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

Alright, Tori thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Competing with the advancement of technology, corporations producing nameless art for cheap, the rising demand of quick turnaround and instant results, and customers paying what artists deserve without question. I think it’s really difficult to create a brand for yourself, a style, original ideas in a world where everything has been thought of already, and then sell it. AI and other digital creations are cheap and instant, I can’t compete with that. Everything I create comes from my hands, my mind, and my collaboration with a client. My years of mistakes and education are what got me here, and there’s a price to pay with that – something AI doesn’t have to charge for.

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?

I’m a multi-passionate lover for all things art and creativity! For my entire life, I’ve loved art and have always gravitated towards being creative. Being the granddaughter of a self-taught and very talented artist, I was always encouraged to make more art. I went to college for art therapy and had to study both studio art and psychology before attending graduate school for my masters in counseling psychology and art therapy. The studio art education is what really fine tuned my craft; my professors were some of the best artists I’ve ever met and really encouraged personal growth with challenging assignments. Once in graduate school, I was making art for fun and as people wanted things for gifts/commissions. I never thought I’d make a business out of it. I was encouraged by a few people to make an instagram for my art and that’s how this business started! For almost 6 years I’ve been making art for people and myself.
Now, I work as an art therapist, artist, and photographer. I make art along side clients to use it as a tool for emotional expression. I strongly believe art and creativity is another universal language between humans and it has so much potential to benefit us when trying to communicate really hard topics. From my own experience of using art through hard times to heal and process difficult emotions, I encourage everyone around me to turn to art.
My favorite parts of being an artist is creating pieces that do not exist. We’ve all lost really important people in our lives. We don’t take enough pictures but have cameras at our disposal almost 24/7 now. For those who don’t have photo memories of their loved ones, I create art of important moments or other special times that they’re not longer with us on this planet. I love working with customers and clients to capture the most important things in their lives and turn it into art. I find so much connection to these pieces, and that they’re often my best pieces of work because I just want to emphasize the emotion through the art.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I started selling art while in college, just slowly and on the side for someone who was requesting commissions. I never thought it would be successful enough to be a full time business so I didn’t do anything major with it until entering graduate school. Close friends and supporters were giving advice to make an instagram account of my art to just have as a public business account to just have as a continuous portfolio. From there, I was getting so many requests that I made a website. At the end of 2019 I was able to secure a lease on a small studio, not knowing what 2020 was going to bring. I kept making art, I made some of my favorite pieces of art during the beginning of the pandemic. I made art for me, to show what I was passionate in, and to display my potentials as an artist. I picked up photography again, this time photography of families and individuals. I was practicing with my camera every chance I could. I photographed my first wedding, and have been consistently booking photography clients ever since. In 2020, the studio I was renting had to shut down from the pandemic forcing the art gallery to close. My best friend and I found a temporary studio space that we split the rent on and went from two studios, to one. We finally moved into our new studio in May of 2022 and that following October, I went full time as an artist, art therapist, and photographer. Today, I see clients at our studio for art therapy, photograph so many families and couples, and make hundreds of pieces of art a year for customers. It feels so good to turn my favorite thing ever into a full time business.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My best friend, Mel. Her and I met in graduate school and we knew it was going to be a friendship that lasts forever. We had the same vision and goals for how we wanted to be artists and art therapists in this world. She’s also a photographer and we constantly support each other’s passions. In December of 2020 when we had to move out of our small studios above an art gallery, we had no idea what to do. Word got around and we found a temporary space to have our stuff in until construction finished on a more permanent spot. After just over 2 years, we moved into our brand new space – Healing Thyme Studio. Here, we have art therapy sessions, workshops, events, photography sessions, and make our own art in. Recently, we just launched our studio for the public to come in, use, and spend time with us in. We’re both working towards this being the only job we have and providing community art events for people to engage in more healing arts.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.torimengelart.com
• Instagram: @tori_mengel_art
• Facebook: Tori Mengel Art
• Linkedin: Victoria Vilk, MS ATR
• Other: Pinterest: @torimengelart