Today we’d like to introduce you to Beth Gustafson
Hi Beth, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Well, I started scribbling with crayons and markers from a very young age like most, but unlike most, I never stopped doing so. Despite drawing and creating since I was a literal a baby, even posting some of my stuff online since I was like twelve, I had honestly never really shared my artwork out in my local communities before. That was, until the fall of last year, at the age of twenty-two. After having a very rough summer and ending up unemployed again, I knew I needed to try and find activities and local communities that would fill my time and help me heal mentally and emotionally. I didn’t know where to start though, so I found myself on the app, ‘MeetUp,’ searching for none other than local artist groups. I lurked within some of these groups for awhile, seeing all the events they had planned for meet ups, ultimately being too sheepish to actually go to one; until, I saw one that actually peaked my interest. One of the groups posted info about Webster Arts’ Small Works XVIII Show that was coming up in October. Entering art shows always felt beyond the realm of my expertise, but finding a show that was explicitly looking for “small works,” I thought I’d give it a shot, especially as an artist who had only ever worked “small.” So, I hesitantly submitted three of my artworks, still feeling super unsure that my artistic abilities would ever be good enough to be in an art show; but to my surprise, one of the three pieces I submitted was actually accepted into the show! My first big kid art show! It was really cool to be part of, hung up on the same wall as so many talented artists from the area! It was a huge accomplishment for me! But after the showcase was over, well, it was over. I didn’t really know where to go from there. I ended up not making any connections from that show, because honestly, I wasn’t that confident when it came to mingling with others at events. So, that was that. My confidence in my artistic abilities did grow after being accepted into that show, but still not enough to continuing seeking more artistic opportunities. Until, about a month later, when I stumbled upon a slightly less intimidating opportunity. An art show being held by my local library, in Pacific, MO. It was free to join so I thought, well, why not? To my surprise, this show in particular would actually be the one that would help me enter the STL art scene.
This art show not only introduced me to a bunch of incredible local artists I had no idea existed in this small rural area I called home; but it also introduced me to two incredible women that encouraged me to keep pursuing more opportunities for my art!
The first of those women was actually the curator of the library show, Alison Heisler. I could tell Ali was excited and passionate about the arts, and showed that same enthusiasm for me and my artwork. Upon dropping off my work for the show, Ali immediately said she’d love for me to consider showcasing more of my work not only in this show, but in one of the library’s display cases as well. I hastily agreed, because, once again, why not? I was trying to get my art out there anyways, why not seize the opportunity?! During the couple of months I had my art in the library’s display, Ali, along with the rest of the library staff at Pacific, gave me so much encouragement and so many kind words! It really added an extra layer of confidence to my abilities, and I can not express how grateful I am for that, for them, and for such an amazing opportunity!
The second incredible woman I met from that show was Sayohm, of Say Art Studios. Say specifically scouted me out at the library show because she said my work immediately caught her eye when she walked in. After meeting Say, she introduced me to her partner, Reid, both of them were incredibly kind and supportive of me that whole night! Shortly after getting to know them more, Say told me, and all the other artists at the show, that she had an art studio and gallery,just up the road, in the downtown part of Pacific, where she was holding calls for art. Which I couldn’t believe at first! Though not from there, Pacific was a town that my family and I often found ourselves in a lot while I was growing up. Simply put, it was the closest area to us that had all the places and things to do, but to be honest, I never thought an art gallery would ever end up being one those places. Pacific, let alone Franklin County, never really felt like a place for the arts. Besides a few art fairs and and some long-established landscape painters who lived in the area, the art scene here always felt non-existent. If you wanted to be part of the art scene, you had to go down into the city, to St. Louis, but that was a bit far for me. So, finding out there was now an art gallery so close to were I lived filled me with excitement! Say was actually already familiar with the STL art scene, being a part of it herself, and she brought it over with her to all of us here just outside of the St. Louis County line. Her gallery became the ‘gateway to the east’ for me and several other artists, finally giving us a taste of the St. Louis art culture that I personally thought I would never get to properly savor. So with this newfound knowledge, I ended up submitting, and then being accepted into my first art show at Say’s gallery! I was still so inexperienced with gallery shows and how to properly present my work, though, but Say actually helped me immensely with my first show at her gallery, and I am forever grateful for all her help! Seriously cannot express how helpful and kind she has been to me!
Being a part Say’s of show quickly opened up the local art world to me! At that show I met a fellow artist, Elizabeth Grace. We talked for a while at the show, and she ended up reaching out to me after the fact, where she indirectly informed me about this artists group for women. She invited me into their group chat a day before their next monthly meeting, which I spontaneously decided to go to, which honestly is very unlike me, but I’m glad I went! There I learned that this group was an emerging art guild created by Jackie Rabbit, for female-identifying artists and creatives in the St. Louis and surrounding area. In going to that meeting, I found something special there, I found MY people! The kind of people I had been hoping to meet one day. Creative women, artistic women, PASSIONATE women, all from very different backgrounds looking to achieve very similar goals! Once I became a part of this guild, the St. Louis Ladys’ Art Guild, I started finding more opportunities, communities, support, and friendship within not just the guild, but the STL art scene as well. All the things I had a hard time finding in my small rural area, all the things I was looking for, I had finally found here! And from there I started hitting more milestones than I ever expected to hit this year, milestones I didn’t even know I had! I’m now an active member of the St. Louis Ladys’ Art Guild, aka SLLAG, as one of their social media managers! I’m a returning artist and big supporter of Say Art Studios! I won my first ever gallery show award at Say Art Studios’ show, ‘Flowing With Flora,’ curated my the resident artists there at Gallery 123! I got asked for a magazine interview! Like me? In a magazine? What?! (Shout out Tara Savelo and VoyageSTL!), and I was also a part of SLLAG’s first ever member’s showcase at The Crack Fox, with my artwork being the background for the main promotional flyer for the show! MY artwork?! Little ol’ me?! Like how?!
I know none of these are like the biggest accomplishments around, but for me, they’ve meant so much! They’ve made my future of being a professional artist look a little brighter! And I will say, I am still not that far into this chapter of my life yet. I’m pretty much at the beginning of it, if I’m being honest. It’s still all so new! But I am so thankful, so grateful, so humbled, so HONORED, to be given these opportunities, to receive all this support! This is all I’ve ever wanted since I was just a kid drawing fanart of my favorite cartoon characters with crayons and printer paper. I wanted to share my love for art with my community, with the world! And I hope that is something I can continue to do!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As I mentioned earlier, one the many obstacles I faced when trying to find opportunities for my art was just the lack of an art community in my particular area. Again, if you wanted to be in the art scene around here, you had to be in the city, which I was not, and still am not. It’s hard to get into the city’s art scene when you’re unfamiliar with the city as a whole. I don’t know many that live there, I don’t know the area that well, man, I can’t even parallel park! How was I ever going to be bold enough to enter the St. Louis art scene on my own?!
I’m sure I could’ve networked and made better connections in college, but hey, you’re looking at a certified college dropout! Which kind of leads me into my actual biggest obstacle: my mental and physical health. Mental health wise, looking back, that started rearing it’s ugly head fairly early on. But it really hit me after I graduated high school. I had the “gifted kid” burnout, with none of the “gift.” More like the “stressed myself out so much in fear of looking bad, or stupid, or incompetent for really no reason” burnout. A lot of that stress, fear, anger, and insecurity built up inside of me over the course of my high school career, just due to a lot factors; most of them out of my control. I became incredibly depressed, my mind was in a terrible place, and my future felt bleak. Eventually, after quitting my first job, dropping out of college two weeks in, and several meltdowns, arguments, and scary mental images later, I did what a lot of us do no, I got on antidepressants and started therapy. Oh! and fun fact: this all happened only a few months before COVID. So as you can imagine, that made going to therapy and doctor visits much more of a hassle than it already was. Speaking of doctors, my physical health wasn’t any better, and was just feeding into my terrible mental state. I wasn’t taking good care of my health during high school, as I continued to stress and stress about keeping up my grades. None of this was good for my body, obviously. My school absences and tardies started piling up as my health and mental state worsened. I believe this period of stress full on triggered my chronic health conditions, which I didn’t know I had until right before COVID hit. I suffer from the chronic conditions Hypothyroidism and PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). Everyone who has these conditions experiences them differently. Some have next to no symptoms, some have a few, some suffer with them all. I wouldn’t say I suffer with all the symptoms of these conditions, but my God, I suffer with a vast majority of them. It’s truly put a damper on my life in the past five to six years. Mental and physical health problems usually feed into one another, and it can be a continuous cycle that’s hard to break from; it certainly has been for me. The mental gaslighting and imposter syndrome you get takes a huge toll on you too. People around you don’t believe you, doctors don’t believe you, YOU don’t believe you! You start to think you’re really just lazy and weak. You start to believe your worthless, that you’re not trying hard enough, that you’re not good enough.
During this time of depression, mental and physical exhaustion, hopping from doctor to doctor, therapist to therapist, being put on new meds, being taken off of meds, not being heard, it wore me down. My body and my mind were suffering, and so was my art. The one thing I held all my worth and identity in felt like it was slowly starting to slip away. Like a piece of my soul was fading from me. The mental and physical exhaustion had made it hard for my creativity to thrive. It still does. I’ve been voluntarily hospitalized for suicidal ideations twice in just the past three years, I’ve had to quit all the jobs I’ve ever had because I physically and mentally couldn’t keep up with them after so long. I’ve had to stop drawing and creating for some time because my inspiration, my spark, felt like it died out.
I will admit, my spark for art still isn’t what it was when I was kid, a teenager. There was so much more love and enjoyment and enthusiasm when it came to creating back then! But when you’re in a constant loop of mental and physical exhaustion, it’s hard to be enthused. I know that creativity ebbs and flow, though. I know a lot of great art comes out of pain. Hey, a lot of us artists aren’t exactly the most happy, mentally in check people. Being an artist and making art is incredibly hard in and of itself. It’s incredibly mentally and physically taxing at times, and I just happen to be dealt an extra layer of that. But despite that, I still hold on for better days, better art. I still hold on to the hope art has to bring.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work is mainly illustrative, and done in several different mediums. From colored pencil, ink, watercolor, to gouache, digital, paint markers, acrylic paint and more! I even do some photography!
I don’t particular specialize in any distinctive art style or subjects at the moment. I’ve kind of been in a transitional period with my art and creative process in the past few years. So, I haven’t really honed down in any particular niche. At the moment though, I’d say most people have come to recognize me for my handcrafted greeting cards/postcards, my series of fruit paintings that I created back in 2022, and my use of bright and vibrant colors throughout all my work. I absolutely love color!
Some of the work I’m most proud of is honestly some of the stuff I was creating back in high school. Before I went to the school I graduated from, I started becoming more experimental with art style and coloring techniques with the limited range of art supplies I had at the time. My love for bright, vibrant, and fun colors really started shining through during that time! Then, once I was in my new school, I took art as an elective (obviously, haha), and was taught how to create art with several different techniques and in several different styles. I’m still proud of a lot of the work I made during those last three years of school, especially for a lot of it being my first time ever trying those techniques and styles! I actually framed my notan final from 10th grade like, three or four years after making it, because I still loved it so much!
What sets me apart from the others? I’m going to be straight up and say, I don’t know? Nothing? Everything? My art sets me apart from the others because it’s specifically made by me, by my hands, not theirs, not anyone else’s. I’m not going to pretend that my art doesn’t blend into the rest out there, at least right now it does. What sets it apart from anyone else right now, is quite literally the inclusion me, of my hands making it, my brain, my heart, my thoughts, my imagination. The imagination of a twenty-three year old, white, Midwestern girl, born and raised in rural Missouri. The thoughts of a girl who is one of nine kids, in a dysfunctional family. The heart of a girl who was homeschooled until 10th grade, was raised Catholic and questioned her beliefs and morals from a young age. The brain of a girl who is depressed, constantly tired, and constantly doubting herself. That’s about as much as I can offer when it comes to what sets me apart. A completely unique, living, breathing, feeling individual, who lovingly handcrafts art for herself and others.
How do you define success?
I don’t think I can define success, because I don’t know if it truly it exists? And not in an existential, “we will never actually achieve our goals!” kind of way, but more of a, “we’re always going to be creating more goals after we’ve achieved the ones we originally made, so have we truly succeeded, if we just end up creating yet another goal we’d like to achieve?” kind of way. Or, maybe that is what success is? Being able to continually achieve, and create new goals to then achieve. Who knows? Maybe success is just being here, being alive, being uniquely ourselves?
Again, who knows? I sure don’t! But that’s what I’ve come to believe in this given moment of my life.
Pricing:
- (As shown in some of the photos) 8″x8″ fruit paintings plus 12″x12″ Lemon painting for sale at $165
- All other 12″x12″ fruit paintings for sale at $185
- Framed, matted, and wired gouache painting titled “Submerged” (painting in photo next to me in black dress) for sale at $475
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethagart/
Image Credits
Charles Mooneyham, Emma Moore, Megan Haberberger
