Balancing Creativity and Structure

Martha Rich is commercial and fine artist who took a long and circuitous route through many day jobs (Workman's comp insurance. Hotel front desk clerk. Repo woman?) to pivot to an art career at the age of 37.

Now Martha makes a full-time living as an artist making work that brings her joy.

Her secret to building an absolutely custom autonomous creative life?

When bad things happened in her life (and they did, with regularity) instead of curling into a defensive crouch, she saw opportunities to rethink her assumptions about how her life "should" look, and instead take big leaps into new ways of living and working.

Over and over, Martha took a flyer on something untested. She took risks that others would find really scary.

Every time she landed on her feet in some new place, and it taught her to trust herself.

Successfully navigating so many life pivots, she came to trust that she can and will continue to land on her feet.

Acting with courage before confidence taught Martha that optimism is a good plan.

More from this episode...

• Martha describes her escape from cubicle land and finding her creative calling: "It was a miracle... finding what you're supposed to do. Not everybody gets to do that."
• When following society's rules didn't work out for Martha, she made her own: "Once you take the first big risk, then it's a little bit easier to take another one."
• “Every bad thing that’s happened to me has been a blessing.” — Why Martha returned to school at thirty-seven, and how it launched her art career.
• What are the benefits of a rigorous art education, particularly for older adults?
• Part of Martha's story is about the relationships she built with mentors and creative influences, including the Clayton Brothers and Esther Pearl Watson.
• "Networking is the one thing that has kept my career going" — How to make a living as an artist even if you're "no Leonardo da Vinci."
• Martha shares her strategies for attracting clients, including the project that helped her sell more than three hundred paintings.
• A self-described commercial and fine artist, Martha explains the difference between the two and how it affects her creative process.
• The secret to transforming your art career: "Make some dumb stuff.”

More from Martha Rich

Martha Rich lived the typical, suburban life - until she followed her husband to Los Angeles where, just short of a picket fence and 2.5 children her average American life unraveled. To cope with divorce, fate lead her to a class taught by painters and brothers Rob and Christian Clayton. They persuaded her to quit the pantyhose, corporate world, leave her human resources job at Universal Studios behind and become an artist full-time. She graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and got her MFA in Painting from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Her commercial clients include Blue Q, Fringe Studio, Mincing Mockingbird, Chronicle Books, Green Thumb Industries, Penn Gazette, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Penguin UK, McSweeney’s, Portland Mercury, Village Voice, Bon Appetit, San Francisco Chronicle, Henry Holt Publishers, and Country Music TV to name just a few.

Her work is featured in the Beck video “Girl” and a book about her sketchbooks,

Sketchbook Expressionism, was published by Murphy Design. In 2019, Chronicle Books published her book, The Furious Notebook, Release Your Rage, Use Your Anger for Good and Chill the Heck Out.

Rich’s artwork has been shown in galleries throughout the U.S. and internationally.

She is currently living in her hometown of Philadelphia and teaches classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

Connect with Martha Rich

https://instagram.com/martharich63

https://instagram.com/martharichworld

Additional Links

www.mincingmockingbird.com/collections/martha-rich-word-bubbles

https://www.jenvaughnart.com/portfolio/martha-rich/

https://cargocollective.com/martharich