Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandi Cottingham.
Brandi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Ten years ago, in 2007, I was facilitating a leadership program. I was coaching my clients to access and expand their creativity, and so too I took on the challenge. As a new single mom with lack of time for one more thing, I added creativity to playtime with my then 4-year-old son. Sitting at my dining room table I introduced paint and brushes, within a few minutes he was off and playing with his matchbox cars; I however got deeply engrossed with the canvas. As if I had been struck by an epiphany I declared “I’m an Artist!” That was the moment my life work started to reveal itself to me and the outside world!
The excavation of my Artist was mostly an intuitive process for me, as if another part of me was now leading the way; I would ask myself, If I Am an Artist then? At first, it was to build a studio in the corner of my living room. Each answered question revealed the next series of questions. Even today when I don’t feel I’m growing, I identify the most dynamic question and then focus on carving out the most powerful answer. It’s been a powerful process for me and those I share my life. Watching me develop myself out of what seemed to be “pie in the sky” thinking has motivated others to “Have their Cake and eat it too!”
Has it been a smooth road?
Looking back over the last 10 years and also my entire life, I can see where it has been almost mystical the serendipitous occurrences, opportunities and support which has blessed my artist development. I also had many tears, hesitations and mental wars during these years. As I overcame every internal resistance ,the physical world seemed to magically align with my new perception of myself and my work. With every new declaration, life offered me a new opportunity– if I was courageous enough to step into the possibility. One of the biggest obstacles I overcame was moving from my Midwest roots, family and tribe to give myself a space to cultivate and express who I knew I authentically was to become. My family and friends could only see me as they had always seen me. I needed a new platform to declare and work out my expression. I moved in the fall of 2008 from Indianapolis to Fort Worth Texas. Five years later I would find myself without the security of a full-time job. I released a huge level of personal doubt (and the illusion of security) to choose my art as my full-time focus. Today I continue to be in the practice of allowing the doubt and fear to reveal itself and then I get busy using that energy to inspire the next evolution of myself and my work.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Brandi Cottingham Art and beARTsee story. Tell us more about the business.
Brandi Cottingham Art is the umbrella which houses the concepts I’ve launched to create a viable artist business. The most popular concept that I’m known for is the Playing with Paint /Pop up Studio. I work with my client to design an original piece of work. Then I work from the completed project backwards. What looks like a neutral background actually becomes the basis and also the focus of the piece. I then pop up my studio in unusual locations and ask the collective consciousness (the viewer) to become the collaborative artist. After collecting the data–both on the canvas (the most common material I use) and in the individual stories( captured verbally and nonverbally from the event) I go back to my studio and finalize the piece. I push and pull the symbols until I have a cohesive and balanced work. These pieces are time stamps of this one moment in time around the theme the piece was designed. The canvases are both storytellers and visual quilts representing the fabric of our society. My clients have ranged from birthday parties for a young child’s bedrooms, to corporate events producing Head Quarters pieces, to fundraisers and weddings. One of my favorite pieces was made the day I popped up at the local food bank. The clients of the food bank where overwhelmed someone cared enough to know them, inquire about their feelings and story, and offer them to be a part of something; in that moment they became contributors. I think we all want purpose and to contribute. This work creates an even playing field in the art world; building art together regardless of talent or technique; completing out of the action of saying Yes and the intention to be part of something bigger than oneself. These pieces are full of information from this segment of our population. When I work with young people, I find out amazing information my motherhood hasn’t been able to acquire. Something happens when the artist shows up; I’ve noticed a vulnerability and intimacy, true authentic behavior. With those attitudes I think anything is possibly!
The other area of my work, which draws much attention and expanded in 2017, was the launching of a Non-Profit: beARTsee. beARTsee has a mission to use the labor of creating art for social action. During the summer of 2017, I completed our first summer program–fiveweeks and120 hours of art for underserved children. I popped up a studio in The Community Food Bank and we got busy reaching deep into the young people, aged 6-15, to set their artist free! The young people I’m currently serving are filling their weekends by attending open studio at the beARTsee studio located in Crockett Row West 7th Area. The young people know if they commit their time to the studio, material will always be available for them to continue to develop themselves. They also know if they put the time and care into their work, it can be hung on the studio walls. They are able to see their work and become a working artist, generating resources for themselves to start college funds, or in most cases everyday necessities. I use the distraction of making art as a way to connect with these young souls; to infuse them with all my artist wisdom of what it is to be a dynamic dreamer, conscious creator and intentional manifester. For I believe if I can connect them with the creator that exist in us all they realize they can dream their own dream. And in doing so change their current reality and manifest their greatest dreams!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The way I see it is this…the technology era has lead us into the conceptual era. For years we’ve been celebrating, awarding and driving ourselves to be logical thinkers. As a society we have valuedwhat we “Think”; that “Knowledge is Power.” We are expanding into a time where being a balanced thinker requires adding attention to the abstract mind. The thinker who has access to their imagination and is able to express creativity will be at the forefront of our society. It’s beyond the art world. It’s becoming a trend that will be a common thread that will weave in and out of all aspects of our culture. In the past progressive thinkers have been alienated, suppressed and feared. Today we are living in the shift where thinking “outside” the box is propelling people and their ideas to be the driving force of this moment. We have become a society excited about the next new way, new thing, new idea! It’s amazing! The fear of change is melting away as we embrace a constantly evolving culture.
I believe the artist arch type lives in us all, and more now than ever we will see this part of our consciousness become energized in both obvious and subtle ways. As we evolve into more expansive thinkers, we will see the art world expand beyond the traditions of beautiful crated work and into a way of living. Realizing that Knowledge is limited, living in Wisdom takes us into a personal power only known by the masters who have lived before us. It is a time of Genius; all the information that has ever been and all that will ever be, already exist in us. It’s a time when we are learning how to access greater aspects of ourselves and I believe it’s the artist archetype that is the portal to a new way of believing in our thoughts and expressing our ideas! To live as an artist lives forging energy into new places, thriving on new ideas and connecting the world with a collaborative spirit that will both heal us and move us toward a greater expression of what we’ve known to be a human connected being!
Contact Info:
- Address: 827 Currie St.
Fort Worth, TX 76107 - Website: www.brandicottingham.com
- Phone: 317-339-7718
- Email: beartsee@aol.com
- Instagram: beartsee
- Facebook: @BeArtSee
- Twitter: @beARTsee
- Yelp: www.yelp.com/biz/brandi-cottingham-art
- Other: www.be-art-see.com
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
