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

Kristine, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

Risk taking is something I’ve always done.

I grew up in a rural town in South Dakota, during that time I worked several jobs. One of the most formative job experiences I had was working in long term care, a community of residents who transitioned to communal living in their later stages of life. I started working in activities, a job that’s basically just playing games with residents to pass the time between meals. Who doesn’t love bingo! I later transition on to a CNA: Certified Nurses Assistant which was one of the hardest jobs I’ve ever had. Showing up to help others after they can no longer help themselves independently was such a reward journey, but also a very heavy emotional time. Watching other’s pass on to new planes really put my life into perspective. No matter what, all of us are on a time limit.

I listened to countless life stories about people’s hopes and dreams, things they planned but never got around to doing. Many would talk about how they wished they would have taken more risks in their lifetime, like traveling or doing something wild. As a young adult that really stuck with me. During my college years I continued working in long term care facilities. I loved the connections made, some event turned into family.

Family was something I always longed for, I grew up in poverty with neglectful parents. It was a really hard time in my journey, my father was in prison most of my life and my mother had to raise three children alone. It created much trauma and pain in our relationships and they’ve mostly splintered into random “Merry Christmas” texts once a year. Regardless, I love my family very much and wish all of their dreams come true. But without that support in my young adult life I would have went down a much darker path of addiction and bad decision making. Instead I took a risk, I went to college to be an artist. A choice MANY told me not to do.

Taking a risk usually involves expense. As an entrepreneur I see this constantly. If I listened to all the small minded individuals who told me not to follow my dream, I wouldn’t have ever started painting. I wouldn’t have found the healing I needed from my traumatic childhood, and I wouldn’t have found the love of my life at college. Since graduating in 2016 I’ve started two businesses, a non-profit, my artwork has been published internationally in British Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vanity Fair, landed me on a reality TV show twice, and gave me the confidence to inspire others to create.

Take the damn risk, we’re all going to die anyways.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Painter and Graphic Designer, Kristine Reiner, presents powerful and contemporary artworks featuring roses. Four hundred red roses from a would-be suiter inspired Reiner’s creativity when she was studying art at the University of Sioux Falls.

Her background is in mixed media painting and graphic design. Roses are simply brushes in creating vibrant mixed media paintings. In high school, Reiner began creating art and decided to make it my career. Now they own a fine art and t-shirt printing business. At a young age, Kristine began creating with random materials, “since my family was very poor, we occasionally ran out of food. That environment made me very frugal. Additionally, I feel that it improved my ability to be more creative since anything can be used as art supplies. Your imagination is your only limitation. I experience a sense of belonging when I create. My works give me the feeling that others share a similar view of the world. A lot of unexpected friendships have been formed as a result of my art. The art of storytelling, manifesting and believing, allows the connection. Connecting is what we are all looking for, so I hope to build those connections with my viewers through my art.”

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

Being a woman artist comes with challenges, like any other profession. I find it hard to be taken seriously for my work. I’ve grown very thick skin over the years.

As artists, we become so vulnerable when sharing our work. Giving viewers a very close up look into our souls. I prefer to share that part of myself with a select few people, but my work is often shared on several very social platforms where society can comment and question them.

I started creating during a very dark time in my life, I made beautiful pictures during my healing from childhood sexual assault. I was abused during elementary school in my own bed by a close family “friend’. I was not supported by those who should have protected me. No criminal charges or reports were ever made. I truly felt like I was only able to speak through my works, from composition, color and title names.

My work was quickly appreciated by other survivors in my community, creating many meaningful relationships with others who completely understood what I had experienced. Those individuals gave me love and security in community, I will forever be thankful to them for sharing the deepest parts of their trauma.

Today, I create to bring awareness to social issues using my platform to help educate and support those often neglected.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Pivoting in business and life are second nature to me at this point. I’ve owned my art shop for 12 years, many unsuccessful ideas and projects have accumulated, falling outs with business partners, gaining new clients, offering more fine art services, and naturally failure.

When I first launched Kristine’s Artwork, I wanted to be a brick and mortar offering full time creative classes for all ages. I spent years chasing this goal, only to have it consistently fall apart. During the pandemic, I was released from my job temporarily. That period was very scary, but the best for my business growth. I went from teaching in person classes to learning how to sew face masks. I sold hundreds of handmade masks, plus I learned there were far more market opportunities than I had been utilizing. I started hosting zoom classes, my largest had over 40 participants. It was such an eye opening time.

I had to pivot my service offerings, I needed a whole new way to connect with artists I had never met previously. During my struggle, I was able to scale my business to something manageable and yet still enjoyable, which is a hard feat! Now I’ve been able to work when I want on what I want, and I’ve never looked back.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kristinereiner.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristinesartwork
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KristinesArtwork
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTafXcSVVC95ZvpgoatKnIQ
• Other: Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/bathtubmonologues

Image Credits

Kristine Reiner