We were lucky to catch up with Grace Steffen recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Grace , thanks for joining us 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.
I only started my business this past year, while finishing my undergraduate courses at the University of Alabama. I actually didn’t major in anything art-related, instead I graduated with degrees in Biology and Psychology. However, I’d been creating art the whole time and had work featured in several magazines on campus. This past year in August was when I decided to start pursuing art more seriously and began preparing work from previous years to feature in different spaces in Tuscaloosa. This was a pretty big risk for me though, as there are startup costs that come along with launching a business that depends on the sale of physical products. I had to invest a decent chunk of money I’d earned at different jobs I’d had during undergrad. In fact, I had two other jobs on campus the time that I started my business. I started reaching out to local businesses and found a handful that offered opportunities for pop-ups and/or space for vendors to sell work in their stores. Once I knew those opportunities existed, I decided to put the money into getting prints and stickers and other supplies. It was scary, at first, since I didn’t know if I would even be able to get my money back. But now I see people out and about in Tuscaloosa with my stickers on their water bottles or laptops, and it brings me so much joy to see that other people enjoy my work. I’ve since started an Etsy storefront — which I hope to replace with my own website once I have the time to create one — and have sold work to people across the country. While I was afraid at first of losing money in starting this business, I was also afraid that people wouldn’t want my work, that they wouldn’t think it was worth it or want to spend their money on my work when other people have work that’s more impressive. But neither of those fears came true, and it was totally worth the risk to see how many people love and want to support my work.
Grace , 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?
I create all kinds of visual art. I have made oil, acrylic, and watercolor paintings, sculptures made of broken glass and coke cans, plant stakes from wire, and drawings using charcoal, oil and chalk pastel, pens, pencils, and Procreate. I also sell vinyl stickers that I mostly design using Procreate. I sell these pre-made in local stores and at local events but also as commissions. You can find my pre-made work in Tuscaloosa on the shelves at Ernest and Hadley, and Turbo Coffee, and online on my Etsy Shop. Most of my work is inspired by or directly features nature and people’s relationship to it. I also have a lot of work that is UA-themed, with some of my bestsellers including a sticker of a ghost holding an Alabama shaker and wearing a pin that says “RTR” and a tarot-inspired card featuring Denny Chimes as The Tower. However, my personal favorite things I’ve made are the sculptures. I recently created a squirrel sculpture out of Diet Coke cans for a commission. That was super fun to make but also something I’m super proud of. I also have a lot of fun creating plant stakes, which are a bestseller at pop-ups I do at a local plant store called House Plant Collective. These I make simply by shaping wire into flowers, birds, ghosts, you name it.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Seeing people get excited about my work. I LOVE doing pop-ups because I get to see people react to my work love. Nothing is more rewarding than when someone excitedly taps on their friend or partner or family member’s shoulder to say “OMG look at that!” in reference to my work. Seeing my work give people joy makes it all worth it.
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.
Maybe this isn’t exactly a “creatives vs non-creatives” thing, but I think a lot of people think it’s easy to be an artist or to be an online seller in general. I honestly didn’t understand quite how much goes into it until I started either. Especially as a creative, so much work goes into building a business. You have to create the work, find spaces online and in-person to sell and advertise your work, manage social media, create SO many accounts, for online retailers for business emails, for online payment accounts, etc.. And don’t even get me started on taxes.. A lot goes into it that you don’t see. Not that I don’t enjoy the work, because I truly do, but it isn’t as fun as it looks online either. Going into it or viewing it from the outside, it seems like you just get to create art and post pretty pictures of it online, but it’s so much more than that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.etsy.com/shop/GraceSteffenArt
- Instagram: @gracesteffenart