Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Paulina Dosal Terminel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Paulina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I’m pretty sure I always knew I would be an artist in some way or form – but I never thought about it as a career path until college. I danced competitively from age 5 to 18 and started taking visual art seriously in high school. I guess you could say I had a passion for “the arts” in general – I grew up frequently attending the symphony and theatre with my parents. By the time I was applying to universities it was exclusively to art programs and I had the goal of working in an art museum – which I achieved before I graduated. It all kind of snowballs from there…

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an artist, creative business owner, and cultural worker. I started my career as an arts administrator for the education department of an art museum in Austin, TX. That was where I learned to view public engagement as an art form. I really enjoyed working with art at the intersection of community and accessibility and eventually that led me to be the Manager of Community Engagement at the Dallas Museum of Art. Through this work I was able to collaborate with other artist organizations and nonprofits to create meaningful installations and programs but I felt like something was missing. Although I loved working at the museum, it began to take away from my own practice. I spent too much time helping others realize their art projects to focus on what I really wanted to be doing. Two years ago – I left the museum to go back to grad school and get an MA/MBA in Arts/Nonprofit Management. While back at school and after quitting my job (a decision I do not recommend for the weak) I realized this was an amazing opportunity to bet on myself and the skills I had learned through my experience in the art world and in my new business school. I opened Omega Art Projects as my first venture into the world of for profit art. We make murals, fine art faux finishes, commissioned installations and arts/cultural consulting. My husband works in commercial construction and I saw a gap in the market between the creative draw developers aim to have in order to attract consumers and what they can articulate to artists, so a lot of my first pitches were to clients he already had relationships with or fellow students in my MBA classes. I have many artist connections, as well as being one myself and currently this is how I am able to contract skilled people for projects of any size. I rent an office in the same building as my husband and we share a lot of the tools and storage. What I’ve found to be incredibly valuable is that I am able to speak both the language of business and art. I can help negotiate on behalf of artists because I know the value of what they create but I also know that clients don’t always want a museum worthy piece. Sometimes they just want something eye catching or amusing. As my business grows we’ve also become certified as a women and minority owned enterprise and hope to start taking on work in other parts of the country. At the heart of it all I still just really love being around art and artists – now I just get to be involved from conception to completion. It’s a really fulfilling moment to see something exist in the world that you helped create. In my spare time I work with Artstillery, is a West Dallas nonprofit which empowers marginalized voices through full immersion, providing a platform, healing modalities and the arts.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Whew. So many things… but mostly just understand its value. From the moment a child is born into the world some of their most important interactions will be with art. Developing creativity is developing identity and that is who you become as a citizen of our society. Artists are the essence and soul of that. They are our culture bearers – their monuments will be what our future ancestors remember us by. They are creating the eternal.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Not exactly a resource but a piece of advise about the “Art World” I’ve learned is that you have to put in the work of relationship building. Very rarely does the art speak for itself – although it would probably be a lot less complicated world if we did. Support other artists like you want to be supported. Go the gallery opening before you ask if they’ll show your work. Don’t be an asshole. Hire professionals as soon as you can – TALA (Texas Accountants and Lawyers for the Arts) does pro bono work if you can’t.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.omega.art
• Instagram: @planetpau / @omega.artprojects
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulina-dosal-terminel

Image Credits
Headshot: Katie Bentley