We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Evelyne Dieu a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Evelyne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Changing to an Art based high school when I turned 14 was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Suddenly I was able to start envisioning my future and start truly lay out a path of what type of a career I was going to build for myself. I discovered my love and passion for interior design, which I studied at both a Belgian and American University. After High-school I kept painting as a hobby but really focussed on building a career as interior designer for large corporations.
When Covid-19 hit, I was suddenly no longer in the rush of life that pushes to you move on and keep going. Suddenly the world stood still and the reality of unprocessed trauma hits you in the face in a way that therapy alone was not going to cover. I instantly gravitated towards painting as my outlet and created a personal style to symbolically portray life stories and traumatic events. I didn’t want to portray the trauma itself but raise awareness, and create an empowering memory of strength, perseverance and survival.
I decided to share every move on social media, as was everyone else during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Fairly quickly after I was contacted by an art curator of the Van Gogh Art Gallery in Madrid to exhibit at the International Contemporary Art Fair in Paris, France. That was the exact sign I needed to know, my art is good enough, I can become a professional artist and I can make a difference in people’s lives by providing them with an art piece that will help them process life events and encourages them to keep growing and be proud of their achievements. They overcame, survived, are still going and moving forward, stronger than ever.
Soon after M.A.D.S. digital art gallery from Italy reached out, I worked on an Art Meets Jewelry collaboration with Jewelry designer Bram Struyven from Belgium, I exhibit art and sell home decor in both the United Stated and Belgium, I was a guest on the IamFearless Podcast, etc … .
Sharing my story with others has been very rewarding and it is my pleasure to give back to the Dallas Community that has given me the warmest welcome. I therefore hosted a solo art exhibit in Antwerp, Belgium before moving to the United States, I hosted a solo art exhibit for charity in Dallas, organized a art supply drive for talented kids in need which made 50 children in the Dallas community happy on Christmas morning in 2022.
There are so many more stories to tell and I keep pushing myself to explore new techniques and create beautiful and meaningful art for all my future clients. I want to help them rewrite the memory of their past in a way that empowers their future.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m Evelyne Dieu, I’m the founder and artist behind ArtsByEvlynn and I symbolically portray people’s life stories, mental health and trauma recovery. As my mission statement sums up, I want my art to speak for those who haven’t found the courage or the right words yet. I paint very detailed and realistically even though it could be unrealistic in concept. For example flowers covering a face or a person having wings etc… . Every detail of symbolism in a commission piece has a personal meaning to my client’s life story. The art piece doesn’t literally portray a traumatic event, it’s such a personal perspective symbolically translated that it helps my clients rewrite their past and function as a reminder of their strength, perseverance and survival. It can of course be a symbol of love and gratefulness, depending of what the life story entails. I’m proud of being raised in Belgium and Spain, having traveled to many places being able to communicate with my clients in 5 languages and using the knowledge I have of many cultures into the symbolism to make sure that I can create art as personalized and tailored to my clients as possible.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In school, all the way up to graduating college I had very few teachers that believed I would make something of myself or my life. I was told that I wasn’t a good student, that I should stay away from anything involving mathematics etc… . But some fire in me refused to believe them. From the moment I changed to an Art High-school I found something that I was passionate about and started to dream of a life and career that I wanted to build for myself and that was, at the age of 14, a very long term goal but it is ultimately what got me through everything that life threw at me including very traumatic events. As a child I remember I had the idea that I would later be able to say I proved them wrong but now that I am living the unrealistic dream I had when I was a teenager, I honestly prefer to put my energy into enjoying every second of having turned that dream into reality and focus on making my next dreams reality. I strongly believe striving towards long term goals and developing grit is something that can change anyone’s live that struggles in school. In the end, I’m 31, I moved across the world, I’m continuing to build my career, I became a professional artist, I continued my education and studied an Executive MBA of which I graduated summa cum laude and I’m now studying a specialization in Leadership and Innovation. Very few people believed I would even make it to through the first year which was 4 years ago. It’s important to be honest with yourself but it’s even more important to block out anything and anyone that doesn’t give you energy and support to feed off of. My advice is to work hard, believe in yourself and enjoy every minute of your achievements.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
I decided to start my art business in the beginning of the Covid Lockdown which lasted in Belgium for almost 2 years. I was certain that I had a great product to sell but not how to sell myself. I honestly did not feel comfortable breaking out of my shell until I moved to the United States and people gave me the confidence and assured me that it was a safe space to do so. When I made the mental click it became a lot easier to build my brand and raise awareness and create a marketing plan. I made the mistake of not talking to clients of business coaches before working with them. I was told they had coached artists before and I took their word for it. What I should have done was talk to those artists and discuss figures of how that coaching increased their brand awareness, their revenue, etc… . I ended up realizing that it did close to nothing for my business other than cost money. I learned from that mistake and had a coaching session with the wife of an artist that build his brand, She wrote a book, created a guidebook for other artists and does one on one coaching sessions. I did learn a lot from her even though not all of her tips are in my opinion adaptable to all types of art(ists). It’s a game and every artist for their own type of product has to find a way to write the rules. You could be your own worst critic in private but you have to be your own biggest cheerleader in public.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artsbyevlynn.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artsbyevlynn/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtsbyEvlynn/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/73430401/admin/feed/posts/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@artsbyevlynn https://www.pinterest.com/ArtsByEvlynn/
Image Credits
Shots By LC and Evelyne Dieu