Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristin Pavlick. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kristin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Taking the risk was choosing to either quit or to just keep going…. but going towards what? At the time, I was 30 years old. I just survived the ruthless, reckless 20’s, and I did not feel like I was any closer to feeling like I was on my supposed track. Every waking moment was shrouded in subtle sadness. Though it was a sadness that wasn’t utterly unbearable, it was a slow nagging sense of despair. Sure, it allowed me to wake up, function, check off all of the boxes of what I was ‘supposed to do’ that day… but I was never totally without my proverbial companion. In other respects things were going great. I had been engaged to my now supporting, wonderful husband, we just closed on our first new home together, and we were getting married in T minus two months. On my surface, things were great, but on the inside… I was shaking like a leaf at times.

And then one day, I called a friend and  asked for help. The actual circumstances were car issues left me stranded. I made 2 calls, one to my boss that I could not come in that day and then the very next to my friend. I told her I needed help. I was in this pattern that I was officially ready to break and who was her therapist. I was ready to change. In that moment, I felt the ownership of my decisions. 

The best part? I walked into a mental health professional that supported that view immediately. I told her I don’t have time to analyze everything, I just needed immediate action. And I’ll never forget, she looked my square in the eyes, unaffected by my abruptness and said: “Some people cannot have bosses and you happen to be one of those people”. With those few words she single handedly gave me permission to set my own course. With all of my 30 years of bottled-up angst I threw myself right into the eye of that storm. I finally understood that I could quit. I often look back and find it almost funny that I did not see it as an option. Whether I didn’t feel capable, worthy, or something in between I never even considered that I could say out loud that I was not coming back. I was going to go and figure out how to become an artist…

Kristin, 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?

It’s funny you ask about how you got into your industry, as I was never not in my industry. My first memories are painting on an easel with a palette consisting of only chocolate pudding. At the age where eating the paint was as fun as throwing it around, my parents got smart quickly, ‘let her paint with something she can just eat’, and entered chocolate pudding as my first fav medium. I was the kid that ‘was the most artistic’, I had permanent purchases, I was the art teachers’ pet student. It was my super power that separated me from the others, showered me in all the gold stars that permanently imprinted on my psyche that this was my path to follow, anything else seemed colder outside of the limelight. So, I continued that tract through college, chose an art education route either because I was scared to rely only on creative practice, or because I was too lazy to transfer to an art psychology program. Whichever the case, I found myself in an art classroom, a place that I grew up watching my father so deeply reverer. Though I immediately understood ‘it’, I never did love the art room as much as he did so that dissonance led me down avenues that lead to my own creative practice.

When college was gone, so was my structure. And when there were no art teachers to hide behind, and no recognition to be had, I felt deeply displaced. I went to all of my trusted sources that would just tell me what to do and when their common resting phrase was to ‘just go get a job’. That phrase even today can likely send me on a rant to nowhere.

Fast forward through the winding turns of my twenties, I landed in Delray Beach, FL (originally from outside of Philadelphia). I started out as a freelance art teacher. I traveled to communities in the area and set up a studio for consistent studio practice. I won some art projects with local townships, which got me some visibility, some new projects, some new clients and I continued to make my work alongside my teaching practice. I want to make work that is not distracted by the need of money, so I find I usually have to work on a couple different fronts at the same time to achieve that balance.

I think something that sets me apart from others is that I do love to take on projects that nobody thinks I can pull off. I  sell them on something they can’t see, maybe even can’t understand, but it fulfills what they ultimately wanted without knowing what they were looking for in the first place. It takes a special person to grant me the trust and freedom to do this. But when I find that person and that project, I work harder to achieve something that I almost don’t know if I can do. I see it as the ultimate gift I can give.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The journey to be an artist is, in itself,  an act of resilience. Looking back at these 11 years I have remained an independent artist, I can now smile at all of those dinner parties, passing conversations, even friends asking me that heavily relied upon questions: ‘and what do you do?’ When I respond ‘I’m an artist’, most either fight back or some just give into the urge to say: ‘no really though what do you?’ which invariably leads to a series of furrowed brows or questioning glances. Now my neighbors will ask: ‘where is all the paint on you’? That is what really makes me smile. Or when I overhear my friends say: ‘no she is a real artist’. I feel the time I have spent defining my own path is itself an act of resilience.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

To support an artist is to make them feel seen. Give them a wall, give them a microphone, give them a system that can allow for them to support themselves while they create. Tell them what they are bringing into the world is important and then take a step back to see the magic they can create.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://kristinpavlick.com
• Instagram: @kristinpavlick