Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark Nesmith.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Mark. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve drawn my whole life. As a child, I’d take down the encyclopedia set and draw from the pictures. I’ve always been fascinated by images. I was raised Catholic and I consider the stained glass windows and sculptures of the church, to be my first museum. In high school, I took one art class and hated it. I couldn’t stand the way the teacher would take the brush from my hand and re-do my work the way he wanted it, so I left art and focused on music. It wasn’t until I’d bounced around a few different majors in college that I finally enrolled in another art class. This time I was lucky. I took my first drawing class from Larry Leach, a well known oil painter and everything finally just clicked. Part way through the semester, Larry took me aside and asked me why I wasn’t studying art. I told him that I loved to draw but I needed a degree that would earn me a living. Larry told me I had it all wrong. He said, first you get good at what you love, then you’ll figure out how to make money doing it. Simple, but it was sort of an epiphany for me. Until then, I kind of thought art was just a hobby, something you do in your spare time. Larry invited me to his studio and I saw the life of a professional artist. Around that time, his career took off and I was hooked.
I graduated with a BFA in Studio Art from Lamar University in 1998 and moved to Dallas. I started teaching art and photography part-time and took some graduate courses from UNT. I planned on getting my MFA and teaching college art but as often happens, life had other plans. My wife and I started having our children and I turned to teaching full-time. I continued to paint and show work through galleries but didn’t make much money at it. A few years later, I had a series of medical mishaps, from a ruptured appendix and a sinus surgery to a severe fracture of my left arm that required surgery and titanium plates to repair. My dreams of an art career, slowly started to slip away.
A few years later, I finally got painting seriously again. I started doing small daily paintings and auctioning them on sites like eBay and Daily Paintworks. Just as I started to get going strong, my marriage tanked and I found myself relocating with my kids back to my hometown of Beaumont to be close to the rest of my family. After going through a nasty divorce (aren’t they all?), I found myself starting over and realized I had no more excuses. I found a job teaching art and started painting every day. I again started posting work for sale on auction sites, developed my own website and started seeking out galleries and exhibition opportunities. The art world changed a lot over the course of the decade. Galleries were taking on fewer artists but more and more people were turning to the internet and social media. I realized that to be an artist today is very much the same as being an entrepreneur. To be successful, I needed to take control and think like a business. I studied marketing and started a blog. I became engaged in social media outlets like Facebook and Instagram. I started a newsletter through my website. I became serious about promoting myself and my work like any business does. I still work with galleries but also made connections with art buyers, consultants, and non-traditional spaces like local businesses. Taking this approach has allowed me to build relationships and collectors. I’ve worked with companies across the country and had the opportunity to create commissioned paintings for major clients like Grant Thornton LLP and Duke University. I continue to sell direct, much of it through networks of social media and now have artwork in more than 20 states in the US. My work has been published in magazines and newspapers like American Art Collector, Art Reveal Magazine, and The Dallas Observer and I’ve had many exhibitions of my work, including shows at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, Davis Gallery in Austin and the Mesquite Arts Center near Dallas.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Making art is never a smooth road. There are the constant pitfalls that any business faces like deadlines, budgets, taxes, etc., and also the demands of personal life. Many artists find it hard to juggle all the hats we wear and often find themselves drained and lacking the creative spark to keep painting. I realized that if I wanted to be successful, I couldn’t just sit and wait for inspiration, so, I make painting a part of my daily routine. I show up at the easel every day like anyone else punching the time clock for work. Some days are better than others, but the simple act of working is it’s own kind of inspiration. I think work begets work, and the more I paint the more ideas I generate for other artwork.
I’ve dealt with some major personal hurdles along the way. There have been ongoing divorce and custody issues with my ex-wife. The past couple of years I’ve had emergency surgery to remove my gallbladder and survived a pretty nasty car wreck. Along the way I found the love of a beautiful woman and we merged our families into one. My brother and sisters are incredible too. Having a supportive network of people who love and believe in me makes it all possible. It’s allowed me to find ways to make, show and sell artwork through good times and bad.
Mark Nesmith Fine Art – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
First and foremost, I’m a painter. I work mostly in oils, but also do charcoal and pastel drawings and occasionally watercolor. Two themes dominate my work: unpeopled landscapes that celebrate the sublime and spiritual beauty of nature and narratives, often populated by wildlife personifying human traits. These somewhat whimsical tall tales reflect my unease with mankind’s relationship to the environment and tackle subjects ranging from war and peace to our society’s growing reliance on modern technology and media.
I work in all sizes, from diminutive 6″ canvases to multi-panel paintings up to 14 feet long. In addition to my individual work, I work a lot on a commission basis creating paintings to suit a buyers’ specific idea or need, large or small. These have ranged from landscapes and landmarks to portraits of people and pets, and anything in between. I often create paintings for individuals, and also work with companies. I can coordinate with interior designers and deliver or ship artwork anywhere necessary. I can even install pieces when the buyer needs. I believe everyone needs a little original art in their lives and I don’t think there’s any reason to settle for the canned art you find in the big box stores. Original artwork can be an heirloom and live on through the generations of a family or business.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I have many measures of success, the most satisfying being the feedback and responses buyers give me about my paintings. I have many collectors who add artwork through the years and many who drop me a note every once in a while letting me know how much they’re still enjoying my work. It’s amazing to think that I’m part of all their lives. Recently, I’ve been humbled and honored to find I’ve had students in schools researching about me and my artwork for a class project. To think that I’ve somehow inspired or encouraged someone’s interest in art is incredible!
In more monetary terms, success is being able to choose whether or not I take on a job, not needing to because I have a bill to pay. I have a personal goal to have my artwork in all 50 states and I’m almost halfway there. I want to show my work outside of the US and have my artwork in museum collections. I’m constantly setting new goals for my work and myself. I’m happy with how far I’ve come, but I think this is just the beginning.
Pricing:
- Original paintings can range from $100 to $5000 or more. Most often paintings come out to approximately $2.00 per sq. inch.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.marknesmith.com
- Phone: 409-548-8060
- Email: art@marknesmith.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/marknesmithart
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/marknesmithartist
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/NesmithMark
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