We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Zak Duff a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Zak, appreciate you joining us today. Are you 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?
When I was a kid, I was on a vacation with my parents one summer when they took me to a farmers’ market. I don’t really remember if I was excited about going (odds are I was less than enthused, being an angsty pre-teen with my own agenda), but I am glad that I did, because it would have a profound impact on the rest of my life. There I met an old man who was relaxing in a beach chair, painting en plein air as a crowd milled around him shopping prints and originals of his past paintings, practically shoving money into his hands. He was jolly and tan, spending most of his time outdoors doing what he loved and making money doing it. I saw this and I thought “Man, he’s got it figured out.” I liked to paint, and I liked being outdoors. It seemed like a sweet gig. But I went on with the vacation and eventually, my memories of the old man faded. I didn’t know that I would ultimately end up doing much the same thing.
Nearly two decades later, after years of exploring the world and pursuing other interests, I returned to painting and completed a series of degrees in Art while working in the food and beverage industry with the intent of becoming a teacher at the collegiate level. The problem with this plan is that teaching positions at that level are not easy to obtain, and the food and beverage industry can be, let’s say, stressful. I left the kitchen jobs that had gotten me through school, but I was not able to find work in the field I wanted to. It was at this point I thought back to the jolly old man. I knew some artists, through my work in the community, who set up at local markets. And I knew there were markets in all the little beach communities that dot our area. So, I decided to take the art I had been producing “on the road,” buying a pop-up tent and a few print bins to display my work at markets up and down the coast.
It turned out that the old man had made it look easier than it was. Hauling all of the art and the displays from place to place and setting them up and taking them down was an ordeal. The mornings were early, the evenings were late, the crowds weren’t always as enthusiastic about the art as I would have liked, and the weather along the coast can be unpredictable. It took a lot of start-up capital to get the gear for displays, to get the required paperwork, to have prints made and eventually to buy my own printer, and to pay market fees… it took a tremendous gamble on myself and my work. The old man had not made all that clear to me – he hadn’t lied, he had just omitted some information.
But did it work? Was I jolly and tan and making money hand over fist doing something that I loved? Sort of. More content than jolly. More sunburnt than tan. More making a decent living than raking it in. But I was earning a full-time living from my creative work, and after nearly a decade I still am. I finally got that teaching position I wanted, instructing part-time at Cape Fear Community College just because I enjoy talking about art and sharing with my students, but I am a full-time freelance artist, creating my own work and the occasional commission for my income. I paint watercolors of local wildlife and abstractions based on our regional environment. I do the occasional commissioned portrait, show my work in galleries and eateries up and down the coastline, and during the peak season I can be found at pop-up markets four to five days a week.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I was born and raised in the Washington, DC area, relocating to North Carolina in 2000 after many years of vacationing along the NC coast. Growing up outside of the nation’s capital, I was able to visit many galleries and museums as a kid, which inspired me to explore drawing and painting from an early age. Like many kids, I drew voraciously and painted in a free and expressive manor. But I did not consider art to be a career path until I had already explored other majors in college. After taking a basic art course at the community college, I rediscovered my passion for art and decided to throw myself fully into it.
My work has evolved quite a bit over the course of my artistic career. When I was a student my work was in acrylic paint, was mostly figural, and was very much message-driven. Many of my paintings were direct critiques and criticisms of society and the inequities of power with American society specifically. As I have gotten older, my focus has shifted away from the more direct and in-your-face approach to something with a bit more subtext. My body of work the last 8 years or so has been focused on the environment, with images directly referencing local flora and fauna as a means of raising awareness and appreciation for it. I create watercolors of local wildlife, and mixed-media abstractions on both paper and canvas. By depicting realistic versions of the natural beauty of our area I hope to encourage the preservation of it. And by exploring abstractions of the environment I hope to open a deeper connection to it for myself and for others through the expression of evoked feelings.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
There are many aspects of life as a working artist that I find rewarding, but top of the list is meeting aspiring artists and encouraging them to practice their craft with as much frequency as possible. I meet a lot of vacationing families and often the guardian will point to one of the children and say, “they’re an artist.” The conversations I have with those kids about what they like to create and the joy we both get from those conversations are so very rewarding.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Social media is the toughest part of being a modern creative for me, and for many others, I think. Social media is a good way to get your work in front of a broad audience who may not otherwise have been exposed to it. It is also an opportunity to be creative in photographing, presenting, and promoting your work. And it can serve as a platform from which you can sell your work. But it can also be a distraction, can make you feel insecure or inadequate, and affords others an opportunity to steal your intellectual property. So, it is important to use it in moderation and not be entirely reliant on it. That being said, building an audience on social media requires an understanding of the algorithms that command the media platform, as well as consistent posting in a consistent voice. This means posting images and/or text on a regular basis, making those posts during peak usage hours, interacting with other users and commenters, utilizing hashtags with a high use-rate, and doing all this in a genuine manner that is reflective of your beliefs and values. Being disingenuous is unhealthy, unhelpful to your brand, and a disservice to those who interact with you. Being genuine comes through and attracts likeminded people who are more likely to be loyal and supportive to you, which will benefit you in the long run.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.zakduff.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zmduff
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zmduff
Image Credits
All photos by Zak Duff