We were lucky to catch up with Mick Burson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Mick, appreciate you joining 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?
I have hit the 12th anniversary of surviving off my work. The question of how it works is still a mystery to me, at this point I just rely on the history to give me hope for the future. I made the decision that I was going to be a full-time working artist and I am still figuring out what that means and what that feels like. I make money from painting murals, painting signs, house-call tattoos, and selling work through a gallery. Sometimes they all go great and sometimes no one calls. The most important thing in my life is being able to choose how I spend my time and the illusion of freedom, sometimes I can just make art all the time and sometimes I have to go find some money to keep the boat afloat. Everything is relative.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hey world, my name is Mick, I am in the 32nd year of a 100 year project where I wander around while appearing to have a destination. I am a painter, I paint things for people to own and I paint on things I do not own. When I was a kid I would repeat sentences I was told back to the teller as a metaphor, and that is how I was able to make sense of literal information. As a adult when I am given emotional informational information I repeat it back to the world as a visual metaphor to try and make this make sense.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
As of recently I have apologized to my practice for letting my personal issues detract from our relationship. I promised my work that it gets to make the decisions for us this year. As my work is a little uncouth and doesn’t have a physical body to upkeep I am trying to keep my word while keep my freedom and health. My work decided that we were going to move into an RV, wander around the U.S while painting freight trains, and make smaller pieces inside the RV. So I am currently in a town near the East Coast living next to a train yard.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
In my work I am not trying to answer questions or solve problems I am just trying to put out a full album. An album that is sometimes off key, but folks still jam the tape. I just follow the work and it has never let me down and I have got to go all over the world and meet some of the best people ever. I don’t really require a lot so that allows me the freedom of my own time, I get out of bed because I need to make things, I drive for hours because I am going to go make something, I was out last night when it was 20 degrees painting a train because I need to make something. All the making I do gives me purpose, takes care of my needs, and keeps me alive.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.MickBurson.com
- Instagram: Mickburson
Image Credits
All by me