Solomon Schools art teacher, Karen Cooper, recently invited guest speaker, Mindy with Mindy’s Murals to present about her career in art to interested students. Mindy spoke to students on February 5th during the HS Gorilla Guidance.
Mindy is a full time muralist and works locally and in surrounding towns from Junction City, KS to Wichita, KS. Cooper has been a fan of Mindy’s work for awhile and relly liked getting to know her and learn about her process.
She presented a few of her pieces of artwork to the students but focused most of her presentation on the business aspect of painting murals full time.
Students learned about how to map out pricing for large murals which consist of the costs associated with supplies, transportation, time, and energy. They also learned the value of discounted pricing where trades and representation with local businesses may be more beneficial to an artist’s brand than a paycheck.
Matthew Hamm-Jones, so., thought “it was cool because I actually planned on starting my own business in construction and she told us about the sacrifices you might have to make to start out. She said she took out loans at the beginning to pay for everything. She eventually made that money back but it’s about taking the risk when starting your own business.”
Alternatively, we had students who were impressed to see a successful artist following their dreams. Cecilia Rontti-Clements, so. said, “I’ve been wanting to pursue a career in animation. She showed me that [owning a business and working in the arts] can be time consuming but it’s all going be worth it in the end
Karen Cooper was especially impressed with the presentation stating, “I LOVED how much she talked about the business side of what she does. Most people think that being a creative is all paint and smiles, but she showed the kids how much she really needed to carefully consider how much to charge and plan ahead. Even if a student there wasn’t going to go into an art field it was great information about starting a business.”
Solomon High School strives to provide its students with an abundance of career opportunities. We want to extend a big thank you to Mindy for visiting with our students. You can find her on all your main social media platforms under ‘Mindy’s Murals’. We want our students to be academic ready and by hosting guest speakers, this helps them achieve future goals at an earlier stage in their life.