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

Mia, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I specialize in mixed media intuitive psychedelic artwork. I do acrylic paint pours that I turn into paintings using various techniques. The colors and patterns create images I paint on top of the paint pours in my head. I do my pours for fun, and I will stare at them for a while, get an idea, and then sketch them out. I then take my drawing, cut it out, trace the outline onto my painting, fill it in with white acyclic gesso, then sketch out my drawing on the piece, where I then use multiple mediums such as markers, paint markers, acrylic paint, glitter, gold leaf and fill in my drawing. This is a process I developed myself, and it makes me stand out. I have shared this process online; many people believe it is unique. Over time, alongside traditional artwork, I have taught myself digital painting, which makes creating some products, such as stickers, a lot easier. The artwork I am most proud of is a piece I did a year ago called “Breaking Out Of Time.” it is the most significant piece I have done, and I think it is beautiful (I will provide a picture of it); while also having considerable meaning in it. The piece represents me expanding or breaking out of time. In these times, everything seems to be very hard with everything going on with COVID-19, politics, and being unable to afford the basics; trying to obtain the dream of being an artist seems unrealistic. I should be doing things that help me survive, but creating art helps me survive. Even though I don’t have time to do it, I need to be doing it. So I am breaking out of time, represented by the butterflies morphing from the hourglass. Also included is the planet Jupiter in this piece twice, and in astrology, Jupiter is the planet of growth and expansion.

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?

Hello! My name is Mia, and I am a self-taught intuitive mixed media artist! My story starts back when I was a little kid. I have been making art as far back as I can remember. I graduated high school in 2016 with the expectation that I would graduate college with a 4-year degree in the art field. I was accepted into UW-Stout’s graphic design program; however, during my first year, I struggled majorly while dealing with crumbling mental health issues. I ended up dropping out after a year, completely burnt out to the point I swore off art. I thought it was not meant for me, even though it was the only thing that used to bring me the most joy; college sucked out any creative feeling I had. Over the next 3 years, I did not touch art at all. I was dealing with significant anxiety and panic attacks and was trying to get through day to day. When 2020 came around, along with the pandemic, I finally had time to myself because of shutdowns. During this time, I took an interest in studying astrology; while learning this subject, I started a little astrological notebook with cute designs and pictures that broke down my astrological notes. This was the first creative thing I had worked on for years. Ever since then, I’ve been creating things. So, astrology helped me get my creative spark back. I also started pouring acrylic paint, which I found very fun and relaxing. It was an art form that was very free-flowing and not super rigid, so I found it helped with my anxiety. During this time, I also joined TikTok; I was inspired by all the other artists I met on the app and thought to myself you know what? I could do this, too! After creating this account, this is where things took off for me!

I started doing paint-pour videos while developing my style of artwork. I call myself an intuitive artist because I would do my pours for fun and relaxation (while teaching others how to do it as well). I started creating designs using mixed media to put over my paint-pour pieces; the designs were inspired by the colors and the patterns the paint-pour would create. The best way I can describe this is if you were looking at clouds in the sky and trying to explain what object they looked like. I would use the same method for my pours; the colors and patterns would create images in my head that I would then turn into paintings. After about six months of creating new paintings non-stop and getting some traction on my TikTok, I decided it was time to start selling my art and my small business. I made an Etsy shop, and Mias Astro Art was born!

I continued my TikTok account while getting sales here and there; throughout the journey, I have learned to make my art into other products such as stickers, lighter wraps, art prints, and more! Making my art more accessible to everyone helped my sales and made me realize that people enjoy my work. I taught myself the process of all these things while sharing my journey online and teaching others how to do it through tutorials, too. My art has a psychedelic, colorful, witchy, and astrological style. Now, almost 3 years later, I have over 800 sales and 14k followers on TikTok, and I was able to buy my first home where I have my first official art studio! This may not seem like a lot to some, but it is more than I ever thought I could! My art and business are still in their baby stages, taking one step at a time and teaching myself things as I go. I started during my first in-person events this year at pop-ups in local Minneapolis breweries, where I sold more than I thought I would. I have big plans for the future, such as creating my website, doing art booths at raves/festivals, and improving my artwork. One step at a time!

How did you build your audience on social media?

Overtime I have built up a following of 14K on TikTok. I know too some that might not be a lot, but it’s more than I ever thought I would achieve. To help build your audience on social media you just really gotta be yourself especially in the art niche. You will find a community of like-minded individuals that will help follow you and support your dreams and you need to help and supports others in the same niche well. This community will really help you grow as well as learn new things. For content tryout different ideas do a Time-lapse of a painting, show process of how something is made, a quick start to finish video, reviewing other artist, story times about personal struggles in the art field, and just track and see what does well with your audience and if something does really well just try to do more videos like that now I’m no expert and I’m still personally learning I’ve gone up and down over the years of trying to be a content creator but it’s really just always putting yourself out there and making sure you post consistently.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I’m not full-time artist yet I still have to work in the service industry in order to pay my bills but building up this dream career of being a full-time artist has helped me achieve more self-love and understanding of myself than I ever have. I have felt more myself while exploring mias astro art over the last four years than I have my entire life it feels like I have finally rediscovered my identity and I am making strives in something I am truly passionate about because of this, aspects of my mental health have been better I have had more confidence in myself and overtime I’m slowly gaining new skills and learning a lot in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://miasastroart.etsy.com
• Instagram: miasastroart
• Youtube: miasastroart
• Other: miasastroart – TikTok