Today we’d like to introduce you to Beau & Kara Lasiewicz.
Hi Beau & Kara, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Beau and Kara have been public school teachers for over 15 years each and have been working in their individual disciplines for over 20 years each. Deciding to take the plunge into full time artists in 2020, they are constantly evolving their craft of woodworking, pottery, painting and photography with every new challenge that comes their way.
“We have no secrets.” Continually expanding their content knowledge and net of professional art colleagues, Beau and Kara have a passion to become the best in their field while understanding that being comfortable with failure is a necessity for professional growth.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, not a smooth road. Always struggling with inconsistent pay. Most people get paid every 2 weeks, whether they earned it or not. As artists, you get paid sporadically. Sometimes you can make $20,000 in one month; another time you don’t make anything in 2 months time. That is the biggest struggle.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are primarily a furniture maker and realistic portrait/figurative oil painter. With supporting interests in photography and pottery. We also teach a wide variety of workshops in multiple disciplines. Being former public school teachers with a combined 30+ years of teaching experience, we enjoy when the light bulb goes on with students of all ages that are either trying something new or honing their skills over the years. We also take this platform to YouTube, where our channel has almost 700 videos and counting, along with Patreon where we further our community outreach, build bridges between islands of artisans and makers, and are in the works of developing discord to further our reach to interested people that maybe just can’t make in person workshops or just need a time and place to art and reset for a while.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We are planning and manifesting extending our workshop availability to not just our home studios, but to area businesses that also want us to teach, as well as advancing our online reach. We are trying different avenues, not just with teaching, but with creating and selling our own work to become more sustainable, because let’s face it, this is not a career for the weak hearted. We are continuously learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, albeit some days go better than others. With our personal work we hope to become more visible, applying to art calls not just nationally, but internationally too, and continue to grow and learn in order to claw our way up the ladder. We are thankful and grateful for the community of supporters and collectors we already have and we want to expand upon that as well through continued effort.
Pricing:
- Workshop Pricing – varies based on workshop taking
- Patreon – $10/month, includes online lessons, workshop discounts, early access and other perks
- Photography – varies depending on the event and location
- Woodworking, painting, pottery – varies per piece
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.beauandkarastudios.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/beauandkarastudios
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/beaunkaralasiewicz
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/beauandkarastudios
- TikTok: tiktok.com/@beauandkarastudios
- Patreon: patreon.com/beauandkarastudios
