Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Beard.
Hi Victoria, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I first started out as a kid with a wild imagination who liked to draw them out and was always in LaLa land but my art business is Fís Victoria Art. I started it up back in 2019 after my sister told me I should make an art page on social media. Fís is Irish Gaelic for “vision”, so basically my business is “my vision”. I do anything from drawing and painting to engraving on leather, tattoo designs, and putting my art on just about anything I think could be fun. I was born and raised in Plano, Texas and believe that has really shaped my influence towards my art- from volunteering on a ranch years back, to the music, to growing up watching John Wayne and old westerns. I always loved art and drawing but really started in high school as an escape to my own little world and has just always been there for me through tough times, art and music. Eventually, my favorite original concept, “Fís Ceoil” was born. Fís Ceoil means “Musical Vision” and its when I focus on a song, its emotion, tune, or lyrics and personally interpret what I see and hear into a piece of art. It is not only my favorite concept, but it became my most personal form of art. I get to reach out to bands and singers who have inspired my Fís Ceoils or they reach out to me- which is always an honor, artist to artist. It’s crazy to see country and indie artists both big and small show their appreciation or see my art. I’ve also do commissions of people’s pets, portraits, and working with different mediums and events throughout DFW to showcase and sell my brand products. I never limit myself to one thing and rather be a jack of all trades than a master of one. This year marks year 6 of my business and I feel so blessed for all the opportunities I thought I’d never have and it’s more than I prayed for.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’d say a smooth backroad with some potholes here and there. There are the smaller things that I believe all artists go through, such as fear of judgment and fear of failure. It took me a while, but I really extinguished those after realizing I’m happier when I create what I want and have passion for and if people also found a love in it, that’s just a plus, not a priority. I live by the quote, “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God” by Leo Buscaglia. The biggest bump in the road for me that I still go through, started after the sudden passing of my father back in April 2024. That loss hurt more than anyone could ever imagine, losing my best friend and Superman. It’s because of him, that I have the career that I have. There are not many parents who would push their kids towards an artistic career path over an education or medical career path- he did. After his passing, I did what I promised him and I graduated with my degree in graphic communications, and decided that I wanted to keep myself happy and to keep going, as he would have wanted me to. So I got out of my comfort zone even more, started doing events, growing my brand, got the career that I wanted, and branched out more than I ever thought I was capable of. However, there is always a heart-wrenching feeling I will get with every victory, wishing I could have that face-to-face conversation with him. I know he’s always with me, it’s a comfort that I can still hear him say “Daddy’s proud of you”.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am known as a Lone Star State artist, and while I love doing all forms of art, I specialize in westerns. It is definitely something I’m most proud of, as a native Texan. I mostly prefer watercolor painting, but I’ve worked with many different mediums and digitize my art to create designs. I love creating tattoo designs which include my own as well as for others. With certain designs that I engrave and replicate, they’re actually tattoos that I have, such as my bluebonnet logo, and I believe this makes me kind of unique. Whenever I’m at my events, I get a realization like “wow! I’m actually building a brand” and that people are starting to recognize popular pieces of mine such as “Duke Riding”, “Whiskey Time Machine”, my “Cowboy Randy”- works of mine that sparked numerous ideas which lead to prints, leather and glass engraving, stickers, and even koozies that I started selling and it’s been mind-blowing to see it all grow. Being a graphic designer now and then having my business as well is the best. I’m glad I get to use my God-given creativity everyday, and the goal I set up for myself, is to have this career and throughout my life to never feel like I worked a day.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Plano has always been home, lived here all my life. I love our hometown pride that spanned from when I was in school to adulthood as well as our diversity. It breaks my heart to share this, but what I like least about Plano is how big and busy it has gotten, to a point that sometimes I don’t recognize it anymore. Personally, it saddens me when I see a plot of land turn into more apartments, retail stores, and storage units, etc. When you tell someone from out of state that you’re from Plano, they probably think it’s some small town that’s so lucky to be close to the city of Dallas, but the funny part is that we are the big city that already has everything, including three senior high schools and what? 250k people? It’s insane to think. I’m just someone who’d love a smaller simpler kind of living.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://vbeardart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fis_victoria/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fisvictoriaart
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-beard-
Image Credits
Kayanna Klein
