We recently connected with Morgan Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Morgan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

Before taking the leap and becoming a full-time Artist I was the Director of Sales for a large consumer electronic company. I basically applied the business acumen that I developed over a decade in my corporate life to creating a business out of my art. I am a self-taught artist and I treat the business of creating art as a business, because that’s what it is to me. Granted, It is a business that I love as well as my passion but it is still a business and having financial obligations I treat it as such.

I have a yearly plan with quarterly targets. I monitor the shows I participate in and which ones provided the best ROI (return on investment), I developed a run rate (this is what we in sales refer to as developing a relatively consistent monthly revenue based on previous lead generation), I created multiple revenue streams for my art, this includes my own gallery space, other galleries that carry my work, in person shows as well as an e-commerce component.

I sought out mentorship wherever possible as well as like minded individuals that were on a similar journey as mine.

In a nutshell I focused as much attention, maybe even more in developing avenues in which to sell my art as I did on the honing of my craft and creating the work.

Morgan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As a former director of sales for a large consumer electronics company I was feeling that something was missing, I had burnt out and was looking for a change. The arts and working with my hands was something I was always interested in, so, made the leap and figured it out as I went. Trial and error can make for wonderful teachers. I work with photography, scenes that I stage and then later edit and manipulate in photoshop. I then mount these images to wood panels that I build and layer in various mixed media elements such as gel medium, metallic leaf, pint, text and collage. Continually looking to incorporate new ideas and mediums I follow a multi-step process when creating my work. There is a distinctive surreal, feel-good whimsical quality to my work that seems to have become quite distinctive and recognizable by my clients. Being a self-taught artist with no formal training or prior experience I am grateful that I have been able to create a recognizable and well received brand for myself. Today I work with interior designers, builders, individual collectors and galleries.

What do you find most rewarding about being creative?

One of the most rewarding aspects of being creative for me personally is connecting one on one and working with the client. In particular working with a client on creating one of my whimsical family portraits. These are always very challenging as you are tasked with finding the right balance between incorporating your own artistic vision while ensuring you also capture the personalities of the people participating in the portrait as well as working with the desired colour palette and general mood desired by the client for the finished piece.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

There was a time in the early days of pivoting from being the director or sales for a large consumer electronics company to a full-time artist that I really second guessed my decision, in point of fact I have had many of these days. This period in particular comes to mind as especially challenging. I had jumped in with both feet having hit a wall and burnt out in my corporate life so I made the decision to just leave, not having really built up any solid foundation or customer base I was figuring it out as I went. I would not recommend this approach. I had chewed through my savings, I had a mortgage to pay and while I was making an income from my art it was sporadic and certainly not enough to fully support myself. I was also single, so I was doing this on my own. I was feeling pretty resigned and trepidation about my future and then my dog Finn passed away. Fortunately, this was May of 2016 and I had applied to and been accepted to a number of outdoor shows in Toronto that summer. Once June rolled around things began to turn around. While there have been a few rough patches since nothing like that particular 6 weeks in the early Spring of 2016. Today, I have my own gallery space with 5 other artists in Yorkville, a bustling part of Toronto, I am represented in a half dozen other galleries throughout Ontario and Quebec and I participate in shows in NYC, Chicago and Toronto. I am happy to report I have another lovely dog named Figgy and I have not missed a mortgage payment yet!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.morganjonesart.com
• Instagram: MorganJonesArt
• Facebook: MorganJonesArt
• Other: Gallery: Collective 131 Toronto The Holt Renfrew Centre 50 Bloor Street West, Yorkville, Toronto Ontario IG: collective_131_toronto

Image Credits
Morgan Jones