We were lucky to catch up with Lee Rhoades recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Lee thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
Having spent the last 5 years making my way as a full time artist, I simply can not imagine returning to a regular office or similar job. But I would never have imagined 5 years ago how much hard work and persistence this path would take. To this day, I still put in more hours and more thought into what I do than any previous regular job I had in my past. As an artist you have to imagine, create, market, sell again and again and again to make it. There is not a marketing department or an accounting department to share the load. From start to finish, you have to shoulder every burden and it’s your own product that must be successful. I have to admit there are times, on a regular basis, where I think to myself maybe a job digging ditches would lead to a much simpler life. To go to work, do my job, then come home leaving all thoughts of that job at the end of each day behind would seem a sweet relief when compared to constantly creating and solving every waking hour.
But I know the urge to create would overtake me very soon and I would be off on another adventure.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Currently I am a woodworker who specializes in designing and creating high end furniture such as dining tables and coffee tables. Then last year, I also started a large lavender farm on my rural property outside of Kansas City. 2022 was my first year of full production at the lavender farm so between the two, life is very interesting. I’ve always felt the urge to create. In my thirties, I took up landscape photography which quickly became a full time job. I was thrilled when Anheuser Busch bought my first collection and thought I was on my way to a lifetime of photography. Instead the recession hit, that dream was shattered and I returned to the corporate world. But during those next few years, the urge to create continued to build as I plotted my return to art.
One obstacle I had to overcome is actually making money as an artist. And that is how I started with the path I am on now. The issue with photography is that, no matter how beautiful, nobody needs photography. But they do need tables and other furniture. So why not make furniture with a creative edge? I can satisfy my need to create with their need for a new dining table.
Every table I create is a completely unique piece never to be repeated again. That is what draws my customers to me and what makes me most happy in my work. When I deliver a table I am always amazed at the thrill and personal reaction customers have when they see what I have crafted just for them. I can honestly say several have cried when I unveiled the newest addition to their home. You know you are on the right track when you can elicit that much emotion from your art.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me the most rewarding aspect is the customer’s reaction whenever I deliver a new piece. When they finally see how I’ve applied their vision to my creation of something they most likely will have in their homes the rest of their lives is a thrill. I think the first task of art is to create emotions in the viewer. When I can do that by transforming wooden slabs into artistic tables I feel very rewarded.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I have had multiple pivot points in my life as I strove to become a full time artist. Bouncing back and forth between a steady paycheck and the life of a “starving artist” has been interesting. I briefly shared earlier about an ultimately unsuccessful stint as a landscape photographer. Prior to that I had started an electrical contraction company in St. Louis and actually sold that to begin my photography career.
When that career fizzled, I went back to “corporate America to recharge myself and my bank account. Ultimately, I found myself running the North American division of a global lighting company based in Germany. One day, the Chairman of the Board and I found we had opposing views about how to move the company forward. I just took the parting of way and new freedom to mean it was time to create full time again. I haven’t looked back.
Contact Info:
- Website: untetheredspirit.com
- Instagram: @fireflyfieldslavender
- Facebook: @UntetheredSpirit