We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle Dahl. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.
Michelle, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?
Always. I don’t know a single artist who thought “man I wish I stayed in that cubicle a little longer!” But to be quite honest, it happened when it needed to for me. I knew I wanted to be an artist when I graduated high school, but I let other people’s thoughts and fears guide me, and to be honest – I was your typical 18–20 year-old know-it-all! I wasn’t teachable because of this massive chip on my shoulder and inflated ego of being the big artsy fish in a little pond. I grew up in a labor household flirting with poverty; there was no college fund, and I quickly dropped out to take on a 2nd full-time job. Now, fast forward 10+ years and I can barely walk! A very quiet childhood backache turned into a massive functional disability that left me literally and figuratively grounded. This was the “It Moment” where I was forced to really take a look at my life, mental health, financial choices, and who I had become. I am lucky that this terrible thing happened to me at 28 and not at my deathbed. I don’t know that I would have had the courage to really evaluate myself like this had I not been trapped in my own broken body with no other options but to do the personal work. I reconnected with art: art was the only constant I ever had. For me, it took a massive catalyst like a broken spine to realign me with my purpose and be open to the risks and possibilities of an art career. I just turned 40, and I look at artists out here killing it in their 20s and I think, “Man, if only I had…” but that’s the lie we tell ourselves. I wasn’t ready then and would have made some massive mistakes, I’m sure. I’m glad my creative career is launching later in life when I know myself, and I have an authentic experience to share. I hate to think what path 20-year-old me would have been led down!
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?
Sure! My name is Michelle, I am primarily a self-taught oil painter specializing in portraits and figures. My work is representational and I try to flirt the line with impressionism – while my work looks life-like, I’m not trying to recreate photos. I like to leave parts of the composition up to interpretation, and I love a well-placed brushstroke over micro-details. I have spent all my 40 years honing my skills, but only started taking a professional stance in 2019 when I was asked to paint a family pet. That launched me into this beautiful world of commissioned portraits. Painting is my full-time business, and I also teach classes on traditional drawing and painting skills. So why a painting over a photo? In the right hands a photo is great, but there is an added layer of depth and character with a well-painted portrait. I’ve spent my life studying faces and people (anthropology is one of my hobbies) and I use this curiosity to really fine-tune the essence of a persona. Whether it’s a pet, child, or public figure, I can convey their personality and quarks in the marks I make and the colors I choose. I capture the life and fullness of the subject – not just their likeness.
My proudest moments are when I can connect and validate life experiences with my collectors. We share our emotions through art, and my own experience has reverberated with complete strangers. With commissioned work I’ve learned that grieving and celebration can be very lonely processes. When you can connect, validate, or help someone with closure, that moment stays with you forever. I think art is a universal healer, both as a verb and a noun.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
First and foremost, I would love to kill the starving artist myth. We have this romanticized, toxic view of what an artist is. Artists are trade SPECIALISTS, and art is a specialized SKILL. Like a plumber, engineer, carpenter, or designer. Don’t even get me started on “talent.” This idea that artists somehow come out of the womb with a brush in hand is ridiculous – and it all undermines the countless hours of work to conceptualize, practice, labor, and create as well as the unseen hours running their solo-preneur business. “How many hours did that take you” Most people ask this because they want to do the math to find out where they can get a deal – searching for value because they don’t value art, or your valuable skill. If your painting took 200 hours to complete, the viewer feels better about your $1500 price tag. But what that equates to is $7.50 per hour, not counting supplies and all the other business expenses (I won’t even tell you the cost per hour I’ve seen some artists charge). It’s not sustainable. If the same painting only takes you 10 hours to complete, best not to share that fact. By this logic, an unskilled or unfocused artist should earn more money than a highly-skilled, efficient one. I want to see society – artists alike – to view and treat art as a skilled labor. Worthy, valuable, and equitable to any other small business practice.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I am a huge supporter of craftsmanship. I really nerd out on how stuff is done/made/works – foundational processes like drafting skills, neuro biology, or how to run a business – and I have always looked at art as any other skill-based trade. To tie into that last question, a lot of this stems from my own frustrations when I felt like I had to “reinvent the wheel” because someone was gatekeeping the information for whatever reason. I love classical realism, but it has not been trendy for a LONG time. I’ve spent more time trying to convince people why I needed to learn drafting skills than it actually took to learn the techniques, and I had to go to YouTube or dusty old books to find it. When I wanted to start my own art career, I had the same push back about running a business. “Art isn’t a job; art isn’t serious; why do you need to know business, you’re just painting.” So along with keeping traditional skills alive by sharing my knowledge of drawing and oil painting, I advocate that artists are professionals. I founded an organization called Career Creatives to try to bridge the gap between art and business in real-world application. My own research and experience have taught me that art school doesn’t teach business skills, and business classes don’t apply to artists. Organized education is unfortunately atrophying for many of the trades. I hope that by bringing my fellow artists along for my creative journey, I can build community and the creative ecosystem.
Contact Info:
- Website: michelledahlart.com
- Instagram: @michelledahlart
- Linkedin: Michelle Dahl
- Other: Feel free to reach out directly to [email protected] and check out CareerCreatives.org
Image Credits
Profile photo by Melissa Campos. All other images Copywrite Michelle Dahl