Local Artist Mia Cross on How She Made a Career as an Artist

WRITTEN BY LAURA CHASSAIGNE

Today we are excited to talk with Mia Cross, a local artist whose work is really unique and exciting. I first saw her work at the Cambridge Facebook offices, where she was one of the artists-in-residence. Since I started following her, I am so intrigued by her playful style and amazing use of color. I hope you like her work as much as I do!

Hi Mia! Thanks so much for chatting with us. I have really enjoyed following you on Instagram since seeing your mural at the Boston Facebook offices. I love your use of color! Your aesthetic is so unique. How would you describe your artistic style?

Thank you so much! I would describe my artistic style as narrative based with a strong focus on color. Currently, and over the past couple of years, in my oil paintings, I have been dancing between figurative pieces and abstracted “color studies”, sometimes trying to merge the two. In my mural work I have sort of done the same thing. Some murals include the figure to expand upon a narrative and some are just about color and shape. And then in the past I have made some sculptural pieces that are usually based in the figure. But no matter what it is, it has to have nice color to keep me happy.

Had you always wanted to be an artist? What was your path like to get to where you are now in your career?

Yes I have always wanted to be an artist! When I was about seven I wrote that I wanted to be an artist, ballerina, and a soccer player. I have yet to check the ballerina box except I did do kinderdance but I don’t think we can count it! I grew up in an artistic household and it was just normal to be surrounded by art and always creating/building/painting/drawing/arranging. I have vivid memories of going to the children’s museum shop with my brother and parents after a day at the museum. You could fill a bag with all these little pieces of foam, and shapes, and crafty pieces and when you got home you could create anything in the world! It was amazing. This is just one of the many experiences that cemented my love of making. And my dad is an artist and always painted as I was growing up. My mom is very creative too and has a sharp eye. I was and still am so lucky to have parents who nourished the creative spirit of my brother and me.

Ok here is the long version of my path! By junior year of high school I made the decision to drop sports to focus on art and video production. I thought I would go to college for marketing, advertising, or TV. Although a lot of people in my family are super creative, I didn’t know anyone who made a career out of being a full-time artist, so I only applied to a couple of art programs, sort of as an aside like “oh that could be fun”. But eventually I narrowed it down to three schools in Boston and one of them was Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. The appeal of BU was, “ok I’ll try the art program and if I don’t like it I’ll switch out, the school is big enough”.

Fortunately, I didn’t ever have to face that decision because I immediately loved being in art school! It was a dream to create all day long. I had amazing professors who taught me to draw, to sculpt, to use oil paints, and to see color. BUT even then as I neared the end of my time in school I was thinking, “How am I going to be creative after I graduate…? Ok I’ll do window design!” I had done an internship at Anthropologie and thought it was a good combination of getting paid and being creative. So after school I lived in Brighton and worked retail until I got the job I thought I wanted, I became the full time display artist at West Elm in Boston which included window design. Quickly I realized “OH, this is 10% creativity, 90% sell couches and deal with corporate nonsense.” After six months at that job which included frigid 5:30 am bike rides to work, being electrocuted on a ladder, and getting concussed ha, I left to work as a studio assistant for Janet Echelman in Brookline. Around that time I also got accepted into my first artist residency, I decided to move home, and started commuting into Boston to work for Janet.

I started painting again, applying to shows, and trying to figure out my path as an artist who didn’t want to work for someone else. After about a year, there was a glimmer of hope, I received my first artist grant, so I left Janet’s, and didn’t look back! I suppose now it has been about 4 years since then. And every year I learn more about how to make this a viable career. But I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to move home and figure things out with a roof over my head. I am especially fortunate to have had a space where I can create (in my family’s outdoor studio). My fiancé and I are now saving for a home and I am excited about the prospect of building a studio wherever we end up.

Where do you work most of the time? What is your typical work day like?

Most of the time I work from my home studio in Framingham. Every work day is unique, which I truly appreciate. If I am getting ready for a show I will try to push as much aside as I can to be in the studio all day from about 10-8. But if I am not in hard core show mode, a typical week could include working on commissions, planning projects, emails, applications, dropping off my work, picking it up, getting it scanned, stretching and preparing canvases, sketching designs for clients, and just normal living stuff like exercising, cleaning, running errands, and the list goes on! Depending on my deadlines, if I’m in a less intense working time I’ll usually take the weekend off to hang with my family, go on little adventures, and refresh.

You work with murals, sculptures, and works on canvas. Do you find the process of painting a mural poses different challenges?

For me mural work requires more precise planning than a painting I am making in my studio. Clients usually want to see exactly what they are going to get, so I spend a lot of time beforehand designing my murals on my iPad. On past mural projects so far, I have been on tight timelines working around construction and such, so having a thorough plan helps me execute the mural efficiently. I am a relatively slow painter and a lot of my murals include precise line work and a lot of custom color mixing so having a good plan helps me not be overwhelmed by a big wall and time constraints. Also I am not a cool muralist who can just try things out on the wall, I like to know what I am doing going into it so I don’t waste time and paint. That being said, I still make sure to have fun, that I have the freedom to make changes on the wall, and that I still allow space for spontaneity. Material-wise I use house paints/acrylics on murals not oil paints, and this lends itself to a different type of painting. But I really enjoy both.

Where do you find inspiration?

Ohh I find inspiration just about everywhere. People, places, feelings. From a piece of blue glass to a weird mustache to a polka dotted sock. A lot of times it comes from nature, because there is no better artist than Mother Nature. I wait for colors to hit me in the face sometimes and then I try to capture them for myself. Maybe it is a piece of old fabric or maybe it is the sunset after a grey day. I look for people who will match the idea I have for a painting. Maybe they fit because they have a long neck or a big nose. Or maybe I just paint myself because I am the only one around that day.

I think that is one of the most special parts about being an artist, it is your job to be open to the world, to absorb things, to collect experiences, it all goes in to your art. Nothing is lost, even if you aren’t creating at the time.

You have a studio in SoWa — when can our readers come and find you there? Where else can they see your work?

I use my studio at SoWa as a showing space so typically I am actually at home in Framingham creating the work, and then when it is finished I bring it into Boston to display. I am always at SoWa for First Friday and some Sundays, but the best way to find me is shoot me a message on via my website or instagram and we can arrange a studio visit! The next show I have coming up is in March — I have a two person show with my friend Daniel Zeese at Fountain Street Gallery called “Where The Worlds Meet.” I try to keep people in the know about my shows on my website but my constant home base for my work is my SoWa studio. That is where all the paintings end up, and I have prints, drawings etc. You can also see my mural work at Blick in Fenway, and at Tender Greens in the Copley Mall!

What advice would you offer to someone starting out in the visual arts or another creative field?

My advice for someone starting out is first, make the work. Make work you are proud of and want to share! And then make a website. It is an essential tool to showing you are serious about your pursuit. And then get that work out there! Share it, apply to as many shows/opportunities as you can. Decide what your goals are and start asking people questions about how you can get there. And don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself and tell people about your dreams and goals, because then they can help you get there too. Not every opportunity/show is going to be earth shattering but it will probably lead to something else (although you might not realize it for years and years!). Evaluate what you want out of being an artist. There are so many types. Find your balance. For most artists the challenge is making the work you want and making money. For me I view my commissioned paintings as my “day job” that provides a more stable stream of income and then I balance that with making pieces I am passionate about that don’t necessarily need to sell (but I am happy if that do). I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to be an artist and to have started pursuing this profession full time while I am young, with a supportive family, and not many financial burdens, etc. But if you have the dream and passion there is always a way, somehow, even if it is little by little.

What are your favorite spots in Boston and the surrounding area? How would you spend a perfect day off?

My fiancé used to live on Griggs Park in Brookline and that spot will always be so special to me! A little haven, filled with dogs, and families and majestic willow trees. Other favorite spots would have to be the MFA and the Gardner Museum…amazing museums within a stone’s throw of each other. Another…Mount Auburn Cemetery, so much amazing history! Bike riding on the Esplanade. And a perfect day off would include a long walk with my fiancé in Gloucester, or at a nearby Audubon, or up a mountain, or somewhere new we haven’t yet explored. And the day probably includes a cookie and snuggling a cat.

Thanks so much for talking with us, Mia! It is so interesting to hear your path towards finding your career (getting electrocuted, omg!), and love your work. Can’t wait to see what you do next!

Keep in touch with Mia through her Instagram and her website, stop by the Fountain Street Gallery to see her show March 4-29, or come see her at a SoWa First Friday!