We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sara-lou Klein a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sara-Lou, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I knew I wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally when I was in high school. I had a friend and fellow student who shared with me certain techniques, and she was incredibly supportive and gave me confidence. She encouraged me to apply for a Visual Arts Scholarship at a university to study art.

I didn’t know that was a thing to be able to earn a degree in something I enjoyed doing (neither of my parents went to college/university, so I didn’t really know anything about college except for hearing about it from friends).

I ended up earning the scholarship and attended the University of Northern Colorado. At first I majored in being an Art Teacher – because I thought that’d be the best way to earn a living and I took a few courses in art teaching. I also worked part-time in the on-campus art gallery as a docent, and then I met an alumni of the school and he encouraged me to “just be an artist”…to be involved in the art community, have gallery representation, sell my art. And if necessary, have a “side job” to fill in the gaps financially. I switched majors to fine art, with an emphasis in drawing. Best decision I’ve ever made.

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?

As a kid I loved making art (I think this may be true for all kids?). My mom was very “crafty” and talented and a great seamstress, she would sew clothes for our dolls (and for us). It seemed as kids we were always making crafts and making art…and my dad was also creative – a master woodworker; he converted our 2-car garage into a workshop and seemed to always be building stuff. Creativity was all around us.

We had a neighbor who was a watercolor artist and she would show me and my siblings how to paint and would give us her extra art supplies. My mom would set up a large table in our patio and it seemed art supplies were readily available.

The bug to create was deep in my core…it was only natural, after I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with a minor Women Studies…that I made art, joined an art co-op, and besides making art, I also dabbled in painting designs on t-shirts, and creating hand-made greeting cards, and sewing little things – and began selling items in various gift shops (formerly sold on etsy, and now making a big cartel site).

I am not sure what sets me apart from others – I don’t think there’s anything that sets me apart. If anything, I’ve mostly drawn on wood because I could integrate childhood admiration of the various wood grains from helping my dad in the “workshop”, and learning all sorts of crafts and a love for sewing from my mom. Combining things I was taught as a kid / with an education in fine art / as well as taking classes in a botanical illustration school all influenced my art. Also, for many years I was a nanny (the “job to fill in the financial gaps as an artist”)…and being around kids filled my heart with so much joy with their honesty and spontaneity and playful nature.

My tagline on things I create is “the brighten your day cards”…and I try to live by that motto – to try and brighten someone’s day either through my art or through the things I make (lavender-filled dream pillows, cards, notebooks, stickers, etc. – I still sell some of these items in gift shops in the Denver area. Everything I make is from my art, the fabric I make is designed from my art.) – another thing I do to ‘fill in financial gaps as an artist”. I work part-time in a design, print, and marketing company (one of the families I used to nanny for, started having me work in the office – since the kids “grew-up”…so being able to print things and then sell them has been amazing.

Alot of my art transforms personal experiences into something whimsical, and sometimes my art has more serious undertones, such as dealing with the death of former loved ones. For instance, in the attached drawing with the Owl flying away, it is a depiction of my mom moving “Onward” – hopefully at peace now (she died 5 years ago.)

For a few years I volunteered at the Birds-of-Prey Foundation – a rehab hospital for raptors (owls, hawks, eagles, etc.) I was able to help take care of them (feed them, clean their barns) and was close to them, they are all beautiful, amazing creatures – they inspired me so much!

Hmmm….I think the most thing I’m proud of is that the place I work (YellowDog: a design, print, and marketing studio – where I used to be the owner’s nanny), let me initiate a “Period Positive Personal Hygiene Drive”, and we collected over 3,500 tampons and pads to donate to a local food pantry. The month of March is challenging for me because it’s the month of my mom’s birthday, and is the month when my former husband died, and the month my father-in-law died – so to help turn the pain into something positive I was able to do this drive (and do it also during Women’s History Month). At my last art exhibit in October, I also asked the community, to bring in tampons and pads – and I gathered over 1000 products to donate to The Action Center-who helps those in need (a place where my mom used to help out at.)

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think that society (in the U.S.) can be so much more supportive of all the arts! A long time ago I lived in Spain for 3 months (a boyfriend at the time-the ‘alumni’ I mentioned that encouraged me to change my major-exchanged our art studio and apartment with another couple in Barcelona)…we travelled all around Catalonia, visited art galleries, art museums, made art. We realized that artists were respected! Creativity was / is supported as an integral part of life – deeply seeded in them. The arts are supported. Art studios are affordable.

It was amazing to see artists being so respected. It feels that in America there’s more of an emphasis on sports than on the arts.

In Denver, the rent for artist studios / art co-ops went ridiculously high – pushing the artists out. Luckily, neighboring suburbs have been created to provide lower-cost gallery spaces and are providing grants to artists.

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

I wish that basic accounting, financial, marketing, business courses were part of a fine art degree program. The most challenging part of being an artist is doing the business part of it (at least for me anyway).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.saralouklein.com
• Instagram: @saraloukleinart
• Other: https://www.edgeart.org
  https://www.BirdHeadCreations.BigCartel.com

Image Credits

For my ‘headshot’ photo please credit: marilee.co portrait photography as the photographer. All other images are my photos.