EP140: Behind the Scenes of a Solo Art Exhibition with Heather Travis

Have you ever wondered what goes into planning and executing an your own art exhibition? This week Heather Travis joins Melissa to talk about the behind the scenes journey to her upcoming, 3 month solo exhibition at Ontario's Bruce County Museum and Cultural Center.  She shares how the opportunity arose, how she developed her very personal exhibit theme, secured  grant funding and was able to take 9 months away from active client work to produce 35 large scale canvases! We also get into the very personal aspect of this exhibit as well as using creativity as a way to process events,  deal with grief and trauma and as a road to rebirth.

This episode is brought to you by Fine Lime Designs Illustrations

This is a great episodes for creatives who:

• have pondered having an exhibit of their work or creating a large body of work around a theme
• have wondered what would be involved in mounting their own exhibit - from marketing to logistics to finances to actually creating the work!
• are looking for some very fun marketing ideas for their work - exhibit or no exhibit
• need to hear how amazing things can come without social media
• have been listening to Heather on the show for the last 3 seasons and would love to hear a deep dive into her painting and her process and how she creates for a living.
• wants to be inspired 

For a summary of this episode and all the links mentioned please visit:
Episode 140: Behind the Scenes of a Solo Art Exhibition with Heather Travis

You can find Heather at heatherlynnetravis.com or on Instagram @heathertravis.

You can find Melissa at finelimedesigns.com, finelimeillustrations.com or on Instagram @finelimedesigns.

Chapters

• 0:00 Heather's Solo Art Exhibition Preparation
• 14:47 Art Exhibition Accomplishments and Excitement
• 20:08 Local Connections and Opportunities
• 28:29 Curator's Input and Exhibition Theme
• 36:43 Celebrating Childless Heroes and Finding Authenticity
• 52:24 Art Project Logistics and Financial Considerations
• 1:03:09 Grant, Support, and Creative Process
• 1:09:35 Coffee Table Book of Art Creation
• 1:17:35 Exhibition and Virtual Tour Details

Transcript

Melissa Hartifiel: 0:00

This week's episode of the And She Looked Up podcast is brought to you by Fine Lime Illustrations. If you love quirky, colorful art transformed into fun handmade stationery items pretty much guaranteed to brighten somebody's day that's just what you'll find in my new online shop at finelimeillustrationscom. That's fine, as in "I'm fine lime, as in the fruit illustrationscom. Browse the entire collection or sign up for my email list to see some behind the scenes peeks into my studio. You'll also get first notice of new product launches and subscriber only sales, and as an added little bonus, you'll also receive a free coloring sheet to help you relax and de-stress from your day. Now on with the show.

Melissa Hartifiel: 0:58

Welcome to the And She Looked Up podcast. Each week, we sit down with inspiring Canadian women who create for a living. We talk about their creative journeys and their best business tips, as well as the creative and business mindset issues all creative entrepreneurs struggle with. I'm your host, Melissa Hartfiel, and after leaving a 20 year career in corporate retail, I've been happily self-employed for 12 years. I'm a graphic designer, an illustrator and a multi-six figure a year entrepreneur in the digital content space. This podcast is for the artists, the makers and the creatives who want to find a way to make a living doing what they love. Hello everyone, and welcome to not just another episode of the And She Looked Up podcast, but also a brand new season of the podcast. As always, I am your host, melissa, and this is the season opener of season five. And it wouldn't be a season opener if I didn't have my semi-regular guest host with me here today. Heather Travis is with me and well, hey, heather, how are you?

Heather Travis: 2:08

I'm delightful, Melissa, and I'm particularly delightful to be here with you.

Melissa Hartifiel: 2:13

I am super excited for this season. I have already recorded some episodes, so, even though this is a season opener, it is not the first episode that I've recorded, and I'm very excited about some of the guests we're going to be bringing you this season and some of the things we're going to be talking about and, yeah, I think it's just going to be a really fun season. It's season five, but it is actually only year four of the podcast, because I did two seasons in year one. So I don't know if it's worth having a celebration for season five or if I should wait till year five. I can never really tell what to do with this show.

Heather Travis: 2:47

But I think you should celebrate. I think you should celebrate both, because both are a huge accomplishment. Honestly, you should pat yourself on the back and when you hit any type of milestone, like you know, I enjoy a good number, milestone number of episodes. I think all of those deserve. Everybody should get a milk bone.

Melissa Hartifiel: 3:05

Yes, I'd like something better than a milk bone, to be honest. I hope all of you have had a wonderful summer and we are really looking forward to chatting with all of you this season. Heather will be back multiple times, I am sure, but she's very busy right now because she is launching her first solo art exhibition in. 16 days. 16 days, but when this airs it will actually only be eight days. Oh my gosh. Yeah, Right around the corner.

Heather Travis: 3:40

I'm trying to do the math in my head.

Melissa Hartifiel: 3:42

Yes, she is launching her very first solo art exhibition on September 16th and Heather maybe give us some details about where that's going to be and how long it's going to be running, because I know them, but I know I'm going to get them wrong if I say them. So you will get it right.

Heather Travis: 3:56

Yes, it is a solo exhibition at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Center, which is located in Southampton, Ontario beautiful Southampton, Ontario and it runs from September 16th through December 31st 2023. And all works will be available for sale. I will also be having limited run prints of almost every painting available, as well as limited run coffee table book that has all of the prints, basically, and the stories. I've written stories behind every single painting, so I talk about source of inspiration and it's all very exciting. And I'm also doing a bunch of other events at the museum in addition to the opening event, which happens on September 16th. So they'll be like a little cocktail party and people. And can I just tell you, Melissa, I have ordered custom sneakers for the event that have one of the paintings that I painted for the exhibit on the Frickin' Sneaker.

Melissa Hartifiel: 5:03

Oh, my goodness, how fun. That's so fun. This is a big exhibition too. This is like 40 paintings, isn't it Like?

Heather Travis: 5:11

huh, yes, there are, well, it's 32 works of art covering 35 canvases. Yeah, but you know me. I mean, and for those of you who obviously are listening, Melissa and I are chatting and we can see our beautiful smiles, but in the background, Melissa can see one of the paintings and it's one of, I think, seven or eight that are six feet tall by three feet wide.

Melissa Hartifiel: 5:32

So it's well, it's I don't want to say three feet. Yeah she doesn't paint small very often.

Heather Travis: 5:36

I don't know no.

Heather Travis: 5:40

Yeah, correct, anyway. So it's yeah, it's 35 canvases, 32 works of art and it covers like it's going to fill. My goal was to fill the room. When I went in like a year and a half ago to see the exhibition space, I looked around and I was like, wow, all these walls are my. It's like, you know, when you're a kid and you could put posters up in your room and you're like I can put it anywhere. That was the feeling I had and I was like I can put my stuff anywhere I want in this room, and so I tried to make enough art that I could.

Melissa Hartifiel: 6:18

That is very cool. So what we're going to be talking about today you know what I am, so all over the place today. This is a terrible season opener. I'm so sorry. This is not where we started, that. My operating system updated overnight and it has just thrown me off today. But before we dive too far into this, we should just introduce Heather properly, because if you are brand new to the podcast and you don't know who she is, she pops by about once a month to guest host with me. But she is also an artist, a painter. She focuses mainly on paintings and murals large scale, as we mentioned, but she does do some smaller things too.

Melissa Hartifiel: 6:58

But I would say it's fair to say you're mostly known for your bigger pieces. Would that be fair?

Heather Travis: 7:02

Yes, yes, yes.

Melissa Hartifiel: 7:05

She is very bright, bold and colorful.

Melissa Hartifiel: 7:07

She is also a PR and communication specialist, so she often pops on to the show to talk about the business side of creating with me, because she is also an artist.

Melissa Hartifiel: 7:20

She wears both hats, like we both do. I like, yes, so that is who Heather is, and today what we're going to be talking about is how this exhibition came to be, sort of from the genesis of the idea, through all the prep work and all the things that she has been doing to get ready for the show. So we're going to be talking about where the idea came from, how she got funding, how long the work has taken her, what she's been doing. She mentioned that she's doing an exhibition coffee table book, which I'm sure many of you are familiar with if you've been to like a big exhibit at the AGO or the Vancouver Art Gallery. In the gift shop they always have the coffee table book of the exhibition, always put together one of those, and we're going to talk about all of that today because I think doing an exhibition of this size is something that most people would be a little bit nervous about doing if they've never done before.

Melissa Hartifiel: 8:23

And it's really yeah, of course, and you don't know what you don't know, right, you don't know all the things that are involved until you're actually in the thick of it, and I think that knowing that you don't know things can be something that can hold us back from trying things, because we don't you know a lot of uncertainty there. So, anyway, we're going to be walking through all of that today with Heather. She's going to be telling us how she's brought this to fruition because it is almost to fruition and hear all about that. So let's start with what gave you. Let's start at the very beginning. What made you think that you would like to do an exhibition and what was the impetus for you saying I'm going to do it and get started?

Heather Travis: 9:13

Yes, okay, can we? And I'm going to just quickly veer off the road for two seconds and I will circle very quickly back to your question. When you just said we're almost here, I can't even tell you like I don't know if you can hear it, but my heart is like beating, beating out of my chest Like I, literally I was like gulp, gulp moment, anyway, I can see it on her face for those of you listening.

Melissa Hartifiel: 9:37

But you can't see it on her face. But you might be able to hear it in her voice because you can kind of hear the little catch there.

Heather Travis: 9:42

Yeah, it's like this is there is overwhelming, is the overwhelming, is the overriding word that I have been experiencing.

Melissa Hartifiel: 9:51

Anyway, so Well, you're still the great unknown.

Heather Travis: 9:54

Oh sweet beaches. You haven't actually done the thing yet, like can you?

Melissa Hartifiel: 9:56

you've prepped for it, but the thing, oh my gosh.

Heather Travis: 9:59

Yes, exactly. Anyway, so it the genesis of this. I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like most artists if you paint large scale paintings, like I do, an exhibition is something you always hope for. You don't know how it's going to happen. You don't know what it's going to look like. Obviously, there's lots of different ways for an exhibition to happen, including you could self, you could self fund it, you could self host it, you could, you know, rent out a location. There's so many different ways you can make an exhibition happen.

Heather Travis: 10:41

I had not flushed out any of the thinking of that. It was just sort of like exhibition would be if I was putting something on a vision board. Having an exhibition was as focused as I got. It wasn't. I had no idea what that looked. I had no idea what the rest of that looked like, but the genesis of the actual exhibition came to be because a painting that I completed, in fact, three years ago, like this week, which is kind of crazy the timing of all of this was hanging in a restaurant here in our community above a table and the executive director of the Bruce County Museum, kathy McGurr, sat at the table and really enjoyed the painting and contacted me a couple of weeks later and said I love this painting, I would like to buy it for the county's permanent collection. And I said, oh my goodness, thank you so much. The painting happens to just have been sold, but I could paint you another in a similar style. And she said yes. So she commissioned a painting for the county's permanent collection and so it's an abstract painting of Bruce County nature, whatever. Okay, in my style. Of course she commissioned it for the county. It now rotates around different county office buildings and blah, blah, blah.

Heather Travis: 12:09

Then, once that was delivered, she sent me a note and this is literally like two and a half years ago now. She asked me if I would be interested in having an exhibition hosted at the museum. Of course I said yes. Then COVID happened. There was like asterisks on, like find me a creative pursuit. That that isn't the asterisks in terms of either I had the time to do something, or I didn't have the time to do something, or I'd have to have my plans or whatever. The exhibition was supposed to happen sooner than it did. I believe last September was the original date. Then COVID happened and plans had to change. In the time that the plans changed I was constantly thinking and you and I have talked about this. I was constantly thinking to myself I can't just paint happy things, I need to actually say something about my art. I don't know what I want to say or how I want to say it, or any of that stuff.

Heather Travis: 13:24

I was offered a program opportunity to be part of it. It was called the Rural Creative Springboard and it was put on by Artscape Daniels Launchpad in Toronto and the Canadian Center for Rural Creativity. It was a COVID support program basically for artists all across the country. I believe there were like 30 of us in the program and we were in from every province across the country and we met every day on Zoom and there were speakers and there was a whole bunch of opportunities. One of the opportunities that came up through that was the opportunity to well, first off, they exposed us to a lot of the granting opportunities that I had just not really dug into when they exposed us to that. They then introduced us to a grant writing expert. I'll call her. Her name is Tasha Schuman, and Tasha, I love you because she was honestly super helpful. I had sessions with her to help fill out my grant application, which I was awarded a $20,000 Canada Council for the Arts grant in support of the exhibition that really helped pull everything together. It was the exhibition offer opportunity and then, like what the heck am I going to do with myself? Covid hit I get this program opportunity.

Heather Travis: 14:47

It was like a whole weird series of coincidences led to the paintings that are going to be on display being created and being put up. I don't think if COVID had happened and I had had to pull stuff together, the collection would have looked entirely different and it would have had a much different focus. It would have been smaller because my resources would have been smaller, because I wouldn't have had $20,000 to play with, which is a chunk of change. So it's honestly the whole thing. I've been thinking about it a lot because it was such a whole weird series of things that just happened and then all of a sudden they conspired to really stir my pot and what I've pulled together. I'm pretty proud of myself.

Heather Travis: 15:39

It's honestly a little like when I got the coffee table book this week the first proof I cried. It was overwhelming to see everything all together and I had written all of the stories, but seeing all of them there and literally flipping through it was like it's. I'm showing it to Melissa right now. It's the coolest book I've ever read because I wrote it and yeah, yeah, it's just crazy, honestly, and the fact that it's I created all of this stuff and it's not even out in the world yet and I'm just so immensely proud of it already and it hasn't gone out there and I am burst.

Heather Travis: 16:24

I can't even I'm bursting with, I cannot wait for the opening day because I just I don't know whether people are gonna like it, but I just know people are gonna love it and I mean like and in a like, how can you like? The colors are so happy there's just I have no idea how any person will be able to walk into the exhibit room and not just be like cup filled, joy done, happy colors, like whether you appreciate the art, appreciate the inspiration, any of that stuff, whether you want it hanging in your living room. I mean, I hope there's people who want it hanging in their living room because I really would like to sell it. But yeah, yeah anyway.

Melissa Hartifiel: 17:08

Well, you know what, even though nothing has, nothing has happened. That is not what I meant to say.

Heather Travis: 17:16

No, no, I know what you mean, though the exhibition hasn't opened yet.

Melissa Hartifiel: 17:19

Regardless, you have created this huge body of work that is very meaningful to you and that is a huge accomplishment all on its own right.

Heather Travis: 17:33

Yes, yes and oh my gosh, absolutely. And I and I if funny enough I've been, of course I've been thinking I have to speak at the opening reception and so, being a speaker and a professional communicator, I have been writing notes and rehearsing and trying to like master and my process is very in my own head. I don't make actual notes, I just make mental notes and go back to them and rehearse. Anyway, if anybody runs into me on my morning walk and sees me talking, that's what I'm working on is my.

Heather Travis: 18:06

But as I have been doing that, I have been thinking about what this has done for me and I really do feel I feel like a, like a snake who shed their skin, in that there's like a layer or a lease that has happened. I have. I have released myself of it and released it something else into the world. Because of that and both of those, those releases, like the releasing of what I released in painting, the like cathartic nature of the celebration aspect that I took, and then everything just plus like I don't know, I feel like there's a lot of like I don't know. There's just good energy coming from it.

Melissa Hartifiel: 18:51

That sounds so woo-woo, but anyway, no, it's I totally get where you're coming from and you've mentioned several things that I want to touch on. But the very first thing I want to touch on because this is something you and I have talked about many times on this podcast for those of you listening, and for those of you we've done many episodes on social media and why it's not the end, all and be all and why it's so important to focus on building a community and why you shouldn't neglect local marketing and grassroots and in-person marketing. We've done many episodes on this. I will put some links to this in the show notes. Can we just go back to the fact that the reason this exhibition is happening is because you had a painting hanging in a local restaurant.

Heather Travis: 19:38

Yes, no, I, I honestly I think about it all the time, melissa, there's so many funny enough, like you and I like, find me an episode of something you and I have talked about. Find, find episodes that relate to so many different things.

Melissa Hartifiel: 19:54

Like, honestly, I feel like Research and relationships.

Heather Travis: 19:57

We could talk about it. Oh my gosh, it's like all of it, all of it, all of it, all of it, Like you could link, I bet you like. Here are the show notes for today's episode, every other podcast episode, those are the show notes.

Melissa Hartifiel: 20:08

Well, quite literally, we have mentioned this very thing in multiple episodes of like approaching local businesses restaurants, hotels, you know and seeing if they would be interested in hanging your work on the wall. Now, obviously, we're not all painters, okay, but the the the idea is the same. You have to get your work out there. It has to be seen before opportunities come your way. And, yes, you can do that on social media, but you're missing out on so many opportunities by limiting yourself to only doing it on social media.

Heather Travis: 20:44

So I just want to reinforce that Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. And I would say, you know, as part of all of this process, you know I I've hosted paint nights locally. There have been things that I have been doing locally, even as part of the exhibition. You know I'm doing PA, pa day activities or, sorry, pd day activities, whatever they call it, the things that the kids have the day off school.

Heather Travis: 21:09

I am most day activities at the music, exactly, you know there's in-person events, but even you know, to me, fun and funny enough, like I just had a little contest on my Instagram for my shirt with Heather and one of the gals who won it well, both gals who won are local. One is significantly closer and so she picked her prize up in person and we hugged and got to say hello and I said to her this is them. This is the magic, this is the beauty of this platform is that you and I are able to connect in-person. And now that we've met face to face, like there's, everything is much deeper and more meaningful, absolutely, Absolutely and interestingly even in terms of connection and community.

Heather Travis: 21:56

The people that I met, the creatives, who were all different things, like there were poets, there were welders, there were really interesting creatives that were part of this rural creative program. We met every day, four days a week, on Zoom and we all follow each other on Instagram now. But that connection, because we connected on Zoom, we're each other's. You know, we're big supporters of each other and some of us are local and have met locally now and continue to support and that local connection cannot be underestimated and in fact, I would say, my most avid Instagram followers are also my are local supporters. They're people who are part of the community, who champion me at every turn, and that's incredible, but I think that connection yeah, no-transcript. There's so many cheerleaders on Instagram, but there's not enough real supporters, and the real supporters are the people who send you messages that mean something, and also I think those people tend to be the people who you want to meet in person or have met in person.

Melissa Hartifiel: 23:12

Absolutely, absolutely. I even doing this podcast. Some of the guests that I get to talk to and have relationships with that carry on past them being a guest on the podcast. It's a much deeper relationship because we're sitting down for an hour and having a really deep conversation and sometimes about very deep personal things, and I wouldn't have Yep. You don't get that through social media.

Heather Travis: 23:35

No, no, no, no, gosh, no no.

Melissa Hartifiel: 23:38

I just wanted to point that out to everyone. Yeah, get your stuff hung on the masterminds. No, think of it from a broader perspective, but you know you do. It is so important to just remind yourself now and then that it's not just social media that gets you these opportunities. In fact, the best opportunities tend to come off of social media, so it's really important to keep that in mind especially. I've been hearing this so much lately and I think people are late to the party even saying this. But platforms like Instagram and Facebook are no longer attract marketing. They are nurture marketing, because we don't get that kind of massive growth that we were getting a few years ago, maybe on TikTok, but really nowhere else.

Melissa Hartifiel: 24:19

And so you have to start working other avenues to get seen and to build those relationships. And it is about relationships. This is this woman reached out to you after seeing your painting in a restaurant. The painting was sold. You could have just said I'm really sorry it sold, end of story, right. But instead you offered this woman an alternative. She took it and you started to form that relationship and it carried through. And even if it never resulted in an exhibition, you still have a painting that has traveled around Bruce County and been seen by other people. So even if it had ended there, it would have been successful right.

Melissa Hartifiel: 25:06

Yes, so yeah, absolutely, but instead it opened even more doors, and so I think that lesson has to be really shouted from the treetops.

Heather Travis: 25:19

Yes, yes, and even funny enough in terms of local, I so the museum. As part of their hosting of the exhibition, not only do they provide the space and host a cocktail reception and other events that I'm doing, et cetera, et cetera. They do advertising and promotions in support of the exhibition and I've been doing some work at an office in the city and the number of people who walk past my little office Heather, I heard your name on the radio this morning. I heard your name on the radio this morning and then, because they're doing exhibition promo, so of course they're doing it. I have a radio interview, I have two radio interviews locally, and what's super cool about we're in a rural area? Well, I don't listen to the local radio, because I listen. Yeah, a lot of people do, and particularly the people who live here and have lived here for a long time.

Heather Travis: 26:21

And it pleases me to no end when they're like I heard your name on the radio and I'm like, yeah, you did, that's so cool, there's still something about being on traditional media that means a little bit more than social media.

Melissa Hartifiel: 26:32

Oh my God, I don't know why. Don't know why. Totally, totally. Yeah, I do think it's important to mention that, because I think it would also be easy to say that it was just luck that somebody saw it in a restaurant. But it's not luck. You created the luck by getting your work out there. And so what do they say?

Heather Travis: 26:52

Luck is just Luck is where preparation is opportunity.

Melissa Hartifiel: 26:54

Yes, exactly, and that is so what it is. So you got approached, you had the opportunity to put on an exhibition. So I'm curious about when she came to you and offered you this opportunity. What did she say to you? Did she just say this is your space, you figure it out, you fill it up? Or did they give you any kind of guidance or suggestions? Or was it just like go?

Heather Travis: 27:25

Yeah, it literally was. Here's the dates that we want to host you, here's the space that we want to host you in. Are you interested? And I was like yeah, and then the whole drive home holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck, like literally how big is the space.

Melissa Hartifiel: 27:47

Can you tell? Do you know the square footage or the square meters?

Heather Travis: 27:50

Yes, yes, hold on. Let me pull that information out of my handy dandy notes.

Melissa Hartifiel: 27:54

Here.

Heather Travis: 27:54

Melissa hold on it is.

Melissa Hartifiel: 27:58

Just to give people an idea of how much space we're talking about here.

Heather Travis: 28:01

Yeah, so it is 97 feet of wall space, so it's a big room. It's 40 feet by 34 foot room.

Melissa Hartifiel: 28:17

So it's one room. They're not wandering through rooms. It always depends on the building right. Some of the smaller buildings have a lot of small rooms that feed into each other. So it's one large room. And one question I have is from a curation perspective, in terms of you are not going to be hanging the paintings. I think it's pretty safe to say that they don't usually Correct yeah, so that's usually the curator that does that.

Heather Travis: 28:44

Yes, although I have been given them direction and how I want things to be arranged.

Melissa Hartifiel: 28:50

That was going to be my question. How much input did you have into? Because I would imagine there's a certain extent to where they give you input in terms of these need to be grouped together. This is a story, this is a theme here or whatever, but how much of it Is there going to be stuff in the middle of the room?

Heather Travis: 29:10

So, yes, yes, there's going to be. So it basically is a. It's one large room. If you imagine sort of a weird, not a rectangle, it's got. Maybe I don't know. I'm really bad at math and I'll tell you did a lot of math for this exhibition. It's amazing how many paintings. I was like wait a minute.

Melissa Hartifiel: 29:30

It's crazy how math just I need to figure out how many concentric circles can fit onto this?

Heather Travis: 29:36

Anyway, it was yes, I did a lot of math. It's a room with a variety of angles, and so there's, I believe, one, two, three, four, five walls that make up like a semi-circle, if you will.

Melissa Hartifiel: 29:50

Oh, okay, it's like an arc.

Heather Travis: 29:52

Correct An arc, a round, arc a rectangular arc, exactly, and then when you walk into the room there's like a solid wall to one side but there is actually a variety of pillars and I have the ability to hang from the top of the room basically down in between those pillars. So that's where my I refer to it as my Petracelli, which is a reference to the delightful rom-com by, with Josh Dumel and Kristen Bell, called Wen in Rome. Anyway, it's the Petracelli of my exhibition. It's like the centerpiece and it's a triptych which is three large six foot by nine, or six foot by three foot canvases. So it'll be six feet tall by nine feet wide and it will hang in the center. So when you walk into the room you'll actually see the back of those canvases and then you'll walk into basically a large semi-circle and be almost enveloped with my artwork and it will surround you.

Melissa Hartifiel: 30:57

Will there be? Yeah, you know, when you go into some large exhibitions there's actual I'm gonna call them plaques for lack of a better word, but they're not really plaques, they're like a large. I'm using my hands to show Heather what I mean.

Melissa Hartifiel: 31:13

Yeah, we know you all can't do that, but there's like a large signage with text on it explaining the artist's thoughts or themes or things like that, and those will be spread strategically around the exhibit to kind of help give the viewers a better understanding or a deeper understanding of the work or how the work was created, that kind of thing.

Heather Travis: 31:36

If you've been to an art gallery.

Melissa Hartifiel: 31:37

You know what I'm talking about.

Heather Travis: 31:39

There won't be. It won't be for every painting. No, Like there won't be. I have not given the behind the scenes for the paintings. The sources of inspiration will be listed, just because I think that's helpful. If people are curious and they do have a bio on me and they do have, let's call it, some. Very well, I sent them my show inspiration, some notes on it, some. Obviously they have the listing of all of the paintings and so they pulled together the museum marketing staff actually pulled together all of the graphics for the promo. But as well, really lovely copy. The first time I read it I was like, oh my God, this is me either writing about. That's pretty crazy.

Melissa Hartifiel: 32:24

Yeah, because often the curator will talk about the exhibit from their standpoint as the person who is presenting it.

Heather Travis: 32:33

Presenting, that's not the word I was looking for, but anyways yes, and that I mean it's actually quite cool to see it through Sidi Elz's eyes, because I gave them the information. It's almost like a journalist. They interviewed me and then here's what they spat out. You know, they spit out the loveliest spit because, really honestly, the information, like the marketing material, it's beautiful. What they have on the website it's beautiful. What they say about me is beautiful. I'm very proud of myself and they did it. They're doing the exhibition topic and my effort very much justice and I couldn't be more pleased and grateful really.

Melissa Hartifiel: 33:20

That's fantastic, yeah. So you got to see the space. You got the invitation to host an exhibition of your work. You saw the space and you said you went home and you were like, yeah, and so your exhibition has a very definitive theme. You've been talking about it for months on social media. Maybe tell us a little bit about the theme. But really what I want to know is how did you land on that theme? Where was the thought process that brought you there? And was that the first thing you thought of? Or was there other things in your head that kind of? How did that all come together for you?

Heather Travis: 34:02

Yeah. So when the exhibition was first offered because the timing was tighter I was literally like, okay, what do I have in inventory right now that could go up? And then what could I create to complement that, to sort of help fill up the space, in a meager attempt to fill up the space. And I wouldn't say I was disappointed with what I was thinking of pulling together. But I also was like I really want to put new stuff out. I don't want to put stuff out that, for instance, has been hanging in a local restaurant, like I wanted new stuff to be out there.

Heather Travis: 34:41

And then COVID answered my prayers because it delayed the plans, which then, as I said, then I was offered the opportunity to get into that real creative program, which then brought the grant opportunity in front of my face, which then, thinking of myself, well shit, like I have this, I have and this is where the genesis really came from is I have this incredible opportunity for the exhibition that is now happening like way, way in the future, Like when this all hit, like in 2018, like that was so way way in the future. Do you know what I mean? Or 2020, time is a blur.

Heather Travis: 35:23

Anyway it was so way way in the future. I'm like I have tons of time and so I don't need to start thinking about this. I can pull a grant request together now that I have support and the ability to do that. And it was in the grant writing phase that I knew I couldn't just say, please give me a lot of money to continue to splash happy colors up on campuses. And when I thought to myself, okay, I have this platform, I'm going to ask for a boat load of money. If I'm going to ask for something, I need to say something, and so what am I going to use that platform for?

Heather Travis: 36:04

And when I look at my paintings where I would say 90% of my paintings, including the painting that Kathy, the executive director of the gallery or the museum, when they offered me the opportunity, the original painting that she wanted to buy that went into a nursery, a childhood nursery. The sister painting to that went into the older sister's bedroom. Like 90% of the art that I sold went into bedrooms of children. We have talked about it a lot on you and I have talked about this a lot in previous podcasts. My husband and I were never able to have children. It was something we tried for well over a decade to do and we were never successful, and that shattered me, and so I do find it particularly ironic that I had visions like I have.

Heather Travis: 37:07

The mural that I was going to paint in my first child's nursery has been painted in my brain for like 25 years. I know what that looks like, and art was a form of therapy for me. It helped me overcome, get past, move on, get through, climb over, lie under. It helped me do all the things, and I think any person who has a creative pursuit knows you know dancing. You can feel so much joy dancing and you can also let out all the sadness. You know you can feel so much joy writing. You can also let out all the sadness and pain, and that is what art allowed for me. And so when I thought about like holy shit, I have this platform, I think I'm finally okay now to talk about my experience and be.

Heather Travis: 38:07

This might sound bold of me, but I wanted to be the person that I frankly wished somebody else had been for me 15 years ago, the person who talked boldly and loudly about what they went through, what they walked through, what challenges they faced, how they overcame it and be a shining example that life can be beautiful and amazing, even if you know the light at your end. The tunnel is a different tunnel than you thought you'd end up in. Do you know what I mean? And so all of that, really, when I sat back and it was funny enough the feedback that I got from Canada Council was that it was the first line of my application.

Heather Travis: 38:52

And the first line of my application was the majority of paintings that I paint and up in the nurseries of the children that I was never able to have but always wanted, and so that I was like, boom, that's my origin story. And then what do I want to do with that? And I didn't want to dwell in the pain, because that's just so not on brand for Heather and that's just not the way I operate. I'm a glass half full, or like three quarters full, or in fact, 90% full most of the time, and so what I wanted to do was write new fairy tale endings I wanted, and it started with I don't know if you remember a painting, but Dana Macaulay owns it and it's the paper bag, princess.

Melissa Hartifiel: 39:40

Oh yeah, I remember that.

Heather Travis: 39:42

Yeah, so I painted that four years ago and that painting, like the paper bag princess, has always been such an inspiration for me because, you know, I don't need boys. She lives a great life. That was one of the few childhood like feminist manifestos that I actually recall. Everything else for me was first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage Like that to me was the whole narrative, and like every fairy tale seemed to go that way, and so for me this was the opportunity to write new fairy tales, and that's what. That's what the art is about. It's celebrating. That was a very long-winded answer. I'm sorry that was that. So there are 32 works of art covering 35 canvases.

Heather Travis: 40:29

What I have done is celebrated. I believe there's 16 childless heroes or people I have identified as childless heroes, to name a few Missy Elliott, Miss Piggy, Dolly Parton, Dolly Parton, Oprah, Betty White you know there's a bunch of women that I have celebrated and interpreted. You know there, like the painting of Betty White, which Melissa can see right behind me, Like it's not, you would never look at me like, well, that's Betty White. It's not Betty White, but it's inspired by Betty White and so it's just my. It's what tickled my artistic brain when I was doing my research on these people, and this is how this came out.

Heather Travis: 41:15

Some it's a more literal, some it's not. And then there are also works of art that I'll say they unpack infertility, but in a very happy way, and then there's also a few paintings that challenge our definition of family. So it's and it's all based on the painting called this Must Be the Place, which is one of the first paintings that I painted for this exhibition, and in fact it was before I started pulling the grant together, the grant application together. I had painted this painting and it's a. It's a portrait of Brian and I and it's a celebration of us and the strength of us. And like I'm going to get emotional, You're making me cry.

Melissa Hartifiel: 42:01

I'm just like, oh no, this is not going to be good.

Heather Travis: 42:04

But it's a celebration of us and I can see the painting.

Melissa Hartifiel: 42:07

Right now it's in the background of our conversation, so I know the painting you're talking about.

Heather Travis: 42:11

Yeah, and I mean, and what I love about that, I mean it's us, it's the two of us, but to me it doesn't have to be a man and a woman, it doesn't have to be a husband and wife or spouses.

Melissa Hartifiel: 42:24

It's my family. Yes.

Heather Travis: 42:26

Yes, and and we I have had people buy prints of that that it represents to them hope and connection to them, it represents friendship, Like it, doesn't you see what you want? Just like any art, you know, it's the beauty, is the art, it's the beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And so, yeah, there's, there's a, there's a lot of like past I'll say past trauma that has been shed in this creation process. But the the as I said at the beginning, my goal is that when people walk into the room, they are just literally overwhelmed with joy, Because this is not coming from a place of sadness or desperation or upset. It's actually coming from a place of joy and celebration and almost rebirth. This is, yeah, rebirth, but also birth. Like I have, I have birthed something. I have created something massive.

Heather Travis: 43:36

I did post this on Instagram, but it literally was exactly nine months of painting. That irony is not lost on me. That was not planned, that's just the way it happened. Sentence, I always wanted to say, but ding, ding, yeah. So I mean, it's kind of crazy all of this stuff coming together, but it's pretty awesome.

Melissa Hartifiel: 44:02

Yeah, yeah, it is. It is, and it's a huge accomplishment even to get to this point. So kudos to you. So I'm going to throw this. This is not something I have talked to you about, so I'm going to throw this out at you For those of you listening. I have mentioned this in an episode that's already been recorded, so you will hear me talk about this again, but this is this is the first time it will. You'll hear it on the podcast.

Melissa Hartifiel: 44:31

One of the things I try to do every year with the show is have some themes that run underneath things, and I don't usually announce them or talk about them. They're strictly for me and just things that I'm curious about or that I'm just wanting to explore, and as a podcast host and producer, that is one of my perks. I get to do that, yes, but one of the ones that has been screaming at me this year extremely loudly, and it's one of the reasons why I'm kind of talking about it, and I think this has a little bit to do with getting older, but I think there's more to it than that, and it is this idea that we and I'm going to have a hard time getting it out, because I haven't even quite formulated it in my head, but but this idea that it is okay for us to show up as who we are and how. We waste so much time, particularly with social media, trying to show up as who we think the world wants to see rather than the person that we are, and I think a lot of women are really fricking sick and tired of it. Yes, we're just, we're done.

Melissa Hartifiel: 45:51

It's so much work to cover up who you are and or to put a mask on or to cloak it or whatever you want to call it, and I think we've been hearing this term showing up as your authentic self for years now, to the point where it doesn't mean anything. What it means is you show up on Instagram and you know, you show your face on Instagram. That's your authentic self, like, but it's not because we're still covering up Like. Authentic self just doesn't. It's empty words at this point.

Heather Travis: 46:21

That's how I feel about it. Yes, maybe there's other that can feel differently.

Melissa Hartifiel: 46:25

So how much of this do you think? Is you just ready to show up as Heather?

Heather Travis: 46:36

Yeah, yeah, I would say 110% In fact, and I too have been thinking about that. Unapologetically too Unapologetically.

Melissa Hartifiel: 46:46

I think that's the key word in there.

Heather Travis: 46:48

Yeah, unapologetically and honestly, melissa and I were talking off the air. I've started a small contract rule because I made no money in the entire year that I was pulling to get exactly. So thank goodness for the grant. I made no money and, honestly, the money. The money thing on pulling an exhibition together would be an episode in another.

Melissa Hartifiel: 47:09

Yeah, we're going to touch on that before we wrap up. A little bit on the grant and fun. Yeah.

Heather Travis: 47:14

So I've started this contract rule, part time and the freedom to walk into an office. And what? Funny enough, the part of the reason that I left the office world, corporate world, and went freelance eight years ago and we have talked about this was the sort of mommy culture in the office and just being constantly like I can't be myself because if I'm pissed off that I have to go to another fucking baby shower in the goddamn office lunch kit, I'm going to throw some bad grocery store cake at somebody and oh, grocery store cake though, right, I know, anyway, anyway.

Heather Travis: 47:55

And so, but now, like walking back into an office, I am so unapologetically me and I am a delightful human being and I have people tell me all the time I vote for you Exactly you and I have. But I have people tell me all the time Wow, you are exactly the same in person as you are on Instagram. And yes, there are lots of words that I do not share on Instagram and absolutely I use a filter every time I post because my skin just looks a little bit nicer and I'm totally okay with that. But I am me. I will swear I don't care if you don't like my language, that's a you problem, not a me problem.

Heather Travis: 48:40

There's a lot of things that I am over worrying if people judge me on it or for it, and that, to me, part of this is the celebration. Like I want to celebrate, like ta-da, like I feel like if there was a cake that I could jump out of at the exhibition opening to be like bam here's Heather, I would, because this is what it feels like. It feels like it's the official unveiling of me being me and I really do. Honestly, brian has even commented like in the past few months, I feel like a weight has been lifted and this has been and this has been coming for a while now. I think yeah, I think it's yeah and this. I think this whole process has been part of that and finding that freedom and and yeah, and I think part of that is I think part of that is age.

Melissa Hartifiel: 49:40

I was just going to say it's. I don't think you can. You can tell me if I'm wrong. This is something you could have done five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago. You would have been in the middle of it. You could have processed it to the point where you could launch an exhibition. So, yeah, you know that's another one of my things this year.

Heather Travis: 49:58

Is is like growing older and wiser oh, not just older and growing wiser and wiser, and I would say I don't think that this and I'll call it leveling up, because there has been I'm I have a new series that I'm noodling in my brain and it's all on the woman.

Heather Travis: 50:18

It's about leveling up and and it's even it's the narrative around menstruation and We've talked about this, yeah, yeah, and and leveling up exactly, super Mario Brothers, exactly, and leveling up, and and honestly, I don't feel like this Leveling up and this freedom to be me would have been possible had I not had a regular periods. You know what I mean. Like, I feel like there's a change that has happened and that and the. The change is actually a release of, like release the hounds, how there's here, yeah.

Melissa Hartifiel: 51:01

Yeah, yes, okay, let's, let's, let's talk a little bit more about some of the logistics of this. So you mentioned that you feel like there's a big weight off, and I know you're talking about a, not a literal weight, but like a, a figurative weight but let's talk about literal weight because you got, yes, five paintings that are very big, yes, deal with, and so you know you, you work out of your home studio and you don't live in a castle. We should just let people know she doesn't live in a mansion or castle.

Heather Travis: 51:33

So it's a one bedroom house. It's a one bedroom house, yeah.

Melissa Hartifiel: 51:37

So you got to do, you got all these paintings. Like what has been the logistical process of painting that many paintings that are that large and now transporting them. Well, actually, I'm assuming they're already transported to the museum because I'm sure they're in the process of no wait. No.

Heather Travis: 51:55

September 11.

Melissa Hartifiel: 51:56

Now yeah, okay, yes yeah.

Heather Travis: 51:59

Yeah, it's only a week before I know.

Melissa Hartifiel: 52:01

I would have thought they'd have them in their warehouse, you know, and okay, okay, so that's no, so you're still hanging on them. I know you still have a literal weight.

Heather Travis: 52:09

They're literal weight and in fact there's still one thing left on my to do list, which is to add hanging hardware to the remaining number of paintings that don't have hanging. Yeah, and so so much logistics, like starting with, we know we've discussed. I love painting on big canvases. I literally had to figure out, okay, what's the biggest canvas I can fit in my car in terms, in terms of ordering and having canvases made for me, which turns out it's the six foot by three foot. That's the largest I can get in my car comfortably, and so I could get a little wider, but then the proportions weren't right. So six foot by three foot was what I nailed on. And then logistically oh sorry, and that's why the three foot was nailed on is that getting it from the car up the studio stairs into? So my studio is a large space but it's.

Melissa Hartifiel: 53:02

But it's upstairs.

Heather Travis: 53:03

Yeah, up a small stairs up a small staircase involving a corner. And so how does one thing correct pivot Exactly? And so there are logistics, literally in just getting the canvases like home and upstairs in a cost effective manner, like, obviously you can have large canvases shipped to you. I could also just paint on swaths of canvas and then staple them afterward. That's just not my process.

Heather Travis: 53:30

I like having, I like having the firmness of the canvas, um, anyway, so there were those logistics. But then even like finding paint and buying paint in the quantities that I needed in a rural area, like I ended up having to.

Heather Travis: 53:46

I had to go to Toronto for the night and I had dinner with a bunch of my girlfriends. They're like what are you doing tomorrow? I'm like I'm going to go to Gortsman's and drop a boatload of cash on paint and everybody was like send me a text with you. I'm like, yeah, I spent $700 on paint yesterday, holy moly, and I looked like I robbed a bank. I was so happy leaving the store or having something. It was like, look at it, like it was saying it literally was a start to the car, like I was so because it was to me, as any person getting supplies is, I immediately I was like oh my God, I have so much to play with. Like I have so much to play with.

Melissa Hartifiel: 54:24

Any creative can appreciate that moment.

Heather Travis: 54:29

It was all like a due to not like pedal to the metal driving home and like walking in the door Hi, babe, I'm going upstairs to play, like I need to go into my studio. Yeah, there were so the logistics of that. There were financial logistics. So, like balancing, okay, I need to make sure that I save. So, for instance, I got all of this money basically a year ago. Let's just talk about the grant a little bit, because you got a grant for $20,000.

Melissa Hartifiel: 54:59

You found out about it through the program that you were in. You had help writing your grant application and there are people out there who do this. If you're curious about that, there are people across the country who that is their job. They help people apply for grants, and I should just mention there is a lot of grant money out there for creatives. Probably most of us don't know about it, and so I would love to have a grant expert on the show at some point who specializes in grants for creatives. But you got a fairly large grant $20,000. But I think it's important for people to realize that's not like a book advance. When you're writing a book, you don't get to use that money to pay your mortgage.

Heather Travis: 55:40

Right no.

Melissa Hartifiel: 55:42

Like. This is strictly for supplies and things related to the actual exhibition.

Heather Travis: 55:49

Am I correct? Correct? And yes, you are, and there are, in fact, like restrictions on. You know, there's restrictions on what you can apply for. So, for instance, one of the things that I is part of the dollar value I applied for, a lot of dollar value towards, so that the things that, in terms of a budget, I asked for money for canvases. I asked for money for paint, asked for money to pay for my photographer to photograph all of the artwork. I asked for money for a photographer to help do promotional photos of me for the exhibition. I asked for money for the rental truck to take all of the paintings to. So once Monday, september 11th, I am taking. I have a rental truck. Are you all going to take it? Yeah, exactly, taking everything over to.

Heather Travis: 56:45

I had to then budget, of course, keeping my fingers crossed that everything did sell, but I still have the budget allocated for rental truck to bring everything home when the exhibition closes. But, knock on wood, I'm not bringing all of it home that you know I'm a chunk of. It is being taken off the walls and going to people's homes and everybody's very happy and Heather has money in the bank and doesn't have to bring it all home, because it's just like bringing a puppy home, like I thought you went, I thought you went to a good home. I really didn't want to bring you home, anyway. So there's that. But then I did ask for a small amount and you had. There was a limit to how much you could ask for for what they call subsistence. So if I had external, so if my studio was outside of my house, I could have asked for help with rent.

Melissa Hartifiel: 57:34

If my studio was out, your studio, right, yeah, yeah.

Heather Travis: 57:38

If my studio was outside of my house I could have asked for help with, you know, the bills for maintaining, like hydro. But because it's part of my house and there's no real like there is a separation, but there isn't a separation, I couldn't ask for those things. But I was able to ask for a small amount of subsistence because I was saying that the scope of the project was so large that I would actually dedicate 30 weeks exclusively to painting and that I would paint a painting per week in those in those 30 weeks, and so a small amount of it. I would not say yeah, like less than half was allocated to subsistence but, fun fact, this is taxable income.

Heather Travis: 58:21

So the government gave me $20,000, $20,243.00. I immediately put a chunk of that into my business savings account to pay the government taxes on that income.

Melissa Hartifiel: 58:42

That's really important to note. I think a lot of people don't realize that grant money is taxable income.

Heather Travis: 58:48

Yeah, so the government gives it to you and then you have to give a chunk of it right back. Thank you, yeah, with any like.

Melissa Hartifiel: 58:56

Is that enough deductions and things that you know? Hopefully not too much is going to go back to the government.

Heather Travis: 59:01

Exactly, that's another episode?

Heather Travis: 59:03

Yeah, that's another episode, exactly. And so those dollars I used to purchase and I allocated, you know, for the printing of, you know, some of my prints, not a full print run like it doesn't. It's not subsidizing, that's the word I'm looking for. It's not subsidizing, you know, print runs. I'm only doing a small print run so that I have visuals and then everybody else is just going to order them, and that's where the money's coming from, because I have invested so much in the actual creation. Like, I spent a lot on canvases, I upgraded all of my paints, yeah, so there was, you know, there was a lot of money spent on.

Melissa Hartifiel: 59:43

So you really had to think, you really needed to think this through from the get go. You needed to have a budget. You needed to like outline exactly how much money you needed for all these different things. So I think that's a really important thing for people to recognize or to know if this is something you're thinking about doing and you're thinking about applying for grant money at the time.

Heather Travis: 1:00:03

You can't just go to the government and say, like $20,000 to paint these sweet pictures and, in fact, like this is a Canada Council for the Arts grant. They have all of the information on their website, all of the things that are required as part of your application, as part of the support documents, and so my application was like eight pages long and the support documents was like an additional 12 pages because it's a job putting together.

Heather Travis: 1:00:26

It's a job. Oh my gosh Like pulling it together. I think I probably spent 40 hours total pulling them up.

Heather Travis: 1:00:33

And I had help and I'll tell you categorically like I manage million dollar budgets for clients using Excel spreadsheets. I was using Excel spreadsheet. I felt like the dimmest person in the world. I literally. I was like Heather. I don't understand. Granted, there were formulas and this is a minor detail but there were formulas in the spreadsheet that when you clicked on the cell, you could not see the formula. You just saw that the number changed and so you didn't.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:01:00

A was impacting B Exactly.

Heather Travis: 1:01:03

Like A was impacting B but you didn't understand why, Like what the what it meant Anyway. So having somebody else and there was a lot of backup documentation, Like I had to have proof that the exhibit was happening. Like a letter from the gallery, I had to have a value map from the gallery stating exactly how big the space would be. I had to have all of the information. So even the gallery had to pull together a spreadsheet for me to supply to the application process on their contribution, how much it's costing them to host me. Basically.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:01:38

Right, oh, interesting, there were a lot of. They're probably used to that, though I would imagine they are. That's part of their process. Yeah, they are Absolutely so. You knew you were getting money to help you put the exhibit on, to actually create the artwork and everything that you needed to. There is a word that I Anyways it's been.

Heather Travis: 1:02:07

Mount, mount Mount, an exhibition.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:02:10

Yeah, I think that's probably the word I want. I'm not even sure that's the one, anyways, but as you said, you're dedicating 30 weeks to creating the pieces for this exhibit. It is a really good exhibit, so it was a considerable amount of time. That is more than half of a year, that's longer than six months. So during that time, your income was, your ability to earn an income was severely impacted, I would say Would be fair to say that yeah Big time.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:02:44

So how did you plan for that? How did you or did you plan for it?

Heather Travis: 1:02:57

Yeah, I'll say it was planned for, in that I just was crossing my fingers and hoping.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:03:03

As many of us do. I think, yeah, I don't think you're.

Heather Travis: 1:03:07

Yeah, I would say for sure. If I hadn't gotten the grant, I would never have even just purchased my canvases, I would never have upgraded my paint. The deliverable would have been smaller for sure. If I hadn't gotten the grant, absolutely. I also would have had to take on more freelance work, which I did not do, and so I did not. I have one consistent freelance client. That was it. I didn't take on any more clients or actively pursue any other clients. I sold some prints, I did a couple of things, I held some events, I sold a couple of paintings that I happened to have already created, but really my income was almost zero for all intents and purposes, zero for the entire creation process. Hence the small contract rule now to fill up the cookie jar, because the subsistence that I got from the grant was enough to sort of top me up.

Heather Travis: 1:04:16

But I'll tell you categorically Brian and his support emotionally, but big time financially in this like having a partner who was like yeah, babe, you can take the year off and just have fun in your studio that was a huge, huge, huge gift he gave me, I think. I mean I don't want to speak for him I've tried very hard with this whole exhibition, to not speak for him and only speak for me, because this is all about me, not about him. No, but I don't want to speak for him. His experience with all of this is entirely different. Anyway, I don't want to touch on that, but his experience with all of this has been very different. I mean the meaning behind the paintings, but in terms of the exhibition, he completely was like. You know, I wrote the dedication in the coffee table book. Is that it's for Brian? Because he, when I wondered aloud if I could, he reminded me that I can and that the port was huge and the fact that he was able to say yes, you can do this. It'll be a struggle for us, but we're doing it. It's worth it. You need to do this. You can't miss this opportunity. I see what the opportunity is Like.

Heather Travis: 1:05:38

That's a huge, huge gift, and so to have that was otherwise. I would have had to do better planning. I would have had to possibly get a part-time job that would have allowed me to have a regular painting schedule. It also I mean, honestly, I didn't leave the house for like, like the whole painting process. If I left the house, it's because I was getting more paint, Like it's because I was getting it's because I was getting supplies, I didn't leave the house, and so what my costs went down to like no, I only buy my jeans and t-shirts at Value Village, so, like you know, yeah, so my costs went down, which was a good thing, because I did not Like the money was, yeah, I would have had to have saved more money if I really wanted to dedicate that amount of time as freely as I did and still have a Netflix account and heat.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:06:34

Yeah, we talk about this a lot on the show Heather and I, but also other guests and just the importance of when you do start off on your own to have an emergency fund. And we call it an emergency fund, but in some ways it's also a freedom fund, because when you have that fund.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:06:51

when opportunities like this come along, where it may mean that your main source of income takes a hit, there is something there that can help you get through it, so you don't have to say no to those opportunities or limit yourself in those opportunities. I mean you really had and I'm going to use the word luxury because to me it feels like a luxury- oh, my God, yes. Being able to just immerse yourself in this and really embrace the whole experience and also allow yourself to creatively just flow.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:07:25

And when you're managing a job, or you're managing multiple clients, or you're managing a family or parents or whole life. It can be really hard to find that flow for any extended period of time, and so you were able to do that, which I think is fantastic that you were able to make that happen, and again you had some pieces in place that made it easier for you to take the opportunity.

Heather Travis: 1:07:57

Oh, absolutely.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:07:58

Again preparation, Absolutely.

Heather Travis: 1:08:05

And there's no. Yeah, I was on a three-legged stool and those three legs were one was the grant, the second was the support from Brian and then third was just my own chutzpah. Yeah, On the like. Okay, girlfriend, just dive into the deep end, let's go head first. Here we go. Yeah, yeah.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:08:27

Definitely, yeah, and there's a certain amount of privilege that goes with that too For some people. Some people don't have the support of a partner financial or emotional, or both. Yeah, and there's so many variables that go into it that you can't take for granted when you're doing something like this. No, god, no. So let's talk about the coffee table book, because that's pretty exciting. What gave you the idea to do that and what's that been like to pull that all together?

Heather Travis: 1:09:04

You know, that process has been super cathartic as well and very rewarding. And when I initially thought of it, I literally I mean I have art coffee table. By pointing behind me, of course, in the helpful way that podcasters do I'm pointing behind me to Melissa, that nobody else can see. But I have a whole host of coffee table books that are, you know, chagall and Monet and other artists that I love, that I found Thrifting, vintage, whatever antique markets. I love big old books that smell like big old books.

Heather Travis: 1:09:35

And I was literally on the floor of my studio doing something with one of the paintings and I just looked up and saw the stack of them and I was like man, that'd be so cool to have my art in a coffee table book. And then I was like, wait a minute, why couldn't I put my art in a coffee table book? And so immediately I was like, well, that's what I'm going to do and I looked. You know, I talked to a couple publishers I looked into working with like a. Anyway, I ended up just using an online publisher, like Do it Yourself, I designed it myself, did all of it myself and printed it. It's not going to be a moneymaker in terms of the exhibition. You know where I'm hoping to actually make money is in the selling of the paintings and the limited run prints, the coffee table book.

Heather Travis: 1:10:26

Honestly, the time that I spent putting it together in terms of justifying it, I kept saying to myself if all this is, it is just the memento for me of what I've accomplished, this is worth it as time well spent. You know, capturing these stories, pulling this all together, writing all of this down, you know this was a huge accomplishment in my life. I in fact, the file name that I and this is all like, this whole thing is just dripping with irony, double entendres, etc. In terms of baby, but I labeled the file in the creation of the coffee table book as my brag book, because mom, you know, moms and grandmas carry around literally brag books in their purses Like it's the good old days. They pull out photo albums now that they're brag book as their iPhone or whatever.

Heather Travis: 1:11:21

But this is my brag book and I wanted to pull it together for me and me alone. I express that on my Instagram and a lot of people and then people offline, like my mom and my parents, you know we want that too. We want to one, celebrate it and have all of this together, because how cool is that? And so there's a few people who are interested. I'm only doing it as a pre-order. I'm not stockpiling books in my house and it's not going to be a moneymaker. I'm basically just covering my expenses and covering the shipping costs, and you know, that's it. But for me, that's not the point of this. This is it's a gift to yourself.

Heather Travis: 1:12:09

It's a gift to myself and the people and, funny enough, it's the gift that keeps on giving, because the people who are choosing to buy it with theirI've received messages from people who are like I've been. You started talking about this. I've been saving up for it. This is going to be my birthday present to myself this year, like that, in terms of getting me crying, that is a gift. Somebody saying something like that it's not about the money, it's the support and the fact that they're doing something, that it means a lot. That's huge.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:12:41

Yeah, absolutely yeah, I think it's awesome. Can I ask and I can edit this out if you don't want it mentioned but can I ask who you went through to publish it? Which platform I used Blurb, oh, okay, blurb, blurb, but I know there's a few out there that do this kind of thing now.

Heather Travis: 1:13:00

So, honestly, I found the platform just super easy to navigate. It was easy to use. I have to say, the quality is exceptional. This is when I imagined a coffee table book, although I thought it would be thicker that's what she said. But it's only 32 pages because it's all of my paintings, and so I imagined this big, thick, inches thick coffee table book, but I would have to create like 100 more paintings or a lot more words, or a lot more words, and that's exactly. Honestly, I could have made it double, but then I would have been. It just made the cost skyrocket, right.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:13:44

It's an exhibition by Heather. Most exhibition books are thin. It's not a yeah yeah, so it's not a. Exactly I know.

Heather Travis: 1:13:53

But you know what he just I know, but it's not to have to remember.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:13:58

This is like a chapter in the series yeah, as opposed to the book. Yeah Of a moment in your career yeah, you should be very proud of it. Exactly.

Heather Travis: 1:14:08

Yeah, yeah, and so that's exactly it. Like, I use blurb and, honestly, I found it super easy. The quality is amazing and this is not sponsored. I paid full price.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:14:17

No, I've used blurb before too for things, and they are great. I just wondered what it was, because I hope people make books, so I'm always curious what people are using for printing.

Heather Travis: 1:14:27

Yeah, yeah, and now I will say, though you know the exceptional quality of the photos of my work, that, like having Jason and his exceptional skills, he takes the photography of my artwork, which then creates my prints, but also, of course, were the files that I used in the book. You know, the painting like it's the painting, like it's the painting. Yeah, it's not a picture of the painting, it's the painting, like it's.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:14:57

This is something to consider, particularly if you create large pieces of artwork. I create small pieces of artwork. I can scan them and have exceptional quality prints from the comfort of my studio. Can you create large pieces of artwork? That's not possible, or not possible without a lot of tricky negotiating and maneuvering, so in those instances you need to hire a photographer. I mean, you don't need to hire a photographer. You can photograph and stitch them all together yourselves, but that's a skill in its own right, and getting the lighting right on a piece of artwork so that it looks like a piece of artwork and not a piece of artwork on a wall is not easy. So, yes, that's something you really have to think about if you're doing large-scale artworks and you want to do something like Heather's doing, where you're doing prints and you're doing coffee table books and marketing materials and things like that.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:15:55

So that's a good budget line to have.

Heather Travis: 1:15:59

Oh, no kidding, and honestly I mean I think my lucky stars that Jason and I were connected and again finding the right person. But back to this. I found him because I spoke to somebody in my local community in person, where I purchased my canvases in person and asked them, and they connected me to another person.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:16:24

We now regularly chat on Instagram, but because of our offline connection, so, yeah, this is what makes me sad about all the little independent photography stores that are disappearing. My local one which has been around for since I was a little kid they closed last year or the year before. But that was like if you needed to find a photographer who did this or that or whatever, you went there and they knew them and they could tell you how to get in touch with them and you know, and we're kind of losing that. It makes me sad.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:16:58

I know, yes, anyway. So tell us before we should wrap up, because we've gone over the hour here, but tell us the details. Where can we go? You've already told us where the exhibit is, but just maybe reiterate that. Where can we buy prints? Where can we preorder a copy of the book? All the good juicy stuff? We'll put it all in the show notes for everybody who's interested in either actually visiting the exhibition, if they're able, or supporting you in some of the way, or just want to see more of your work.

Heather Travis: 1:17:35

Yes, so the exhibition is happening September 16th through December 31st 2023 at the Bruce County Museum and Cultural Center, which is in Southampton, ontario. We'll put an ad in the show notes. Yes, and the opening event, which is happening September 16th. The RSVPs are available. You can actually go to the Bruce County Museum. Just type in Bruce County Museum and it'll pop up on Google. You can RSVP for the opening event, which is free. There's also a bunch of other events that are local that people can participate in If people are interested. Oh, and the exhibition, in addition to being in person, will be a virtual. There will be a virtual gallery tour. Oh, cool, so I can do it. Yeah, yes, so everybody across the country, or all over the world can actually.

Heather Travis: 1:18:22

Yeah, which is super cool. So everybody can see the virtual tour, which is really neat and that will be available on the Bruce County Museum website. And then the limited run prints, as well as the coffee table book and the ability to purchase any of the paintings, is on my website, which is heatherlintraviscom Awesome, of course. I'm on Instagram at heatherlintravis, yeah.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:18:47

Will people be able to purchase directly at the museum, like when they finish watching? Yeah, yeah, okay, that's cool too.

Heather Travis: 1:18:52

Yes, yeah, so that will be a logistical thing that I need to tackle is making sure. I mean that will be a delightful problem if people are like. I bought it on her website 10 minutes after somebody bought it on the at the museum.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:19:08

Yeah, you'll have to sort that out a little bit.

Heather Travis: 1:19:10

We'll have to sort that out. The gallery will keep me abreast of any sales. Of course that happen there, but yeah, very cool.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:19:18

We will have Heather back on the show after the exhibition closes to to talk a little bit about what the actual experience of holding the exhibition was like and how it all went. So she can. She can update us on how everything went. That will be in the.

Heather Travis: 1:19:35

I can tell you how it feels to. I can tell you how it feels to sell out. We're just going to manifest this.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:19:39

Yes, exactly you won't need the U-Haul. Exactly, no, exactly. Actually, that is a question for you. Is there one or maybe two paintings in particular that you want to bring home with you, or are you really hoping to sell them all? You don't have to tell us which one, but just a curiosity.

Heather Travis: 1:20:01

No, I've told the world this, so I hope the person who does purchase it realizes what they have, because I might just show up at the host to visit it one day. But the painting of Brian and I this Must Be the Place, the Centerpiece it's not the Centerpiece, but it's the sort of the piece that is. It's the title of the painting. This Must Be the Place. It's the title of the exhibition, it's the title of the coffee table book. It was the sort of visual genesis of a lot of the inspiration.

Heather Travis: 1:20:31

Yeah, but if yeah, like, I really want to mark that up to like $10,000. If you want it, you really have to buy it. You're paying for it. But no, I will. It's it needs to go out into the world and it would make me happy to be in somebody's home and celebrated with as much joy as I find it. So I will release it reluctantly. That's the only one, though. Everything else I'm like I'm so happy with all of them I'm going to miss, like Missy Elliott. She's been done for a long time and I'm hanging on the well.

Heather Travis: 1:21:05

I will really miss having her, but you know I can't keep all of my paintings.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:21:12

No, it's one of the hardest parts of being a visual creator, or any kind of creator, is putting your originals out into the world.

Heather Travis: 1:21:23

Yeah, and that's part of the coffee table book. Honestly, like I can flip through it and really and it's not, I think to me that's very different than flipping through. Like I have pictures of every painting I've ever painted on my phone and in my, you know, drives.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:21:34

That's not the same. That's not the same like flipping through photo, like the just did an interview with the photographer and we had this conversation about how so much of our stuff winds up living in a cloud somewhere and, yeah, we don't treasure it in the same way as when it's printed. Yes, so having that book, I think, is important.

Heather Travis: 1:21:57

Yeah, and funny enough, even just pulling it together, like whether I ever open it up, which, like I've literally opened it. I think the spine is already like I've opened it up so many times.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:22:06

Fingerprints all over it now.

Heather Travis: 1:22:08

Oh, my God, it's got fingerprints all over it now, Exactly, you know, yeah, even if I never opened it up, even just pulling it together and knowing that it's there and and you know, funny enough. Back to the whole baby thing again. But like legacy, like I, I, what's going to happen to all of my stuff? Where is it going to go? You know what? Someday I have no idea how many years from now somebody's going to find this coffee table book in a thrift shop and pay $3 for it or, with inflation, probably 100. But they're going to have no idea who I am and and find this thing and maybe make they'll be happy and like that's pretty cool, so it is some of the best surprises.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:22:53

or finding art in thrift stores and discovering who that person was.

Heather Travis: 1:22:58

Exactly so. If that's what, if, if, if this is my, if these are the little horror cruxes that I'm leaving around, little pieces of me, to make a Harry Potter reference, if you know, if these are the little pieces of me that are around the world, that that you know ever get collected or found.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:23:16

You don't know, though, you could be a household name and those books could be collectors items.

Heather Travis: 1:23:20

And and that's the other thing is what you know when.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:23:22

I world famous like Exactly.

Heather Travis: 1:23:24

And that's exactly it. So, like from major to minor, like to me, it's just I, yeah me, I did it, yes.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:23:31

Yeah, you, yeah, absolutely. Oh. Thank you so much for sharing all of this, for this on this episode is a little different from the kind of episodes Heather and I usually do, but I really wanted you to be able to share what this has been like for you, thank you.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:23:47

It's been such a huge thing for you and it would be weird if we didn't talk about it on this show. It's like ignoring a whole year of I know it would be very strange if we didn't talk about it, but I hope that it was helpful to everyone out there who is thinking about doing something bigger with their work, whatever that is, whether it's an exhibit, or trying to create a collection that is out of your normal scope, or or writing your big opus manuscript, or writing a symphony instead of a commercial jingle, I don't know.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:24:25

you know we all have the big goals that we want to, and it's always great to hear how somebody went from it just being an inkling in the back of their head, an itch that they would like to scratch, to bringing it to life, because it's quite a process. So congratulations and yeah, I hope everybody gets an opportunity to at the very least check it out. On the Bruce County Museum.

Heather Travis: 1:24:51

Oh yeah, I hope that'll be really cool.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:24:53

Yeah, I know a lot of us will not be able to travel.

Heather Travis: 1:24:56

No, the in person You're not flying across the country, come on.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:25:02

Right. I gave a lot of money to my dentist this year.

Heather Travis: 1:25:05

I seriously and I'm not going anywhere. I repeat, this is the person who's been freelance for almost eight years, who got a part time contract job because I hear you.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:25:18

Yeah, that's it for this week, everyone. We'll be back in another two weeks with another brand new episode and, like I said, we have some really incredible women coming on the show this season that I'm really excited about and lots to talk about. So I hope that you will be here with us again in a couple of weeks and until, then, thank you, heather, and thank you all for listening.

Melissa Hartifiel: 1:25:42

We'll talk to you soon. Thank you so much for joining us for the Anshi LookDepth Creative Hour. If you're looking for links or resources mentioned in this episode, you can find detailed show notes on our website at anshelookdepthcom. While you're there, be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more business tips, profiles of inspiring community and creative women and so much more. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe to the show via your podcast app of choice so you never miss an episode. We always love to hear from you, so we'd love it if you'd leave us a review through iTunes or Apple Podcasts. Drop us a note via our website at anshelookdepthcom or come say hi on Instagram at anshelookdepth. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.