Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Barresi.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After graduating from the Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, FL I fell into teaching. My passion for teaching grew from my experience as an assistant teacher at the Ringling Pre-College Program, which catered to prospective and incoming college students the following fall semester. From there I taught art at several K-8 summer and afterschool programs outside Boston until I landed at Longview Farm, a residential / day program servicing at-risk youth through the umbrella of the non-profit Home for Little Wanderers. At the Walpole location, I taught art for grades 1-12. During this time I was also moonlighting as an adjunct professor over at Boston University CDIA in Waltham, MA. Toward the end of my stay at Longview, I’d been increasingly involved in art direction for The Home’s annual signature fundraiser held at the Seaport World Trade Center every May.
In May 2014, after almost 10 years teaching I decided to focus on my personal artwork, beginning my own studio and freelance work. I’d answered several open calls for art in the Boston area and my work was chosen for display at Pavement Coffeehouse on Commonwealth Ave, outside the BU Campus. That July, I showed a dozen of my landscape watercolor paintings alongside two large-scale “Animal Head” paintings at this location. The art director for the coffeehouse, through following my Instagram account, saw that I’d been developing a new body of work throughout the month of July and I was excited to be invited back to show additional work in August. The President of the coffeehouse saw one of my paintings and asked if I’d recreate it as a mural for another Pavement right down the street in Allston. This ultimately led to the Lion Head mural at Pavement, Allston. The following spring, I was invited to create a mural for the new Pavement location that opened in 2015. This was by far the most challenging and rewarding project of my artistic career thus far. I was given mostly free reign to create a composition illustrating a “World City.” It was gratifying to express a representation of my loose, immediate, sketchbook style in a thoughtful, more refined large-scale format. The mural stands 23’ x 13’ inside Pavement Fenway, across the street from the ballpark.
In between these larger projects, I’ve done freelance design work and have been involved in several local gallery shows. In 2016 I participated in the Nantucket Plein Air Festival put on by the Nantucket Arts Association every June. I still enjoy landscape painting en plein air, out in nature mostly over at Borderland State Park in Easton, MA. My work will also be featured in the upcoming Collective Arts Brewing beer label (9B) series due out soon.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My journey has not been a smooth road. I think if success had just been handed to me or I hadn’t been dealt my fair share of rejection or failures, I wouldn’t be as whole or knowledgeable a person as I am today.
I came out of teaching not knowing a shred of what it truly meant to be a freelance artist. My training was in traditional illustration, not business. I quickly realized that if I wanted to be seen as a legitimate business, I had to schedule time to learn how to actually run a business. Suddenly, my day was split 60 / 40. (60% creating art, 40% business management.) If I had it my way I’d paint all day, but to make a living doing what I love required more of me than just creation. I learned how to maintain an online shop, manage self-promotion and social media, and perhaps most importantly, I learned how to write contracts. I had to learn that different clients have different needs in regards to budget, usage of art, scale of project, etc. I’ve found that setting clear expectations goes a long way to make sure both myself and my clients are sharing the same vision and are happy with the final product. Much of this has been learned through trial and error, like one giant science experiment. As I’ve grown as an artist and business I’ve realized how little I actually know, but in order to find success you need the confidence to take the next step forward and the willingness to learn from your failures.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Brian Barresi Art story. Tell us more about the business.
I’m a landscape and portrait painter, specializing in acrylics and watercolor. I create murals of various representations for homes and businesses throughout the Boston area. I do digital design work such as logos and posters for businesses and events. I’m also currently writing a children’s book and graphic novel.
What I’m most proud of as a business is how I’ve refined my ability to create and follow through on project timelines. A year into my journey as a freelance artist I took on another really important role, dad. I’m currently home with my almost three year old son and four month old daughter on days that my wife is working and I’ve had to embrace the flexibility that demands. I’ve become fully aware of my abilities and limitations and have found ways to manage my time and create realistic project timelines.
What sets me apart from others is my style. Regardless of the medium I am working in, I tend to have a lot of detail and pay close attention to the role of light in the composition. This creates a feeling and movement in each piece that I think is unique.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I believe you make your own luck through mindful planning, placing yourself in advantageous positions and being ready when ‘good luck’ strikes. I definitely feel lucky to have had the opportunity to create the mural at Pavement Fenway, but I wouldn’t have had that huge opportunity if I hadn’t been putting myself out there with calls for art in small venues. When talking about the possibility of this large mural I was able to showcase multiple sketchbooks that showed the type of image they were looking for. Yes luck was involved, but so were countless hours of hard work and a willingness to keep trying after previous failures.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.brianbarresi.com
- Email: brianmbarresi@gmail.com
- Instagram: brian_barresi
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brianbarresiart
- Other: https://soundcloud.com/user-784612324/4-brian-barresi
Image Credit:
Leslie Barresi
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