Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Paige.
Hi Whitney, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I took the long way around to becoming a visual artist. I earned my BFA in Fashion Design, but by the time I got my degree, I knew I didn’t want to work in fashion. So I worked as a costume designer for stage and film for a few years, but I had two back to back productions not pay me and rent was due. I bit the bullet and got a job as a sushi delivery driver and a second job as an administrative assistant at an English school. I almost didn’t go to the third job, but the third job is the one that changed the entire trajectory of my life. I was living in a little shoebox apartment in the Upper East Side, right down the street from a Painting With A Twist. I already had 2 jobs, but I figured a third couldn’t hurt, so I popped my head in and met Eric Patrick. Eric hired me as a part time artist’s assistant at first, but as an assistant I learned to paint, then I learned to teach, and next thing I knew I was a full time artist! Then he promoted me to Manager and when he expanded to new locations I became Regional Manager running all of his studios!
Eric became more than a boss. He was my mentor and one of my very best friends. He was the first person to ever really believe in me and through him, I learned to believe in myself. Running his bustling art studios with him and our incredible staff are some of my fondest memories!
Then life happened and I moved to the mountains of Georgia and fell back into hospitality management. While I was working for resorts, I was also teaching myself to oil paint. I spent 4 years building my skills, dreaming of being a full time artist and having no idea how I was going to make that happen. Then Covid happened. It blew my world apart. Eric Died, my 5 year relationship fell apart, and I lost my job. Next thing I knew I was jobless and alone in the mountains.
But sometimes when everything falls apart it’s a blessing! I had nothing to lose, so I decided to go head first into my art career. I honestly had no idea what I was doing or how I was goin to make it work, but that was 5 years ago and I have been a full time artist ever since! I now have my own studio in Artmosphere, and most recently I exhibited alongside Caravaggio at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been a smooth road! Being a full time artist takes so much work. Beyond just knowing how to paint – and paint well, you have to be your own web designer, social media marketer, accountant, sales agent, brand ambassador, administrative assistant, etc. In the beginning, you really have to learn to do it all! I am now at a place in my career where I have a team that I can delegate tasks to, but that took years to build.
Being any type of entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. Being an entrepreneur where the business is selling your art is on a completely different level. Especially with the kind of work that I create. I spend so much time in the creative realm- ideating about what I’m going to paint, what I emotions I want to evoke, how I want to treat the paint. And then you have to be able to switch into business mode at the drop of a hat. I’ve got it pretty well ritualized at this point though. I’m a business person for the first half of the day and then I go to the studio in the afternoons/evening where I turn my phone off and just sink into the transcendence of painting.
But really, the biggest indicator of success is how you handle the struggles and challenges, because those will always be there. It takes an endless amount of faith to be able to succeed as an artist. Faith in myself and faith in the universe that things will always work out for me. I have come to the conclusion that my success is inevitable, because I will keep showing up.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I believe artists have a responsibility to affect culture, either by holding up a mirror for society to better see themselves or by shining a light on experiences and viewpoints that need more exposure to take root and blossom and affect change. Artists are the culture makers and I feel a great responsibility to use my art to empower the disenfranchised and bring more equity to our World.
My work explores feminine empowerment, rage, and authenticity through contemporary still life and figurative paintings. Throughout history women have been the subjects of paintings by male artists in a way that objectifies the women and strips the models of their autonomy. By creating beautiful works of art that focus on diverse aspects of womanhood, my work gives women back their autonomy in an authentic and honest way. My work encourages the women who view it to love all aspects of themselves and release any shame they have around the nature of being a woman, leaving my viewers feeling empowered, proud, and sovereign. My paintings also foster understanding by giving my male viewers a glimpse into the intimate and sometimes taboo rituals that women develop around things like self care, menstruation, and the pursuit of pleasure.
I am most proud of the series I am currently working on. I have been calling it my “Sanctuary Series.” This series has been a quite a big departure from my previous body of work that focused more on mythological or transcendental beings as symbols of feminine magic. My Sanctuary Series focuses on real, contemporary women that I am interviewing and photographing to feature in my paintings. The paintings are intended to be beautiful in their realism, while also including prismatic effects and some surreal aspects. I’m very much a maximalist in my work and believe that more is more. I think every woman in the world has been told at one point or another that they are “too much.” With that in mind, I pack my paintings with as much symbolism and hidden meaning as I can. My aim is to capture authentic womanhood and the magic reverie, and rituals that shape our inner worlds. This series is a reclamation of femininity; and the feedback that I have received from women that have attended my open studios and virtual art talks has made it all worthwhile.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Oh, this is a tough question. I had such a full childhood. I was in countless sports and extracurriculars. I was in theatre and choir. Funny enough, I didn’t take a visual arts class till senior year of high school. If I had to zero in on one childhood memory that sticks out when I think back to being a kid, it is probably making potions with flowers and sticks I found in the yard.
As a child, I had this deep inner knowing that I was powerful and had a direct connection to the Universe. I could feel it in the whisper of the wind or in dappled sunlight on my skin. I LOVED having solitude in nature, because I never felt alone. I felt connected!
I think so much of my 30’s have been spent unlearning all the limitations I picked up in my 20’s. And when I stripped away all my limiting beliefs, I discovered that I was still that 7 year old girl who was so sure that I was capable of anything I wanted. As an artist, when I paint I tap into that knowing, and that connection, and that reverie that I innately had as a kid.
Or, maybe, playing Final Fantasy 8 on repeat. That is a pretty great memory too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.whitneypaigeart.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/whitneypaigeart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WiPaige/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WhitneyPaigeArt
- TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@whitneypaigeart
Image Credits
Peli Productions
Yook Photos
