We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful JAMES VENUTI. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with JAMES below.
JAMES, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
To be successful takes a combination of things, most importantly hard work, persistence, staying creative and a little bit of luck.
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
As far as my business goes, I started doing art fairs about 7 years ago, at first selling photography prints. After a couple of years I decided to do something to make one of a kind pieces out of my photographs, so I began carving custom frames to go along with a photo to expand upon a mood or feeling in the picture. I came up with the name Living Frames Collection and each piece is very unique, often people love the combination of photography and workmanship that goes into each piece and the original feeling they express. I would say I’m most proud of the ability to keep putting myself out there, I’ve had some great exhibitions and have won awards and made many repeat customers over the years, but I’ve also had some terrible shows and faced many obstacles that have made me want to give up and wonder if it is all worth while, so sticking with it and continuing to dedicate myself to creating new pieces and doing more shows and never letting discouragement stop me from moving forward is something I always try to pass along to fellow artists I meet along the way.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
I would say the most rewarding part of being an artist is not necessarily selling a piece, though it is very validating, but more so when people approach me just to tell me how much they love my work. Especially fellow artists, it makes me feel good to make such an impression on someone and to know that they see and appreciate all the work that goes into creating some of my pieces.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Over the past 2 years, Ive had 3 exhibits cancelled because of Covid, and three straight shows with no sales along with lots of opportunities that seemed promising but did not lead anywhere. It was very discouraging and the cost of doing art fairs coupled with no sales coming in left me ready to give up. I did another exhibit in early April and met a few customers that told me they saw me at earlier exhibits and came back specifically to see me, one of them even bought my largest piece, which at 160 pounds was a real pain to transport and set up. But I realized that I would not have seen them this time around if it was not for the shows that I had which were complete failures, so even when things seem at their darkest, you never know what continuing to put yourself out there can lead to in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.venutiphotography.com/
- Instagram: venuti_photography