Episode 159: Turning Grief Into Gold: One-on-One Coaching with Erika Person
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What inspired Erika Person to transition from opera singing to abstract painting?
Welcome back to the Honest Art Podcast, everyone. I am your host, Jodi King, and I love these podcasts that we do. And these are coaching podcasts where we bring in an artist, always an artist who is part of our Honest Art Society, my membership. We bring in an artist who has real-time questions that is currently either, you know, struggling, needs guidance, support, whatever. And what I love so much about the artists that you're going to meet today, artist Erica Person Warner. Oh, I can't wait for you to meet her. What I love so much is that she and I were just talking before we started the podcast, and her... Questions are so meaningful and so honest that I feel like a lot of us as artists would kind of be afraid to ask the questions, but she's going there and she's asking the questions.
So welcome, Erica.
Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here.
Oh, I can't wait to have this conversation. So for people who don't know you, I just want to give a brief introduction. And that is that I think it's so interesting is that you are an opera singer. Are you still singing, by the way?
I'm not currently. I think about every other day whether I want to go back to that or not. As we continue talking, you'll understand why. But I'm not currently singing.
OK, that's fair. That's fair. I can't wait to hear more. But anyway, so opera singer turned abstract visual artist. So I love this. And you also talk about how you draw inspiration from words and music. And that's so relatable as well. I think a lot of artists are we just have this kind of multifaceted interest on and different things. But but what brought you like what was it that brought brought you to visual arts? What tell us, talk to me girl.
Well, I would love to. Um, so I, I lived in New York city for about 15 years and I was working parallel careers. So I had a career as a legal secretary for a boutique law firm while I was also pursuing singing full time. And my corporate job was really flexible, great with me, supportive of my singing career. Anyway, I was on one of many gigs in 2016 and I had a neck injury. Oh, wow. And I needed a creative outlet because like I used to be able to just like, you know, pour it all out of my face and I couldn't do that anymore. And so I was at my sister's birthday party one year and a friend of hers was there and she said, oh, you should take plein air classes with my dad yeah and he was an incredible artist so that got me painting again and I discovered abstract painting yeah and acrylic paint and I was like yeah oh if I ever was able to sing jazz I bet this is how it would feel like to just be able to like let it rip
yep so that's that's how i made the transition um and then you know i experienced a number of personal losses uh even once making that transition of course we had a global pandemic and the painting was keeping me sane during that but also during that time i lost both of my parents and so like after my dad died i was up painting until like two o'clock in the morning just because I had so much to get out. And so painting was how I did it.
Yeah. Um, well that's, I think that, um, I had a similar experience, um, only, you know, like it, I started painting to, um, because I needed an outlet as well. And, um, and I was shocked, uh, how healing that it was. I mean, it's, it was totally stuck up on me. If somebody had said, um, you know, you should, if you paint, you'll, you know, you'll start to heal. You'll feel better. I'd be like, fuck off. I don't want therapy. You know, I'm here. I just want to have a good time. But the thing, like you can't help it. It's just going to happen. You're, it's just the most miraculous thing that, that, that happens. when we start to paint, especially in times of really of a ton of stress, trauma, loss, grief, all of that.
So that's so relatable, not just for me, but I think for so many people. I have built a seven figure art career and I have helped hundreds of other artists transform what they earn from their work. And I am hosting a three part workshop called
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What inspired Erika Person to transition from opera singing to abstract painting?
0:03–19:05
2
How does the Japanese art of Kintsugi illustrate Erika’s approach to grief and healing?
19:05–33:24
3
Why does Erika believe storytelling is essential for selling artwork?
33:24–50:18
4
How can artists stand out without compromising their authentic voice?
50:18–59:34
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Honest Art Podcast with Jodie King
Episode 161: Why Perfecting Your Art First Is Stalling Your Career
Episode 160: 6 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Investing in Your Art Business
Episode 158: What Five Years in Tuscany Taught Me About Betting on Yourself
Episode 157: How to Build Real Buzz Around Your Art (Without Chasing the Algorithm)
Episode 156: The Layering Mistake That's Making Your Abstract Art Look Flat (And How to Fix It)
Episode 155: Why Your Creative Block Won't Go Away (And Exactly How to Fix It)