Meet Kennedy Fletcher | Artist & Entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kennedy Fletcher and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kennedy, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, On a large secluded plot of land surrounded by a community of farmers & Amish folk. I lived here for the first 21 years of my life.
My parents did the best that they could, given their circumstances & upbringings, but as a result of the pressure and verbal abuse that I experienced, by the age of 15 I started doing pills, drinking and smoking weed as a means of escaping my daily life. By the time I was 21, I gave up the opiates and switched to cocaine & ecstasy while also drinking.
Although I was in college at that time, studying Early Childhood Education, I was able to maintain A & B grades throughout the three years that I studied, while also partying and indulging in substances most nights of the week.
Long story short, what really launched me into the travel and entrepreneurial lifestyle that I live these days was an out of body experience that I had one night while at a party.
It was early morning, maybe 2am and a friend got into a fight out back at the house where we were partying. He was a big guy and although he won the fist fight, by the time he came into house and onto the front porch, the same guy was waiting with a gun & proceeded to shoot 4-5 rounds at him. I heard my best friend at that time yell out saying that she had been hit too. Most of the party ran out the back door. After calling 911, I quickly ran to where my friend was laying at the foot of the stairs.
From there, all I can remember is feeling as if I was floating, watching the scene from above. I watched as I took off my jacket to apply pressure to the wound on her side, her blood on my hands. I watched the blood drain from her face as she said, “why me, Ken? I’m so good to everyone, why me?”
The paramedics soon showed up. This friend survived after going through various surgeries. The other friend was pronounced dead a few hours later. I stayed around town long enough to be with her through the majority of her surgeries.
I ended up dropping out of college and moving away due to the consistent anxiety and panic attacks that I experienced when seeing places I would go with the friend who passed or when people looked at me in a way & I thought that they knew what I had seen.
I moved in with my grandma on Hatteras Island, paid off the fines from the life that I left behind, saved up some money and left the country. I backpacked South America for 3 months which was where I started my healing journey that eventually led to me to starting my current 2 thriving art based businesses and I am about to launch my 3rd business which is health based.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As for my first business which was wire wrapped crystal jewelry, this one came about when I was traveling the US in my van and got into rockhounding. I wanted to find a purpose and a way to share these treasures that I was finding, so my jewelry business was created one winter while I was in Colorado and started making and selling my creations. As for the mural business, I explained in the previous question how that one just fell into my lap as well.
As for how I got to where I am professionally today, it seemed as if the businesses were handed right to me by fate. Has it been easy building them up? I believe so. When I catch myself chasing the money, that is when I start to feel stressed. Then I remember that the purpose of sharing my creations from the earth are to show others the natural beauty that we are gifted in nature & as for my mural business, I have to remind myself that the purpose is to share the art. A lot of my art is interactive, so people can pose and pretend that they have angel, butterfly or dragon wings or that they are being fed pizza from a shark, or I include positive sayings within the murals that I put up im low income areas with the hope that they help people to see the beauty of life. So the biggest lesson that I have learned is to not chase the money, remember the reason that you do what you do and pursue that passion.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
When I have friends in town, I take them to the nature trails. A lot of my friends are travelers as well, so no distances are too far really, so we’ll leave COS and go to primitive hot springs, waterfalls, rockhounding, and if time permits, we’ll go to Meow Wolf in Denver.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My grandma has been my number one supporter in all ways. She opened her door to me when I was at my lowest point in life. She gave me love, helped me to get back on my feet again and she has never doubted me or given up on me. She was actually the reason why I started my mural business. A few years ago, she texted me and said that she was in the hospital. I drove 9 hours the following day to see her and care for her house and cats. She was in the hospital for a few months & while she was there, I wanted to surprise her when she got back, so I painted a mural of a set of butterfly wings for her. She has always loved butterflies.
My whole life I had always said, “I’m an artist of all sorts, but I can not paint.” So I bought extra paint to cover it up in case she hated it.
She loved it & before I had finished the mural, a few people from the community had stopped and asked if I could paint their shed with a mural as well.
This is my third year as a traveling mural artist and I have put up over 100 murals in about 10 different states.
Because my first mural was of a butterfly, in the town of Buxton, Nc, my artist name is @thebuxtonbutterfly. Coincidently, my grandma and I both have tattoos of butterflies as well 🙂

Website: https://Buxtonbutterfly.com

Instagram: @thebuxtonbutterfly

Facebook: The Buxton Butterfly