come, first serve, here is my $20 to be here with everyone else” situation. When I first started revisiting my art, I was doing creative Soulcare workshops through the concepts of Julia Cameron’s “The Artist Way”, offering nights at my dining room table to teach exploratory creative journaling and collage. I had a small body of work in that arena, stuff that blossomed from me as I stepped away from a marriage into a new life. I priced my work “high” at the time (very low by my standards today), and a friend and supporter saw a piece and was willing to part with his hard earned money to take it home. I was ecstatic, first that I had my first official sale as an adult (I sold a nature painting to a family member for $25 when I was 11 and second, that I suddenly felt validated and appreciated. Yes, it was a friend, however, that also meant I had visitation rights! It encouraged me to continue to put work in the world.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I have been a creative for as long as I can remember. Between my ongoing fascination from making playthings that I didn’t have access to, to illustrating what I saw either through words or art, or bringing that same creative perspective into the public school system with a classroom of kids who learned mathematics by earning income from being at their “job” getting their supplies from stores they got loans to stock, paying rent for their desks, or starting a bank to sort the financial system, ART was the thread that brought to life all my endeavors. This has continued to serve me as an entrepreneur.
I am an artist and a techie. With a balanced left and right brain, I can break through complications on computer systems with as much skill as I can put color on a canvas or build a beautiful website. My effort to earn income comes from my company, My Computer Angel. However, I also schedule time on my calendar for my efforts to paint on canvas, curate for a local chamber of commerce, support other artists, and submit my work to local and national art shows.
I think what most clients appreciate about me is that I have a creative side that can also think forward and problem solve effectively. Bring me the creative or technical challenge and I will likely have brought e
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
When I submitted artwork to my first national art show and was accepted, I was like wisps of smoke in the background of the 3-night art event. I was timid and terrified of what the world would see in my work. Was I an imposter? Was I good enough? Why can’t I paint like that artist? Will everyone see I am not good enough? The seasoned artists kept giving me little tugs to speak to the people who were looking at my work. They were lucky I could stay in the room, let alone, close to my work. But, I observed. I watched as people who found my work engaging carried on conversations from a distance, their hands flitting and shaping the air as they pointed and nodded or shared their reactions with whomever was with them.
What I discovered when I inched closer to those conversations and asked them to share, was that I belonged right where I was. (I didn’t get into a juried national art show with badly curated work!) I was honored to hear others “show me my work” through their eyes. The stories, the symbolism, and the ways in which they connected what they saw in my artwork had a profound impact on my self awareness as an artist. I began to understand that I was a conduit for that creative energy and the work I put into the world belongs to someone out there. It carries its own purpose, and I am just meant to? here to? listen to where the colors call for me to place them.
I once taught my workshop on resurrecting our creativity and one of the students, who I had never met or been connected to, came to the journaling workshop at my home and saw my work on the walls. She was suddenly flushed, nervous, uncertain. She piped up to apprehensively show me the wallpaper on her phone. Apparently she had seen my artwork on Facebook and scavenged it to keep on her phone because it brought her so much joy to look at it. Who hasn’t done that before? I knew then my work had its own meaning and purpose.
I value not only the creative process for myself, but the experiences of the observers, and I learn more about letting go, who I am, and my impact on the world through art, more than any other thing I do.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I have many stories about resilience. I would not be here if I were not resilient, as there are so many factors that could have contributed to my own destruction throughout my life. However, in the realm of art, the biggest challenge was in regards to my attachment to my work. It is very difficult, when you put so much of your heart and energy into a creative piece, to let it go. I think this prevented me from working creatively with more energy, as I believe my attachment to my work was detrimental to my own creativity.
And then, there was a man I dated who bought work from me. And there was his “best friend” who also loved and followed my work. As I never met her, he was the broker for purchasing one piece as a gift, and later, her desire to buy a piece from me directly. The story is a much longer one, with shards of painful experiences, and a triad of disappointments and heartbreak for all of us. However, he became incarcerated due to a travesty of judicial and racial inequalities, and his friend, now the owner of both his purchased work as well as hers, had a shift in roles and relationship. I was panicked at the time, wondering what would become of the paintings that meant so much to me and were now in the hands of someone who was volatile and unpredictable. I had no relationship with her, and did nothing more than offer safety during the experience for all of us. That said, I was sure she would burn or destroy the work I had created. It was so distressing to me it nearly knocked me into depression.
The reality of this was a huge pivot in my world as an artist. Not only did I have to learn to let go, but I REALLY had to learn to LET GO! The outcome was an intense shift in my ability to paint and create. Letting go of my artwork, finding my resilience in deeply painful experiences, and trusting my artwork had its own journey in the world and allowed me to detach in ways I never had before. In return, I began to work more prolifically, creating nearly 50 or more pieces of work each year. It has allowed me to sell a painting even when it hasn’t had time to live with me longer, trusting that I will create things again with as much beauty and light as I had before.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://evelyngallery.art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artistaevelyn/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistaevelyn/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artista-evelyn/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/artistaevelyn
Image Credits
Studio photos are credited to Jess Veguez Photography https://www.instagram.com/jessveguezphotography/ One photo of myself with woman and guitar is from “Martini’s & Matisse” Art event with art donated for Clearwater Free Clinic Photo of Nude Nite Orlando, 2023 – of collectors discussing my work in the distance (my photo)