We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mark Bettis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mark below.

Mark, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with 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?

Coming from an artistic family (musicians) and family business I have always been in the creative industry of some kind. Started in Design/Computer Graphics at Ringling School of Arts in Sarasota Florida. After working in Sarasota for a few years as a graphic designer I decided to move to Chicago to pursue working at larger agencies. I got a job right off the bat at a large promotional advertising agency in Chicago and stayed there for about 8 years working my way up to Creative Director within the agency. I worked with large accounts such as Target, Mc Donalds, USPS and United Airlines to name a few.
When my mother who lived in Sarasota, Florida got sick, I decided to move back there and help her out. A friend of mine was working at the Sarasota Film Festival and offered me a job and it ended up being a great fit. Eventually I took over their marketing for the festival and was there for 9 years. During this time and in Chicago I was doing my art/painting in my basement or garage, not selling but just creating.
When the economy crashed and the Festival closed down I decided to move to a town that I always wanted to live… Asheville.
I was lucky enough to get a job at a company called Green Festival as an Art Director for the company. During this time I was painting more and honing my skills as a painter. It was not until about 5 years after I started at Green Festival that a small wall space in the River Arts District became available and I jumped on the chance to actually take a stab at selling my paintings.
I actually did very well and when a studio became available I took it… which launched the beginning of Mark Bettis Studio and Gallery. After about a year of working both the Festival and painting I decided I wanted to go full-time at being a artist. The rest is history… I now have two galleries in Asheville and represent over 9 artists.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As an artist I mostly paint in oils with cold wax on wood panels. My work is abstract in nature with a lot of texture, however I have been known to paint figurative and landscape as well as just abstract. I wanted to combine the abstract feeling to my figurative and landscape and not do anything to realistic. Owning your own gallery has its advantages… most artists have to stick with a ‘style’ that identifies them. Most galleries want you to have the same look and feel so it is easier for them to sell. But since I own my gallery I am lucky enough to be able to create what I want. So my styles are ever changing, which I love and makes me energized to keep creating more.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I was a kid I always wanted to be an artist, whether it was a photographer or a painter. I was lucky enough to have a mother who was a musician and knew how being creative was something you had to explore. But on the other side of that my parents where also business people. They owned their own business and my father came from the stock exchange in Chicago, so there was this expectation of being successful. So when I said I wanted to be an artist they told me that I might want to rethink and learn business first. So I did. I worked in the business for a while and then got my real estate license and a worked in that field for many years. But the ‘pull’ to create was too strong… so I enrolled at Ringling School of Art and started my creative endeavors. I believe that learning the business side first was a great experience for me to have as an artist. I believe a lot of artists lack the business end of the field which could possibly hold them back no matter how talented they are.
I was very lucky to have parents that saw both sides.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

When I wanted to open my own gallery it was a slow start, I started very small and worked a full-time job to support it. After a while when my sales from art picked up I decided to rent a larger space and make the leap into full-time art.
However, as with anything you need to have capital to do this… I was lucky enough to own my home and I wanted to start the business so much I decided to sell my home and take some money out of my equity to start. Was the best thing I ever did… and it kept me motivated to be successful so I can then purchase another home later after my business took off.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.markbettisgallery.com/
• Instagram: @mbettisgallery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markbettisart/

Image Credits
All my photos