January 28, 2025

Welcome All!

I wanted to get into the nitty gritty of how Kat’s Curiosities came to be.

For the past year, I have been exploring the world of art business. Art consumes so much of my life that I finally sat down with myself and decided, this is what I wanted to do. This is what my life is going to be about. If I can make it viable income? Even better, but I understand that the market isn’t the greatest for artists right now, so income isn’t top of mind. I’ve done a couple shows and I absolutely loved it! Dressed up, shared my passion, and had so much fun. Setting up the table was even fun!

Before all of this, I was absolutely lost. I had graduated with 2 bachelor degrees, anthropology and criminal justice, back in 2017. I started college for archaeology, but got more into forensic anthropology. By the end of my undergraduate career, I changed my mind again and wanted to focus on diseases from an anthropological perspective. At that point, I was engaged and after getting married in 2018, I started a masters in One Health from University of Glasgow. This was an online degree and quite enjoyed saying I was getting a degree in Scotland! I even visited a year later in October 2019.

It was tough though to do classes from the other side of the world. I switched then to a US online program. During these years, I became an EMT and that was draining. I started working at a tech company in 2021 and in 2023, I got divorced. I really had to think of what came next. What did I want to do with my life?

I dropped from the MPH program shortly after. I realized I was only doing it because I felt I had to be in something that was more “hard science” because that’s the only thing that would get me a career. I wasn’t happy though. I was constantly stressed and doing online classes made it almost impossible to really concentrate. I got decent grades, but I felt like I wasn’t learning anything. I always felt best when I created stuff.

I had a gamer YouTube channel for a hot minute and though I kind of liked it, it wasn’t really for me. I liked the couple commentary videos I did, but that was a lot of work and I didn’t have the mental capacity to do more. I love reading and thought about doing videos on the books I was reading.

I started getting more into digital art and sculpting. For the first time in a long while, I felt actually accomplished. I realized I lost my core self over the years as I tried to be someone I really wasn’t.

With the support from my best friends, I signed up for a little market that was at my workplace. Free, tables provided, why not? I had digital art prints, Bobert magnets, painted DnD minis, and D20s encased in epoxy for gelatinous cubes. The set up wasn’t great, but I also had nothing at that point so I just made it work. And I sold a decent amount, $100 worth of my art. And then I decided to sign up for a local convention. It cost a bit, but I wasn’t thinking I was going to sell enough to break even. It was to network and see what kind of clientele I could expect.

I did so much better than I thought I was going to! Though I didn’t sell enough to cover the cost of the booth, it was really eye opening to what I loved to do. I’m an introvert at heart and I was socially drained for a while after, but boy oh boy, I felt good. It was definitely worth it.

I did a couple more over 2024 and continued to sell more and more. I posted a YouTube video on how I made the mimic. I expanded my inventory to sculpts and commissions. I got an official poster, table cloth, and all the good stuff like that.

There was one question though that I still had. As I’m doing these shows, what do I do for regular income? I’m not quite happy at the tech company. Layoffs, crazy changes, intense micromanagement. It’s stressful, but I had some flexibility with working hybrid. It’s not what I’d like to do for the rest of my life and I don’t think my art is viable as of right now.

I decided to start over with school and begin an AA in Fine Arts at a community college. Doing this, it has helped my art even after just one semester. I enjoyed being in a physical class again. I didn’t need to take gen ed courses because I’ve already taken them, so all the classes are purely art related. It has motivated me if nothing else. I still don’t know what my career is going to look like, but I do know that I’m on the right path.

So now I’m here, starting 2025 with 2 vendor shows booked, second semester began, etsy shop opened, and so many good and fuzzy feelings about the year ahead.

With all that said! Hit me up with questions, what you might like to see, and any feedback.

Stay Curious and Stay Weird!

Kat’s Curiosities