For Episode 21 of the Ballsy Podcast, Shawn Kolodny sits down with Multidisciplinary artist Sarah Dugger. Sarah is a versatile artist with 25 years of experience. Her current mediums are prints, fabrics, murals, and paintings. She started her career in textile design for renowned consumer brands in the late 1990s, mastering color, concept, and project management. Eventually, she began to explore fine art painting beyond the confines of corporate design. In 2016, she joined muralist group WallDogs and began creating large-scale murals, drawing from her textile industry experience. In 2018, she returned to textile design, starting a print studio with plans to launch a namesake label for unique, wearable, printed art pieces. Based in a vintage furniture warehouse, she specializes in hand-printed fabric by-the-yard, fully embracing her talents in the visual arts.
In Episode 21, Sarah Dugger discusses her process around creating art, her artistic relationship with technology, and her journey from the corporate world into fine art, amongst many other tidbits of artistic and business insight.
“Art is the kind of job where your wallet have to show up every day. Every single day. Whether you want to or not.” — Sarah Dugger. “The biggest success I’ve had is taking risks,” Sarah says, “all the opportunities that don’t work out are part of the journey. The failures contribute to the success.”
You can find Sarah's work on her Instagram @sarahjanedugger or her website www.sarahdugger.com.
1:27 Description of Sarah’s Work & Background
7:07 Corporate Design into Fine Art
8:50 Building the Business of Selling Art
10:20 Sarah’s First Mural Gig
11:27 Pricing
13:57 Deeper Dive into Sarah’s Work
20:22 Showing Up & Process
20:56 Sarah’s Murals & How She Finds Jobs
22:57 Sarah’s Paintings & Sales Channels
26:19 Volume of Art Produced
27:33 Sales Channels
28:45 Mailers & Buyer Communications
31:44 Budgeting
32:15 Making vs. Selling Art
33:23 The Language of Business
35:03 Learning New Skills
37:35 Lessons Sarah has Learned Along the Way