Today we’d like to introduce you to Morgan McShan.
Morgan, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I graduated from Texas A&M in 2017 with an Applied Mathematics degree. I now work full time as an Actuarial Analyst. I have always loved math but I have an artistic side that math doesn’t quite fill. One day at work, I got lost in a loop of cookie decorating videos. That night, I texted my friends asking if they wanted to invest in my new cookie business. Then suddenly, I had enough money to buy a starter kit of food coloring, a hand mixer, and a couple of cookie cutters. The first try at cookies didn’t go well… but the second try went pretty well! Then suddenly, I started getting orders… and now, I have a real side business!
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I make vanilla sugar cookies with royal icing. As I’m not really a baker by passion, I only have one flavor, but that flavor is pretty darn good! I spend all my time planning designs, rather than experimenting with flavors. All of my cookies are hand made and therefore, they take a lot of time and patience. I want people to understand the time and love I put into each cookie and that’s why my cookies are a little more expensive than a decorated cookie from some big corporation. I love making custom cookies for everyone’s special events and seeing the happiness on all my customer’s faces when the ideas become reality.
The stereotype of a starving artist scares away many potentially talented artists from pursuing art – any advice or thoughts about how to deal with the financial concerns an aspiring artist might be concerned about?
This is a tough one. As I have a full-time job, I would say the time it takes to be an artist is more of a concern for me rather than the financial challenge. I’ve always told myself that I can’t let my side business take away from my responsibilities at my day job. I might lose a lot of hours of sleep but I have to balance both things or that will become a problem. Financially, I was able to easily start up this business with another income, but now, I try to fund this business only with profit from my business and not my personal income.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
You can follow me on my Instagram- @Dough_by_mo.
To get in touch with me you can simply message me on my Instagram or email me directly!
email – morgan.a.mcshan@gmail.com
Contact Info:
- Email: morgan.a.mcshan@gmail.com
- Instagram: @dough_by_mo
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