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

Francesca, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

My formal education is in engineering, but I consider myself a multi-career professional, since I have been working in different industries simultaneously for more than a decade. Over the last few years, I built a work-from-home routine that allowed me to rise as a successful IT Senior Project Manager and Chief Operations Officer for a non-profit in Miami, FL. In addition, I coached startups and entrepreneurs, while raising my three daughters.
This background is important because it is in the midst of all of this that art enters my life.
When I graduated from college, I took a 4 week drawing class and did some portraits for fun. Since then, I did sketches occasionally, as a way to enjoy watching my girls grow up. Most of the sketches ended up in the trash, as I did them for my own enjoyment only.
Fast forward 15 years, and the pandemic hits and most of my work slows down significantly. With a few extra hours a week, I decide to take a painting class. I figured this would be a fun way to break out of the black/white of charcoal drawing, as well as a nice challenge to learn to use pain brushes instead of pencils.
I have not stopped painting since. Four years later, I am a professional artist, building a thriving art career, and taking the biggest career risk in my life so far: transitioning to a full-time single-career professional art practice.
As of today, I am no longer managing software implementations for government agencies. I am focusing on the work in Miami to protect the Little Santo Domingo neighborhood from erasure, but my goal is to transition to full-time artist by 2026.
Risks bring adventure to our lives and help us face our fears. For me, as my daughters become adults and launch their lives, it is time to open myself up to a new life. The life of art is more fulfilling and challenging, mentally, spiritually and physically, than anything I have done before. It is a total surprise to me! At the same time, although it has the potential to be lucrative, it is highly competitive and success is not at all guaranteed. Like all the arts, being a painter has the big risk of “starving artist” syndrome.
I learned a lot from the book “Big Magic”, especially when the writer talks about not putting the weight of financial independence on your art. Instead, I am investing in my art, keeping a job (or two) as needed to ensure that my creativity is not burdened by monthly bills.

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

Multi-cultural Americans want to know that their life is beautiful. Similarly, people who travel often embrace the beauty of ethnic and folklore art. On a very practical way, my art meets the needs of these individuals.
However, it doesn’t stop there. My art fills a big void in the world – the aspirational goals of people who want to celebrate joy in a world that breaks us down through pain and adversity.
My inspiration does not come from pain and loss – on the other hand, joy itself is my muse. Joy is a universal experience that crosses cultures and geographies. No matter where you are in the world, humans smile, hug, dance, eat, and party to celebrate their best moments. Across geographies, people embroider elaborate pieces of garment and produce accessories that beautify their presence. This is what I paint about.
My first collection, Interwoven, actually an open series, is all about cross-cultural joy. I continue to add to this series from an insatiable source of inspiration.
My art is also a tool for social criticism and dialogue. I find that art is an excellent way to ask questions and engage people in the social discourse needed to arrive at new answers. I don’t necessarily have the responses to the questions I pose, but I do use art itself as the tool for answering. I believe the answers are in the discourse itself, in the narratives and stories we create when we expose ourselves to good art.
With this purpose, I am preparing two new series:
1. Decentered – Healthy masculinity expose, exploring what it means for men to have it all
2. Life Unfolding – Mixed media paintings based on my own photography, raising Latinas in the American South

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

There is different type of art in the world, and if you are a collector, you should figure out what type of art you want in your collection.
Type A: High Meaning, Low Skill
Type B: Low Meaning, High Skill
Type C: High Meaning, High Skill
Type D: Low Meaning, Low Skill

There aren’t many artists in the “Type D” category, but they exist. This is just plain bad art. People disagree over this category, as most people would like to think that their taste is elevated or that all art is subjective. I would argue that a banana taped to a blank canvas is low skill, and possibly low meaning. The meaning we ascribe to something like that is based on who acquires the art and the statement they make with their purchase. This is an example of beauty being the eye of the observer. A sculptor sold an invisible sculpture for $18K in 2024 – this is a clear example of low skill and low meaning.

However, to be meaningful you don’t need to have high skill. It is very possible to create compelling art that uses low skill to convey an important message or a complex narrative. Believe it or not, this is where I place Picasso’s cubism, which he claims took him a lifetime to develop. Sometimes high skill can be stifling, as we can see in the “Type B” category.

High skill alone does not determine quality. Photo or “hyper” realism can often be devoid of emotion or message, and even worse – it is limited by the quality of the photographer whose image the painter is copying. Just because someone can copy a photography does not mean that they can manipulate mediums to achieve the look or finish that the story demands.

I aim to be a high skill/high meaning artist. My mixed media practice is influenced by old masters like Klimt and Renoir, and contemporary masters like Bisa Butler, Tanya Wursig and Jon Wassom. Perhaps it is my engineering background, but I love the use patterns to ease anxiety, while also using embroidery to represent 5 generations of fiber traditions in my family. Vibrant colors in an impressionist style allow me to convey emotion and personality of the figures I paint, bringing the characters to life in the eye of the observer. My art pieces invite people in, often making them want to touch, and always discovering new details that were not obvious upon first glance. Just like with people, my art invites the passerby to not judge by first impressions, rather take your time to observe and appreciate the hidden beauty.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

The book “Big Magic” by Elizabeth Gilbert is one of the most beautifully written pieces of art I know. It is up there with Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist for me, although Big Magic is not fiction.
Gilbert, also the author of “Eat, Pray, Love”, shares her own lessons from a life dedicated to her craft. She is so authentic, so tender, and also challenging and forward – she narrated the Audible version, and her voice colored every word to make it extra meaningful.
She talks about multiple things throughout every chapter, but here are some of the lessons I am putting into practice:
* Discipline over inspiration – it is most important to create than to be inspired. Something happens to our ability to create when we do it consistently. Not only does our skill increase, but inspiration finds us doing instead of just thinking.
* Create from positivity – Many artists inflict pain on themselves (and people in their world) and dive head first into depression, even drugs and addictions, and show up in the world as eccentric beings that cannot be understood. Gilbert argues that artists don’t have to self-destruct in the name of art, rather they can create from a place of love.
* Using fear – Gilbert struggled with phobias growing up, until she decided that her fear was boring: it only said “no” to her, no matter what. She wanted to experience the freedom of “yes”. Looking at my own fear as boring has challenged me to take new risks both in my art practice and in my professional life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.escoto.art
• Instagram: @escoto.art
• Facebook: francescaescoto
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/francescaescoto

Image Credits

All credits to Francesca Escoto and Escoto.Art. Copyrights 2024.