We were lucky to catch up with William Franklin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi William , thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Yes, I have been able to make a full-time living as an artist. I had always loved art and painting. My parents did art, and both my grandmothers were artists. So I was always around art, my mother would often be working on a painting. Whenever I would visit or stay with my grandparents, there was always a canvas on an easel and plenty of art supplies around for me to try my own hand at making something. BUT, I was never encouraged to become an artist, rather I was actually discouraged by my parents to “Stop scribbling and do my math homework.” and was told “You can’t make a living as an artist.” For them, at that time art was more of a hobby, you could make some “supplemental income” money at it, but not rely on it to make a living.

In high school I noticed I had a knack for drafting, so took drafting and design engineering in Vo-Tech. I also loved science, history and writing. In college I bounced around from one major to another. But my love of painting was always there. To help pay for college I had gone into the army, and then after worked at UPS. During that time I dabbled in painting and did some work for others. Stumbled across doing large scale mural work and started doing a few “Trompe’ L’oeil” murals for wealthy peoples homes. Then one day I got laid off at UPS, not because I wasn’t a good employee, I was one of the best. It was a matter of numbers and seniority. I was angry at that. I didn’t like that the reality was you couldn’t rely on a corporate job, no matter how hard you worked for the company or how good and reliable you were. So I decided I was going to take the leap and become a full-time artist. It was a struggle at first. I had to sell that first house I had bought. My new car was repossessed and I had to get a second hand one. I moved into a one bedroom apartment, and had to give up finishing college.

But, I made it. Year after year my skills and connections grew. And fortunately for me, during this time there was a building boom in Tulsa of Italianate and French Country style Mc Mansions with people wanting beautiful artwork painted on their walls and ceilings. For a time I had people working for me and would often have multiple projects going on at once. I teamed up with crews that would do faux finishes in those nice homes. I would get them jobs, they would get me jobs and we would often work in the same new build houses together. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun! I also stumbled into working with people who would do props and themed environments. I did work on commercials, movies and television set pieces, Hotel lobbies, Casinos, etc. Got to travel to Europe doing murals and sets. Even got to do some work at Disney World in Florida. Big Disney fan here so loved that!

During this time I also had the notion of opening a little shop where I could sell artwork, prints of my art, painted furniture, etc. Always thought it wise to keep multiple income options going, just in case. Had a booth in a local flea market. Then made a big leap to opening a small shop in downtown Tulsa, the first DECOPOLIS. And discovered that I had an edge with my gift shops in that I could create beautiful, magically themed spaces within the shops that would get people talking, that made the shop special and gave me an edge over competitors. Moved to a bigger space downtown, took the “theming” to another level and became something of a downtown attraction. Loved that. Covid hit, downtown was always a struggle for a shop, but then became unsustainable for retail like ours, as our area evolved into a different direction away from retail. But, a spot that I had had my eye on just outside of downtown on Route 66 became available. I could do the themed retail, on a tourism corridor. And was fortunate enough that my shop would be next to another great attraction, another creative named Mary Beth Babcock who was then creating Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios. This DECOPOLIS has done well and is essentially a work of art that you explore and shop inside of! I also get to continue doing my art by creating souvenirs, posters and prints, t-shirts, mugs, magnets, etc. You can buy my art, while being inside, my art.

And now I have entered a new phase. We have purchased about 2 acres of land, just a couple miles down the road, on Tulsa’s Route 66 and are nearing the opening of the first phase of the new DECOPOLIS. What I hope will become a series of new,, themed destinations. The first phase is the current building on the property being turned into a magical bookstore called “FableRealm Books”. a bright, happy and colorful Ice Cream Parlor called the “TulsaRama”, and an art gallery featuring my art and that of other local artists, “William’s Tulsey Town Gallery”. And we have lots of room to dream and grow! Land to build my long time dream of creating an Art Deco Museum for Tulsa., and space to build the “Mesmer Island, Dino Adventure!”

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 think I answered some of this with the first question.

But as per my brand, I want DECOPOLIS to be known as a place where you can escape one reality, and enter into a new one. A reality filled with possibilities. Magical, beautiful, wondrous possibilities. Why can’t the world be filled with magic? Why do you have to work or office in a cubicle when you could work inside a volcano filled with glowing plants and crystals, a pirate ship, an Art Deco castle. I love urbanism, living in a very, “non-urban” part of the country, its tabula rasa (clean slate) here and that has allowed me to perhaps more easily imagine, something different. In this part of the country its very much, you drive over here to live, drive over there to shop, drive over there to work, drive over there to enjoy nature, go to this district for art, over here for education, etc. I want it ALL mixed together. All of it, art, work, play, live, shop,, everything mixed together in a fantastical, magical place. At our downtown shop, for example, we had a game, you would start off with a clue, wander through the shop and find a chest, work out the first clue and open the lock, inside was another clue to another lock on another chest elsewhere, and so on. But the point was, you were having fun BUT you were also interacting with others and learning. Learning and fun in a magical shopping environment. We have dinosaurs at our DECOPOLIS Discovitorium location, along with rocks and fossils to buy, and educational displays (Inside a volcanic cave!). We also have the start of our small Tulsa Art Deco Museum at this location. On one side of the shop are what appear to be small Art Deco buildings, inside some are books, gifts and toys, and inside some are displays of Art Deco artifacts and art pieces. See beautiful things, shop, enjoy, learn, and be inspired.

One thing I want to emphasize is that “capitalism”, with the right tweaks, can be a force for good. You can make a living at making the world a better place. You can make a living helping people learn. You can make a living with art and inspiring people to be creative (and teaching art classes like I will be in the gallery at the new location). You can make a living by creating beautiful places that people want to visit (and then buy stuff while they are there learning and enjoying “Edutainment”). People come to see the Tulsa Art Deco Museum, they also do a little shopping. The shopping gives us the funds to expand the museum or create a new “edutainment” attraction. The new attraction brings in more people. We can charge for fun, educational activities. The educational activities are in wondrous, themed environments. The more wondrous the place, the more people will want to come and learn, (learn about gardening, learn about dinosaurs, learn painting and art, etc. ) the more classes and activities we can charge for, the more magical stuff we can make. Each thing works to reinforce and grow the other.

Rather than buying a plot of land with trees and nature on the outskirts of town, and then bulldozing that. We are taking an old abandoned lot, with a building that was valued at Negative $35,000.00 (the banks figured we should tear it down and build new, and that would be the cost to tear it down) We are fixing up that old historic building, turning a vacant lot of gravel and parking into one filled with life, beauty, themed: educational components, shopping, dining, and fun!

This is our goal, our brand, beautiful, magical, educational and inspiring…. for everyone.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Apologies, probably answered that with the previous answer.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Seeing peoples eyes light up when they come into our “shop/attraction”. Hearing people say “I wish I could LIVE here!” “You have everything I love in one place!” “Who DID this?!”

Thats my real reward. Of course I have to make money to live and continue doing more, but the real motivation and reward is… being able to make the world a more beautiful, and inspiring place and seeing people enjoying what we have created.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.DECOPOLIS.net
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/decopolis

Image Credits

All photos by me and of my artwork.