Is an artistic career possible during hard economic times? Absolutely, say Ann Cockerill, Hannah Thomas and Amy Lashley, who are earning a living from their talents.
“It’s true that the arts got hit hard in the recession,” said Cockerill, artist and owner of the Red Cockerill Gallery in Austell. People buy less art when they’re struggling to pay their mortgage and buy food. “But the world needs art, and a career in the arts can pay, even in today’s economy,” she said.
Art was Cockerill’s salvation growing up when health challenges kept her in bed or isolated. With Cockerill in a full body cast at age 1, her mom taped paper to the sides of the crib and gave her a crayon. “Art dissolved the bars and filled the void,” she said.
After earning her art degree from LaGrange College, she and her husband, Bill, rented a building owned by her dad and opened the Red Cockerill Gallery in 1975. “Back then, there wasn’t any career counseling to tell you how to start an art business,” said Cockerill.
She taught classes, sold her work at shows and festivals and started framing for the public to make ends meet. She’s won awards and built a reputation, but recently started teaching children and adults again to boost her income. “When you’re an artist, you already have the skill of thinking outside the box, and that’s useful for any business,” she said.
Cockerill recently took an unusual commission to build a gold mine exhibit at the Pine Mountain Gold Museum at Stockmar Park in Villa Rica. That led to a call from Disney World to discuss a possible project.
“Being passionate about creating and knowing it’s my calling has led me in all kinds of directions,” she said. Her advice to other artists is “to go for it and to have faith.” You may not get rich, but the fulfillment far outweighs any monetary gain, she said.
Thomas, a singer-songwriter, finds it more gratifying than anything else she could imagine to perform her own music to appreciative fans.
“I loved music from the first time I heard it,” said Thomas. “I grew up near Social Circle [in Georgia] in a rural area. We didn’t have many neighbors and no cable, so I entertained myself by learning how to play the guitar.”
At 16, she went to Eddie’s Attic to ask how to get started in the business. She performed that night and has been performing her blend of country and rock ‘n' roll ever since. “I sang at every open mic in Atlanta for about two years, but as my name started getting out there, the work started coming to me,” she said.
This year, she beat out 3,000 other contestants in the Georgia Lottery All Access Music Search and won a CD recording with Capitol Records in Hollywood.
Now 21, Thomas tours with the Hannah Thomas Band around the Southeast. They play at concerts, bars, weddings and corporate events. “I’m making a living, but a lot of the money goes back into building the business,” she said. The band is cutting a live album on Oct. 9 at Eddie’s Attic, hoping to grow its Northeast audience.
“You have to be passionate to work in this business. Music is a 24/7 thing, and you have to treat it like a job,” said Thomas, who is earning her marketing degree online. “Marketing is my Plan B, but right now, I feel fortunate to be doing what I love.”
Lashley came from a musical family, but she earned a degree in computer science and worked in an office for 10 years. Four years ago, she left to teach guitar. “I found that I like kids and I’m a good teacher,” said Lashley, musician and owner of In Tune Studio in Grant Park. Lashley employs six other instructors, performs her own music and is completing her music degree from Kennesaw State University.
“This is absolutely more fulfilling,” she said. “Every day I get to help people learn music, and that helps me become a better musician and teacher.”
Artists need to think creatively, do their research and use their resources when starting a business, she said. She chose Grant Park because there wasn’t a studio there, and she draws on her office experience to manage the business and her website. She has future programming plans, but lessons give her a good business base.
“Even in a tight economy, parents want their children to learn music,” she said.
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