The Windflower Collection: 5th year Anniversary & Reflections

Before I share a preview of my upcoming Anemone collection, I wanted to share with you the “Windflower” collection I made 5 years ago. Many of you were not even following me yet when I made this Anemone collection. Trust me - A LOT has happened since then...

The 2 most significant things are that both my studio space and my artwork have continued to evolve over time.

Lets take a trip together down memory lane.

The Studio

You may not know this, but when I first started Ron Nicole I was creating in the corner of my tiny 600 sq. foot apartment near Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, PA.

Just before I started this Windflower collection, I was able to move my studio space upstairs into another apartment located in the same building I lived in. I knew I needed to separate the business from my home.

This was a big move for me.

I finally had my own space to work in. Being cramped in the corner of my home was challenging for the work I did, and I needed more room for it to grow.

It can be hard for many people to consider art as a “real job”. One that is deserving of a consistent income and good living.

It has upward movement though, just like the career you’ve likely had throughout your life. This was my first big step upwards. Literally. Like there were a million steps. Because it was the top floor of an old, 6-floor, walk-up building.

lol

I think this upward movement has not only been challenging for me, but also for the community I’ve built around my business over the years.

It can be hard to see someone you “discovered” grow and change. Often I notice people seem to internalize it as if I’m growing away from them intentionally. They feel like they’re losing me. They feel a distance forming. The more people who’ve joined the Ron Nicole community, the less close some of you have felt to me.

Shouldn’t we want to see all artists succeed?

Even if it means letting go?

Now that my art studio was all moved into the upstairs apartment I had my photographer, Amy Franz Thomas, come and do a photo shoot of this Anemone collection.

Amy has documented me and my artwork since the beginning. The spaces back then were hardly ever inspiring or picture worthy, but she is a great artist who can always find the beauty in anything and capture the image forever with a photograph.

She sees beauty in everything.

Almost every photo you have ever seen from me was taken by Amy.

Anemones are also known as Windflowers.

So I told Amy I wanted movement in this particular shoot. I wanted the slightly blurred, spontaneous quality it would create in the pictures.

I wanted it to feel like I was the wind blowing through the windflowers.

I wonder if you can notice how raw and unrefined my plaster works used to be? You can see that I was slowly uncovering the idea that would evolve over time into the techniques I use for my artwork now.

Refinement costs both time and money. And although money is recoupable, time is something you never get back.

The artworks I created here were priced based on the level of experience and demand I had acquired up to that point.

You may be shocked to hear this, but since then I’ve spent over a quarter million dollars to get my work to look the way it does now.

I’ve tried every imaginable type of clay, plaster, water, and technique known under the sun in the pursuit of improving my art. And that doesn’t even scratch the surface in terms of the cost of equipment and other tools I’ve purchased over the last 5 years.

There were countless times my husband came into the studio only to see me laying on the floor crying. I can’t even began to count the number of sleepless nights I had because I would stay up working through ideas in my head. I would let my perfectionism get in the way of my growth.

But even through all that, I knew exactly where I was going. I could see the art I wanted to create for decades to come. It was in my head. As hard as it was, I knew it would improve because I was committed to improving it.

I was excited to be in the thick of it.

The time I spent on each piece back then doesn’t even remotely compare to the amount of work that goes into my plasters now. Each artwork now takes me weeks, sometime months to complete. That doesn’t make my old works any less valuable. Those who were able to collect any of my earlier works will have a piece of Ron Nicole history forever.

Trust me - you’ll want to keep them.

I’m building something very special that will hopefully outlive me.

Going back and forth to create the “perfect” floral installation wall.

THAT ONE!!

As rewarding as it can feel to build something from the ground up, it definitely comes with it’s challenges.

My community has grown so much. There used to only be a few hundred of you here. Now there are tens of thousands.

Many of the people who started this journey with me are still here, I talk to some of you on the gram, or via email. Some of you have even stopped through my new studio, and we’ve been able to chit chat for hours. I love that.

But without question I have lost some folks along the way because they felt I’d become too out of touch. And they never seem to just unsubscribe and leave quietly. They go out of their way to degrade me. Those people don’t see me as the fragile human being I am. They see me as someone who should be knocked down a few pegs because they can no longer afford my work or have me all to themselves.

Don’t worry, I’m still working on getting up from all the times I’ve been knocked down. I’ve kept the receipts, and know who you all are, too.

Make no mistake - my artist life has been full of suffering and sacrifices.

We all know it.

It’s why your parents (and mine) told us all to settle down and find ourselves a

“real” career.

So many start on the artist’s journey, only to realize the sacrifices required to make it are often too much to bear.

I have sacrificed every part of my being.

There were many years of sleeping in an empty home because every penny was going back into the business. There have been many fearful 1st of the months when I wasn’t sure I could afford rent or bills.

And the biggest sacrifice was not starting a family because I knew I couldn’t take some of these big risks if children were in the picture.

I completely understand why parents steer their kids away from pursuing an art career. They want you to have a “safe” and “normal” life. One that they could relate to.

A life where you will be both accepted, and more importantly VALUED.

They know the world makes it almost impossible for artists and creatives to succeed.

Unfortunately that way of thinking has a ripple effect.

When young dreams are not allowed to blossom, that young person can grow up into the kind of jaded, bitter adult who forgets how much they once valued art.

Eventually you become the type of person that doesn’t even want to pay an artist for their time or work.

You regard the artist as someone who is less than, and doesn’t have value in society.

When I see pictures of my old studio, I see the constant struggle and daily sacrifices.

I think about the posts I would share on instagram, and then it dawns on me that many who followed me back then could relate to who I was at the time. I was the “struggling artist” their parents had told them about. My constant suffering gave them comfort because it meant they had made the right choices in their life by staying on the straight and narrow path.

It meant they didn’t have to regret not chasing their dreams.

When I moved into my new studio a couple of years ago, I started to see an uptick in the mean and nasty dms, emails, and comments.

Suddenly there were complaints about my prices

(even though I’ve always made an effort to include artworks that are affordable).

I live and work in an affluent & artsy community, and I still see the looks of confusion when random people wander into my art studio.

I feel them trying to wrap their head around the idea that I work in such a beautiful, inspiring place. Most can only be in there for a few moments before their discomfort starts to show. My designer, Nicole from Vestige Home, made the studio space too nice, apparently.

But there’s no reason to be uncomfortable when you walk into my space. All the negative things you were told about artists have been true for me. I don’t wish this career on anyone who doesn’t have a lot of emotional and financial support surrounding them. The pain you suffer will never be paid back in full.

When you see a successful artist you should be asking yourself “what did they have to give up to make it?”.

PART 2

Anemone “Windflower” Collection 2023

Stay tuned.