We recently connected with Susan Jackson and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I started my career as an art educator. I knew art was my passion but I also knew I needed a more concrete income. Being an art educator was a way to combine art with a definite career. I received my Bachelor of Secondary Education with an emphasis of art in 2015 and taught for four years and then went back for my Master of Art in Curriculum Instruction in 2021 and then left teaching full time that same year. I hadn’t done my own art for years; since college. A friend of mine, knowing I was the art teacher which probably included a degree of talent, asked me to draw her spouses family cabin for her. I did and immediately my artistic drive came back. It’s almost like I had forgotten I had artistic talent because I had spent so many years focusing on my career as a teacher. Another realtor friend of mine saw that drawing on social media and asked me to draw houses for her as a closing gift. That started to pick up and at this point I have drawn almost 300 homes. I left teaching full time, found a part time rural teaching job, and have pursued my art as a full time focus. Yes, I wish I had started my creative career sooner, but the journey is what gave me the confidence to do so!

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 a a two-dimensional multimedia artist who has lived in the Kansas City Metro my whole life. I graduated with a Bachelor of Secondary Education with an emphasis in Art in 2015 and a Master of Curriculum and Instruction in 2021, both from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. For the past 8 years, I have been blending my passion for the arts with teaching as a public-school visual arts educator. My work revolves around inspiration from the greatest artist of all: Mother Nature. By weaving nature into my art, I find escape through the daily hustle. My imagery comes from a desire to feel free from structure and the weight of the world. The calmness of the ocean shore, the weightlessness of a butterfly’s flutter, or the feeling of time standing still under a canopy of trees can be found throughout my work. My images also evoke memories and times throughout my life when I has felt freedom from reality.
In 2020, I created my art business known as The Heart and Hand Co. From the time I could hold a pencil, art has been my passion. Through my art business I am able to tell people’s stories and bring to life their ideas and experiences through personalized commissions. Going forward, I plan to expand on The Heart and Hand Co through displaying more of my work in the community, creating connections with others through visual storytelling and continuing to grow my Etsy shop.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is someone seeing value in something you have completely created on your own. A moment I have experienced this is when I am doing an art show and sell an original work of art. When someone sees so much value in your art, they want to invest their hard-earned money in it, it’s a feeling like no other. In that moment, you are no longer working for anyone but yourself, earning a living from the thing you love the most.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

There are several resources that have significantly impacted my creative entrepreneurial thinking. The biggest resource is a community group on social media called, “Underachievers: Etsy Success at Any Level.” Despite the name, there are many achievers in this group. This group has taught me about the biggest key to success with online sales: SEO’s. Many Etsy shop creators never even get a sale before close their shop. This was me until I found this group. I had no idea about the world of SEO’s but this group has taught me so much. They’ve shown me that when creating an Etsy listing, you need to think from the perspective of a shopper and title your listings when labels they would use to search for. Thanks to this group, I have made 740 sales and sold my art in almost every state in the United States. If you’re going to start an Etsy, I hight recommend joining this community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://susanjacksonart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theheartandhandco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheHeartandHandCo
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-jackson-970076207/
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheHeartandHandCo