We recently connected with Paula Martiesian and have shared our conversation below.

Paula, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

A fine artist often works alone, putting in long hours in pursuit of some unattainable goal only they can envision. They also wear many different hats – promoter, agent, installer, small business owner. The amount of sheer work is underappreciated by the average person. People see the finished product and ask, “why so much money?” “I would never pay that for a painting.”

At one of my opening receptions two lawyers were speaking not too far away from me. One of them said to the other, “Would you ever pay $5000 for a painting? I wouldn’t.” This from a man who bills out at $500 per hour. I make at most $35 an hour and that’s if I sell out of my studio without a gallery commission and doesn’t count any of the time I put into promoting myself.

This happens in one form or another to almost every artist I know.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a painter, a fine artist. I do not make products to solve a problem or make someone’s life easier. I make things that I love and hope someone else loves them too. This is not the norm in business, it’s an anomaly.

I’ve been painting since I was a child taking my first art classes on Saturday mornings at the Rhode Island School of Design. I was six. I never looked back. I’ve had the privilege of working with some great galleries in Rhode Island and am now working with the Candita Clayton Gallery. She has several locations in New England and New York.

I’ve always painted exactly what I want to and for the last twenty years or so I’ve been painting large scale close encounters with nature. These are not traditional landscapes, but abstracted vignettes of scenes in my garden magnified, up close and personal – a bee’s viewpoint of the world.

I’m interested in color, movement and shifting spatial planes. My work is a reflection of the constant motion in nature. I eschew asphalt, grids and concrete. I fear that we will cover this earth in tar and smother it. I want to paint it alive.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The best thing anyone can do to support the arts is to buy an artwork or a ticket to a concert, movie or play. If that’s not possible, sit on a board, attend free events, or volunteer for an arts organization.

A fellow artist once told me that here in Rhode Island, it’s not enough to make art, you have to make the structure that supports art. That’s true almost anywhere.

I’ve sat on several boards and chaired a few. Along with my husband Ken Carpenter, I published, designed and edited an arts magazine. I’ve been an independent curator for public art spaces for over 20 years. I’ve personally installed over 300 art exhibitions. Individuals can do a lot to further the creative society, all they have to do is show up and offer their services.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Why do artists do what they do? There are many theories and I’ve heard most of them. One is this idea of compulsion, being compelled to do what we do by some inner force.

To be honest, I do what I do because I love it. I can’t imagine doing anything else. When I walk into my studio I feel like I am coming home. It’s both comforting and challenging. It’s everything I want to do with my life. There’s a foundation under me that is strong and a sky above me to explore.

I don’t feel that way anywhere else.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://paulamartiesian.com
• Instagram: martiesianpaints
• Youtube: several youtube videos under my name, but no youtube channel.
• Other: https://networksrhodeisland.org

  A series of videos about Rhode Island artists including one about me.

Image Credits

1 & 2 Paula Martiesian
3,4,5 & 6 Erik Gould
7 Eglantina Kica
8 Nancy Cassidy