We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Merri Ellen Kase. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Merri Ellen below.
Alright, Merri Ellen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I never thought about what I was going to do when I was growing up, I always knew. . . art was just a part of me. Creating is something I have to do. When I was four or five years old, I would climb on my father’s lap and say, “draw a doodle” on a scrap piece of paper. I would take that doodle and make elaborate drawings out of that little scribble. Drawing or coloring for hours was how I spent my time, and as I grew older, I found joy in designing everything around me. I designed my house, some of the furniture, sculptures, and the landscape. I even designed my wedding ring. I went to the University of Texas in Austin and have a fine arts degree.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
After college, I went to work for a publishing company in their promotional art department as a graphic designer. From there, I worked in house for a hotel company and then a food company and single handedly replaced their ad agency. I left to start my own business and my career has blossomed into over 30 years in the commercial design and illustration field.
I am a freelance graphic designer and illustrator and take pride in my client relationships, dependable service, and quick turnaround to meet tight deadlines. Whether their needs are large or small, I can provide a creative edge to their projects. I have a diverse client list including medical, restaurant, technology, real estate as well as boutique ad agencies. I welcome any and all jobs and opportunities.
Recently, I have also returned to my original love of coloring, or rather, painting. I find joy in the creative process and the expression through my love of color and close-up visuals. My paintings have been in galleries in Santa Fe and Dallas. Recently, I entered a competition and was chosen to paint three back panels for the TEXRail Station Train for the Fort Worth Stockyards exit.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Getting to create on a daily basis and have either solved someone’s problem through my art for their business or given enjoyment to others through my paintings.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I have found lately in the graphic design industry that people don’t want to pay what the creative is worth. I have lost several opportunities for potential clients because they want their creative done as cheap as possible. This just happened to me last year. I was up for a new client and they went with someone less experienced and less expensive. I know this because their new ads in the newspaper are not only very poorly designed, but copy does not line up, pictures are not cropped where they should be cropped and the layout is not correctly centered. What people don’t respect or understand is the fact that their ads, literature, logo, etc. represents their company. No one wants to buy a service from a company that doesn’t have their best image displayed. As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for”.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.KaseCreative.com and www.MeKaseArt.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mekaseart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeKaseArt
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merri-ellen-kase-b083a95/