We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melodee Strong a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Melodee , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Have you been 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? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Earning a full-time living from my creative work has always been a challenge. Ever since I made the decision of being a full-time artist, it definitely has had its ups and downs. It wasn’t easy making the decision to leave a corporate 9-5 gig as a single mom. Since then, I have not always had a steady income from my art and have had to keep other side gigs or jobs on the side. Like today, I am teaching at several institutions and licensed in K-12 arts education. I always advise artists considering the move to full time creative work to ask themselves how disciplined they are. If they can manage their own finances and paperwork, then that is the first step in being “successful” as an artist. You need to prepare for the dry seasons and the emergencies in your life. You are now a business owner whether you are working as a sole proprietor or an LLC. Either case, you need to keep track of everything and be organized. Not a lot of artists are and this is where trouble can set in. I know many artists that are working full time and doing very well. But they all have something in common, they are all disciplined and organized.

There are some years where I have made $100K and others I have only made $10K. It can be that drastic. I received a lot of work during and shortly after George Floyd and the pandemic because I was an artist of color. Things are slowing down again but it’s to be expected. I hope work picks back up again. It just may mean that I have to do a bit more marketing and networking, which can also be a challenge for artists if they are introverted. It can be intimidating and overwhelming. You just have to prepare for the worst and save when you can. As a self-employed individual you have to consider things that you may not have to consider when you are employed by someone else. Things like health insurance and liability insurance. Since I became an LLC, I have to pay the state for my LLC, I file differently, I have to not only have liability insurance but I need to have commercial car insurance as well. There are a lot more expenses to run your business and I don’t think we realize it until we are in it. That is why we have to charge what we do for our work. We have to cover the overhead just like any other business. An artist starting out has is easier in that regard. When you become more established, there is a lot more responsibility. The new artist struggles to find work and the established artist has to maintain their business. Since the income can be unpredictable, this is very challenging. How will I consistently pay my studio rent and all the expenses that go into that?

Recently I lost my mom and I was unable to finish two gigs dealing with my grief. That set me back several months and I really struggled with my finances. Not being able to finish those projects put me in a bind. I was counting on that income to carry me over in the new year until my busier season picked up. With a more “normal” job, you have bereavement and vacation hours you can use and usually stay on track. But when you are self employed these situations are a lot more challenging.

Before we dive into our other questions, would you mind taking a moment to introduce yourself to our readers? We’re eager to learn more about you.

I have been an artist my whole life. My first memory of making art for a purpose was in third grade. Since then I knew I wanted to be an artist full time. I just didn’t know what that would look like or how I would support myself. When I was in high school, my art teacher told me about illustration. I received my degree in illustration at MCAD in 2006. Since then I have completed commercial and editorial projects, illustrated children’s books, and completed over 70 murals in the Twin Cities and Jamaica. I have also been teaching art for over 20 years. I am currently teaching visual arts at Franklin Middle School in North Minneapolis and teaching as an adjunct at Augsburg, Metro State, and the University of Minnesota. I also produce studio work when I have time in-between teaching and mural gigs.

Most of the work I do as an artist in all those capacities are “multicultural”. That is what my clients ask of me in the work that I do. I really appreciate that kind of work because I can apply a lot of my own culture as a Latina into my work. I also have been able to engage and collaborate with a lot of different groups of people and communities. I get a lot of joy from those experiences.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are two things I find rewarding being an artist…

1) Being compensated for the worth of my work. Some gigs we take because they may provide a unique experience or its a resume/portfolio booster. They may not pay well but we are getting something from it worth our time and energy. But when a client comes to you with an offer that is appropriate or higher, thats when you feel really good. There is hope that people actually understand the value of art and the work that artists do. It’s really refreshing when a client is prepared for that in advance. Many times I have been asked to illustrate a whole children’s book for $500! No can do. Not even the potential notoriety of such a project is worth that. I often have to put things in perspective for folks to understand… would you go to work for two weeks for your employer and then be told, we’re only going to pay you a third of what we owe you and you can chuck the rest off to “resume building” or “exposure”? The light bulbs go off. I can’t tell you how many times clients try to use that to entice artists to agree to do a project.

2) Representation. The fact that I can connect with communities of color with my art is so awesome! I have so many encounters with “fans” of my work that literally have brought us both to tears. My first experience was a show I put on at Homewood Studios in north MInneapolis after publishing work in children’s books. It was a solo show of my illustration work from 6 books. I had a young black boy enter the gallery passing by on the street. He stood and stared at an illustration of a character from the book Colorful World. I asked him what he was thinking about. He turned to me and said, “She looks like my sister.” Now, the boy I was talking to was a beautiful chocolate skinned boy. My character was Asian. His sister could have looked just like her. I come from a very diverse and “mixed” family. Not that uncommon for me to think that. But what if his sister looked just like him and he still saw her in that character? My work is still making a connection and that boy is able to see a part of him in that. That means more to me than anything. I grew up not connecting to books because no character in them looked like me or were in stories that related to me. So this was a hugh gratifying moment for me. Another time, I met this young fan at a Target Children’s Book Festival after reading Colorful World. I came off stage, was heading to the green room when a mother called out to me. She asked if I would meet her daughter. Her little girl was the cutest thing but needed to wear special shoes for her disability. Mom told me that she gets bullied a lot in school but my book gives her hope. Mom was crying, the little girl was crying, I was crying. The little girl told me that it was her favorite book because she saw herself in the book. She identified with it and it helped her feel better. I have so many other similar examples but the last one I will share is when I was finishing up a mural in south Minneapolis. My team and I were surprised as a car of women in hijabs pulled up abruptly and all of them rushed out of the car. They posed in front of the mural and started taking selfies and group photos. As they quickly returned back to their car, one yelled out, “Only in Minneapolis will you find a mural with a hijab on a woman!” My team looked at each other and laughed with pride. That was really fun to witness. My goal in the art that I create is inclusivity and representation. I want people, especially people of color, to see themselves in the work, make a connection, and feel valued and seen. Its empowering to have this ability as a woman artist of color. And I don’t take that lightly.

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

Without getting into too many details, the past few years have been extremely hard. I have suffered a lot of significant loss. During which, I was also at my most successful in my career. Funny how things work out that way. I was in a lot of pain and grief but still producing valuable work and receiving recognition in the process. My personal life was crashing down all around me but I had all this accomplishment in my career happening. Clients were seeking me out and trusting me to get the job done. I had to go to work. I guess I find refuge in the work sometimes. If I can escape with my brush or a spray can, then I can feel better for that moment. I also decided to take that pain and pour it into a body of work that I hope to continue to contribute to. I started it shortly after my first string of personal loss in 2021. I used this opportunity to create work as therapy. I was approaching my 50th birthday and wondering how I got here- this place of despair and loss. Why was my family hurting me? Where did this all come from? I decided to dig deep into my thoughts, I conducted research and created my show Lineas de Sangre (Bloodlines) which opened in Sept. 2022. The show was a remarkable success and not because I sold much. I actually didn’t sell anything. It was successful because I now have this body of personal work I can continue to work from using all sorts of materials in the creative process. I had well over 100 people arrive for the opening reception and I made new connections with the Peruvian community I thought I lost outside of my family. I was embraced by them and it was very emotional. Referring back to why representation is so rewarding in what I do… I was able to connect with some patrons about the subject matter, especially the artwork speaking on immigration and assimilation. Even though the show was about my lineage and story as a Latina in Minnesota, I was able to connect with a Russian and a Swedish person. We discussed how language and being first generation, like me, had a similar impact in being a Minnesotan and an American. That fueled my passion and gave me more purpose to continue the work. Yeah, hopefully I make some money from it in the long run, or at least my son can, but that is not what is fueling this body of work. Healing and telling my story so that others can possibly connect with it. That is what is important.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.melodeestrong.com
• Instagram: @mstrong73
• Facebook: Melodee Strong – Illustrator/ Muralist
• Linkedin: Melodee Strong
• Other: #mneruvian73, #minneruvian73

Image Credits
Melodee Strong