We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Wellon Bridgers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Wellon below.
Alright, Wellon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
One of the most humbling opportunities I have had is to work with clients on custom pieces that commemorate a particular memory, experience or even person. From clients capturing a favorite view of their honeymoon to celebrating overcoming a particularly difficult season of life, these opportunities to create unique paintings are so humbling. I also love collaborating with husbands to surprise their wives for art as gifts–it’s always a bit of a risk to surprise someone with such an investment and statement piece, but (fingers crossed) we’ve had only happy receivers so far!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
All artists know that the “real life” of an artist is definitely not glamorous! My start in painting is just as unglamorous as it gets. As recent grad school graduates with a VERY meager income, my husband and I decided we would get some cheap materials and try to do small paintings for family members for Christmas. An hour or so later, my husband throws his materials down in frustration then walks over to see what I had been working on. Wide eyed and jaw dropped, he said “well that’s pretty good!” Painting became an insatiable expression for me in the years to come. It has the ability to capture life experiences like little else and can reflect the pain, peace, journey, hope or healing that we experience. One of my greatest hopes in sharing my art with others is that they will find some deeper resonance with the piece than just paint on a canvas. If my painting can remind someone that there is light in the midst of darkness, then I’m one happy artist.
What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?
I was working in the service learning nonprofit sector when I started painting. But I was so prolific in producing paintings, and the response I was getting from friends and family so positive, that I had to find an outlet and platform. Weekend regional art shows became my next platform, and seeing audience’s reaction to my work helped define my body of work. It has taken me many years to get past the “they’re just being nice” mindset and to value my work objectively (I’m habitually self-critical). But as art shows led to gallery representation, this self-consciousness has ebbed to a point now where I feel simply grateful and humbled for the opportunity to continue producing artwork that resonates with people. My heart’s work is in ethical orphan care, so in some ways art is still a “side hustle” but it’s one that pays much better!
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The contrast of light and dark continually draws me in…and not just visually, but as a life metaphor as well. Our lives will inevitably all hold seasons of darkness. But I also believe that these seasons of darkness, as real as that pain is, are never without hope. There is always light in the midst of the darkness. Our own adoption story of a traumatic unethical adoption process and our journey to the life-transforming ministry of Mwana Villages where we ultimately met and adopted our Leila and Daniel, is one such story. I try to represent this juxtaposition of light and darkness in my work, whether through a landscape or figurative or abstract piece.
Contact Info:
- Website: wellonart.com
- Instagram: @wellonart
Image Credits
Graham Yelton