We recently connected with Kim Meadowlark and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Kim, thanks for joining 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?
During the earlier years of learning my craft, I was still working full-time as a barista to make a living. Not only that, but investing in all the gear and supplies it took to dive into my career as an artist more. One day I decided it was time to quit my day job, and at least give being a full-time Artist a try. The very day that I left in 2016, my city was hit with a devastating flood. It made life and making a living very difficult for everyone for quite some time. This was a pivotal moment, teaching me the harsh realities of what it’s like to work for yourself whenever you can’t control the environment around you.
Kim, 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 never really thought that I would be an artist. I was a little bit creative growing up as I really enjoyed playing piano, singing, and occasionally drawing. Though it wasn’t until high school when I shift in my focus. I was a bit of a sports, Jock, investing a lot of my days in varsity track. My health took a turn when I started suffering from migraines and seizures, eventually, giving my doctors no choice, but to pull me out of the heavy physical activity I was involved in. From there I switch to an art class in school, which is where the door really started to open up for me. I was interested, very curious.
I did a lot of side hustles even at an early age. My favorite memory was painting other kids shoes at my school for 20 bucks or so. My mom would always laugh seeing me come home with a bunch of random pairs of shoes and watching the designs unfold. I’ve been climbing and evolving ever since those very early.
I take pride in everything that I do, but I’m really proud that I’ve never turned blind to the human element in all of it. At no point in the successful parts of my journey have I forgotten all of the people who have help me get there. Trusting in my work, and even pushing my creative limits. When I’m creating or taking photos, I want to understand how people perceive what I’ve made. I’m fascinated to hear multiple perceptions on it a common piece. There’s no right or wrong in my industry, it’s all art. It’s all our individual perception, and I think that’s such a fascinating gift and challenge A lot of people glaze over..
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I think the biggest goal in my journey is truly to learn how to communicate my feelings and past experiences a little bit better. How to make something beautiful out of them. I spent a lot of those first years, of course stressing on how I can possibly make money off of what I do. How to trust the process. Innoway, I think of found confidence in that, but now it’s time to die of a little bit deeper in my purpose.
Have you ever had to pivot?
There’s been so many moments where I’ve had to pivot. Not that there’s ever been a for sure plan and play, but you really learn to roll with the punches. I quit my day job. The day of historic flood started with nothing to fall back on. I got pregnant with my first child six months later and started the uphill journey as a single mom. I went through a pandemic, surgeries, illnesses, and countless other hurtles all of which I thought for sure where the end of my rope. The end of my career as a creative. Through all of these moments, I had to make the sacrifices and changing to get through that season. If you don’t see it in a moment, but those are the moments that are actually making you. They build your resilience, the strength and your mind that no one else can access. These are the moments that are important to finding out what your truly made of as a creative.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.meadowlarkartistry.com
- Instagram: @kim.meadowlark
- Facebook: Meadowlark Artistry
- Other: Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/6XuI0P7po8xE1kwijdD3mo?si=dCSatTl3Sb2qaavjV_imyw