We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kiley Burke a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kiley, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I would 1000% have to say the biggest risk I’ve taken was leaving my job to start full time as an artist. I had been working as a restaurant manager and, while my schedule was flexible, often times requested days off would suddenly become days where I was required to be at work and taking more than 2 days off in a row was pretty impossible. I had the dream of traveling for art shows, and realistically I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do it as long as I was working for the company I was with. One day that fire lit up inside me and I did it, I put in my notice and announced that I would be leaving my job of almost four years to start working as an artist. While driving home, the panic set in about what I had just done and I instantly began to have a mild panic attack. When I got home I sat down at my computer, ready to start my life as an artist, ready to make all of my dreams come true…and then realized I had absolutely no idea where to start. Do I need a license? Should I start signing up for shows? How much do I even charge for what I make? Do I need a website, or is social media enough? What. Have. I. Done?!

Four years later, I look back on this and it makes me both laugh and sometimes come close to crying. Was I financially and emotionally ready to start this venture? No. Did I do enough research to be able to start a successful business with minor hiccups? Absolutely not. Did I ask myself why in the heck I thought this would be a good idea? Almost ever day. Do I regret it now? That would be a resounding -NO-. When I look back and think about how much more I could have prepped myself to be able to do this, I know in my heart that if I tried to baby step my way into the creative world that I never would have done it. For me it was exactly like getting in the pool as a kid; there’s no wading in and getting used to the water, you just have to jump in the deep end and swim for your life! I now happily work as a photo editor, which gives me the freedom to travel and do art shows around the country. Even though my path here was definitely a rocky one with some serious cliffs and obstacles, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

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

Hi, my name is Kiley, and I’m an art-aholic with a crafting problem! I own Thunder & Twine, a boho-inspired decor company…which is honestly never where I even saw myself when I first thought of starting my art journey. Since I was barely old enough to remember I had a paintbrush or camera in my hand, and anytime I went to art shows it was the paintings and photographs that were always what I found myself drawn to most, so naturally I figured that would be what I would do. Then I realized you can only hang so many paintings in your house before you get tired of seeing your own work, when you can’t seem to get inspired prepping for art shows can get insanely stressful, and it cost a lot of money to travel to exotic places to take the photos I was obsessed with…so I put that whole artist idea on hold.

It was when I had seen a flower-adorned dreamcatcher in a photo on Instagram that my creativity was really sparked up again. I thought “I LOVE that!”, and I went to try and find one on Etsy. They were running up in the $300 range for the size I wanted and none of them matched my style in my home so me, being the ‘do it myself’ type, thought, “I bet I can make one that’s just right and unique to me. I spent more hours than I’m proud to admit trying to make one of these, and finally, after a lot of trial and error, I had the perfect piece for my home. I hung it proudly and thought that was that…until a friend came over and asked where I had gotten it, because she loved it and needed one for herself. More hours spent, and she had a new piece for her house. Then, a text came that her friend really liked it and wanted one. What was happening? Are these things really that popular with people? Apparently so, because two months later I did my first art show and sold half of what I had brought.

Growing up outside and being an adult who ventures into nature as often as I can, I wanted to make wall hangings that brought a bit of the outdoors into the walls of a home, which is why I love to use floral pieces, branches, twine, crystals, you name it. I get overly excited when people see that and come to me to create custom work, because I want the piece someone brings home to really mean something to them and not just be another mass produced wall hanging they bought somewhere. Very rarely will I create the same piece twice, because I believe everyone deserves something unique!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Honestly, the old phrase “sharing is caring” always comes to mind when I think of how people can support art/artists these days. Social media is obviously HUGE, and taking the time to share a creative’s post or story can be such a giant help that takes mere seconds. Talking about art, sharing people’s work, keeping their work alive by bringing it up, that’s the way to make sure creatives can keep making wonderful work to share with the world! A few friends of mine have mentioned “Hey, I met so and so and shared your Instagram with them” and I don’t know if they realize how much that means to artists like me.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Honestly, the biggest resource I wish I was more brave to utilize was other artists. It’s insanely daunting to go up to successful people, I think in any industry, and admit “Hey, I have pretty much NO idea about 75% of the time…can you give me some advice? Guidance? A suggestion of where to get good coffee? Anything?”. It’s hard for people to admit they’re stumbling, but once I got over the fear of actually speaking to people doing well, holy sh*t…did my eyes open.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thunder.and.twine
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/thunderandtwine