Meet Miranda Vavrosky | Artist

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

Hi Miranda, how do you think about risk?
I feel that the saying “high risk, High reward” is one that is constantly in the back of my mind. I was born a creative, my mind has always been full of ideas and seeking patterns or day dreaming. However, I became an artist when I decided to change my career path in college. I was on the deans list and taking all my premed classes to get into a physical therapy course. I started noticing a lot of concerns with my health and my neurologist and team of specialists had told me to cut down the stress in my life. They thought that I might be having stress induced seizures. I was a full-time student and I had GOOD health care coverage for the first time in my life. I had ignored my health issues and learned to cope with them since I was young. I just assumed it was part of life. I couldn’t follow my doctors orders as far as taking less credit hours because I would lose my health coverage. So, I decided to take a painting class.

Here is where my high risk comes in. I was diagnosed with a few medical conditions and among them was a condition called Narcolepsy. So, I was ok to go back to class. I was indeed not having stress induced seizures, but what they call micro-sleep and hypocognant hallucinations. I was literally day dreaming.
When I told the art department (professors and students who had been by my side through so much and truly helped save my life because art and time with such empathetic people who helped me express myself) When I had told them I was going to leave the art department and go back to the physical therapy program, my art professor asked me why.

I didn’t even blink my eyes before I said, “money, to support myself”
I had been working since I was 14. I lived alone, I paid my own bills, I could simply not afford to waste the opportunity to go towards a career that had promise of being independent.
(Know that money as not my only driving factor, I was also diagnosed with Ehlers Danlos, so I will most likely need physical therapy for random bodily dysfunctions the rest of my life and I just thought, if I can do it myself and help others, while getting paid… That sounded ideal)
Her response was, “So fear? You shouldn’t live your life out of fear”
Our conversation was much longer and she told me that what I had wasn’t something she could teach. That I could learn techniques and color theory or art history but that what I was, was an artist who makes people FEEL.
That arts purpose was to make people feel less alone. To give hope. To create beauty.

So, I risked it. I decided to become an artist. Then the pandemic hit.
I lived alone. I was still working pay check to pay check until I was determined to not be an essential employee. When I received my 1,200 US dollars, I put aside what I absolutely needed for bills and I used the rest to buy art supplies. I lived alone and the pandemic was so isolating on me, like it was on many. I had my cat, my easel, and social media.
I was learning what being a starving artist during a pandemic meant. Then people started asking to buy my art.
I am still risking it all. I am running my entire LLC by myself and every dollar I make, goes directly towards my business again. I am risking my entire life savings on a dream. I still have high hopes that HIGH risk, becomes a high reward.

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.
I am an intuitive painter. I mostly do abstract expressionism and action art. I went viral for hanging upside down in a yoga sling and squirting paint all over a canvas, sorta inspired by Jackson pollock.

I am most proud of myself for putting together and hosting my very first art show. It was majorly successful and I am now an international artist. I am most excited about the opportunities that will present themself once I open up my new studio/gallery.

I do not think it’s ever easy to build a name for yourself from scratch. It has been incredibly hard and I admire the artist who have gotten to a place where they can pay someone to do their web design, marketing, book keeping, fill orders, pack orders, and customer relations. I one day hope to get to a point where I can allocate all of that towards people who are experts in those areas and I can focus on my artwork and meeting with collectors.

I’ve learned that it is always two steps forwards and one back. To not be deterred by the steps backwards. That you have to knock at 100 doors and get told no, before someone knocks at your door and offers you an opportunity. ALWAYS tell people thank you for the compliments and support because when your imposter syndrome kicks in, you will have their words in your head reminding you that you are doing it.
Oh, I also learned that just because you are selling your art for a higher price tag, doesn’t mean you get that money. It mostly means that you get to expand your business and art supplies.

I want the world to know that I make my art to help their subconscious pull meaning and start dancing with the colors and shapes on the canvass. I want their creative minds to be activated. I find that with movies and any type of social media consumption that most people are just fed the “meaning” or the “reality” and I want them to have to activate their minds and drop their idea of what anything SHOULD be.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is a hard one for me. I spend a lot of time in the local coffee shops and I love live music. This area has so much to offer with live music, that if you have facebook, I suggest checking out the events page for the area to see who’s playing and where.
We have an amazing bike path and you can often borrow bikes from the city. I tend to do a lot of hiking etc. If someone was going to come here for a week, I would tell them to get ahold of me and set up a time to come see my artwork, where we can then discuss what things spark their interest and I could help them come up with an itinerary over a cup of tea.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people who have helped me over the last three years. I would have never gone down this path or met half of my now close friends and mentors had I not been told by my doctors to take it easy. So, I suppose I will start there. Obviously my art professors particularly Zaiga Thorson, Paul Lange, and David Murray. I also need to thank my entire family. While I think most of them were afraid, especially my father who raised me to take care of myself and taught me the importance of financial independence. They all realized that the art community and so many strangers were supporting my dreams and that I was giving this everything I had in me. It takes so much mor than just being able to make art. So I want to thank my mom for teaching me to be open emotionally and to chase dreams that seem abstract to most people and my father for being a salesman and subconsciously programming me to be a business minded woman,.

Along the way I met so many collectors and investors, not just investing their money but their time, expertise, and encouragement towards me.
I have so many friends who have helped me kick that imposter syndrome every time it pops up and some of these people are social media friends that I hope to someday meet in person.
I can’t name everyone but a few people who have truly been my foundation are: Larry Anderson, Terry Vavrosky, Rebecca Davidson, Grandma Davidson, Janice Cane, Alexis Fiame, Angela Crosso, Cindy Mire, Nick Nelson, Katie Sides, Caitlin Forbes, Alyssa Vavrosky, Sue Landgraf, Rob Liva, Jeff , Roxy Laffose, Will Laffose, Mathew Durbin, Vicki Kenny, Sandy, Tony Giriard… Honestly there are just so many people who have stepped up in so many different ways that I can name them all but it would take me forever.
My tiny circle became HUGE as I have over 23 thousand followers on social media. Everything from HARD love and holding me accountable, to being understanding, helping me clean, giving me a studio, teaching me to build a frame, loaning me power tools because I can’t afford mine yet, to simply bringing me food or sending me a message telling me how much I inspire them.

I literally cry when I realize that I am inspiring people. I think I forgot one person.
I need to thank myself. I have heard people say fake it till you make it, but I want to let you know that you’re not faking it if you’re actively TRYING. You are doing it until you are where you dreamt you would be and I bet that if you have taken that risk within the last year. That you can stop and think about how far you have come from the moment you set that dream in motion and took that first step. So, thank you me. For continuing even though it always feels like its two steps forwards and one step back. Thank you to myself for accidentally discovering my dream when I was in a dark place and choosing to allow art to save me.

Website: Www.vavroskyart.com

Instagram: @VavroskyArt

Linkedin: Miranda Vavrosky

Twitter: @VavroskyArt

Facebook: @VavroskyArt