We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kellie Lawler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kellie below.

Hi Kellie, thanks for joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

I’m not sure I was ready to start any earlier. I think my career went the way it was intended to go. After college I worked in the buying office at Bloomingdales in New York and then at Target in upstate New York and North Carolina where I developed my business skills, work ethic, people skills, grit and resilience. While those don’t immediately seem like skills you would need as a creative, they absolutely are. They are also necessary for running a small business. I also got to spend the early years with my children, when they really needed me. When they all started school is when I decided I needed a new challenge. I became determined to get back into something to work my mind and use my skills. I was ready and determined to explore the art world and make something happen.

Kellie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

When I was younger my two main focuses were always art and sports. I took extensive elective art classes in high school and played field hockey, soccer and lacrosse. Around my sophomore year I realized that getting recruited for lacrosse was going to be an attainable goal and help me get into a great college. When I was accepted into Brown University, I was hoping to take art classes at the neighboring Rhode Island School of Design, in addition to my regular school course load and my lacrosse schedule. I learned in just the first semester that I would not be able to keep up with it all. My focus shifted to sports and my studies. As can happen, my love of art fell to the wayside. While friends and family always encouraged me to start creating again, it wasn’t until my kids started in elementary school that I really got antsy and needed a creative outlet. My father found my high school art portfolio and brought it with him on a visit. I started going through my work, projects, assignments, sketches, etc. I wanted to see if it would naturally come back to me. I started with pencil and charcoal drawings and quickly began to squeeze more and more creative time into my routine. With four kids going in different directions and on different schedules, I had to get really creative with how and when I made art. I didn’t have the luxury of getting into the flow or warming up. I also didn’t have the space to lay out paint and canvases where my kids wouldn’t touch it. I just had to get paint to paper and make something I felt proud of.
It felt like things grew organically and slowly from there but looking back it moved along more quickly than I remember. Friends and acquaintances began to express interest in purchasing pieces. So I opened a business account on Instagram and started sharing my work. I was thinking about how cool it would be to show in a gallery, so I started following some galleries in neighboring large cities like Birmingham and Atlanta and began to get some inquiries and build partnerships. Since then I feel grateful to have experienced some great successes, and I am still learning valuable lessons through the process of being a small business owner. One thing that never changes is the pride I feel knowing that my work is hanging in people’s homes. It never gets old having people interested in my work. My work can be purchased through my gallery partnerships as well as the commission inquiry form on my website.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The writer Clarissa Pinkola wrote “Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments.” I agree and disagree with her statement. There is a point in time when you have to stop the never ending work that is your daily grind and make the time to feed your passion. However, I have four kids and I was challenged to develop my style because of and in those stolen moments. For a perfectionist, having time and space constraints forced me not to overthink but just let the idea come through quickly and organically. I had no space for canvas so I worked on paper, no time to mix colors so my work was primarily monochromatic using negative space to create dimension, limited time to work through an idea so I challenged myself to work in simple lines. I had to be able to set up and clean up during kids’ nap times and between trips to the grocery store and daycare. I became not only comfortable with the style I had adapted to but I started to look at new ideas and subjects through that lens… how could I challenge myself and create X, Y or Z within my recognizable aesthetic and within my time constraints.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Just like with everything else in life, there are peaks and valleys and times you feel like everything is going right and times you feel like maybe you aren’t going to achieve the successes you desire. But another artist, who is further into her art career, shared a great perspective with me. She told me this season in my life is very hectic, with my family needs and responsibilities as well as growing an art career, but one day this season will be over. If I neglect my personal passions and interests because I feel like there isn’t time, what will I have when my children have moved on? So it is always worth it now to fuel that flame and give it all you are capable of giving.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kellielawlerart.com
• Instagram: @kellielawler.art
• Facebook: Kellie Lawler Art