We were lucky to catch up with Kate Lynn Lewis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Kate Lynn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I have been able to earn a full-time living from my art! Of course it wasn’t always that way, and I remember my highest aspirations at an early point seemed totally unachievable, but then I hit that maker, and got to start aiming higher and higher! Now though, I realize that feeling of “achievement” doesn’t really come from how much I make at the end of the year. Oftentimes, I’m willing to forfeit a higher overall income for the year in lieu of just being able to have free time, or fun with friends and family, which is where I’ve found that true feeling of “success.”

I’d say that if anything, the thing I didn’t realize was propelling so many opportunities, and ended up being my greatest professional asset, was simply being part of a larger art community, and authentically loving it. That meant going to art shows several days of the week, recognizing and talking to people, attending little local events, asking other creatives out for coffee, etc. Befriending other creatives and talking about our shared passions, or what we’ve been working on individually, allowed me to meet so many people organically. I talked about them to my network, and vice versa, and that’s how conversations came about, and opportunities started flooding in!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Kate Lynn Lewis, and I’m primarily a muralist / large-scale installation artist, but also do studio work for gallery shows or private commissions. Really, I was always an artist, and would paint mailboxes in my neighborhood as a child to make money – a budding entrepreneur haha. After going to college for business, I kind of smashed together my hobby and education, moved to a big city, and very slowly learned to make a living as an artist!

I’d say that every project is a new “problem” to solve. You’re given direction by the client about what they’re looking for, and have to tap into how to bring it to life visually in a way that honors both their brand, and your own. It feels like solving an equation, and getting closer and closer with every revision, even if it takes you further from what you expected at the start. There’s often this feeling of pushing through a comfort zone, because you’re doing something you wouldn’t do normally when you’re meeting a client’s needs/wants, and sometimes you hate it in the end haha, but sometimes you love it more than you had imagined you could, and incorporate those new learnings into future projects. I take pride in that personal willingness to bend and be flexible for the sake of potential growth, rather than stagnating, or being too stubborn to budge stylistically.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

There are so many tiers of support that people give, and they’re all of equal importance in my mind. Pursuing art as a career is so unknown and unusual and uncomfortable, that just affirming the idea that someone CAN be an artist makes all the difference. Giving people continuous reinforcement and positive feedback for simply making the effort, no matter the perceived quality of work, is so valuable as well, because confidently making art is a mental game, and there’s no good or bad or ugly or pretty art, it’s all dependent on the viewer, and you just need to find your authentic visual voice; after that, your audience finds you.

There’s also the obvious of buying small works from people if you’re able, if only so they can have some pocket change to buy more art supplies and start all over again, which is what every artist does. If you have an interest and ability to offer a larger commission, or speak up within your community about endorsing public creative projects using federal, state, or local art budgets, that’s a huge win! Just seeing artists in the world making art influences younger generations by showing them in the wild that people DO do this professionally, just like any electrician, teacher, nurse, etc.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I always joke that professional muralists are just the ones who didn’t give up after doing the first one or two, because there’s a fast threshold for dropping out. You’re in the sun or rain or snow all day, you’re painting on ladders or lifts, you operate scary heavy machinery, paint 10-14 hours/day for weeks at a time sometimes until every muscle is aching. You receive public opinions, experience stress or hold-ups and client demands that you could have never anticipated, all while trying to lead a team and act cool and collected. I’ve cried on job sites, thrown up, peed in too many alleys to count, sprained ankles, walked away making $0 at times. It’s a roller coaster, I’m telling you! But by the time you get off and are like “I’m never doing that again,” you find yourself craving more within a week. It’s adrenaline and awe and totally irreplaceable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.katelynnlewis.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kate.lynn.lewis

Image Credits

For the black and white portrait, please credit “Adapted Studios”