2021 Trends: Guidance from a Growing Artist

2021 was the first big year for Michael Lardizabal as a Chattanooga artist, and he discusses his experience.

Michael Lardizabal has had a complex history with art. While he has always been artistically inclined, Michael spent most of his artistic career as a musician. Tragically, Michael became unable to sing due to a medical issue. Instead of letting this discourage him, Michael instead completely shifted his creative pursuits to become a visual artist.

Michael’s new art career kicked off in August as he began to put himself out there by showing his artwork on social media and then going to local markets. This eventually led to him being invited to local art shows and starting to sell his works.

“At the start I was just wondering if I was even good enough to sell art. People definitely said yes!” Michael said.

This grew into Michael starting to build his own website to sell his art pieces and now he is starting to turn it into a career, making more and more sales and creating a social media presence.

The dream goal for Michael is for him to one day run his own entertainment studio in Chattanooga, creating not just visual art but all kinds of art with the help of other artists.

“Me seeing where my creativity takes me has been a process of just having big dreams and taking small steps to achieve them.” He said.

Michael didn’t start 2021 with these big goals though. He says that he started the year just wanting to become a better artist in general. The main way he did was by just doing things that he thought were things that ‘artists do’, like practicing, sharing his artwork with others, and attending markets.

“I kept on cultivating confidence with every piece that I made, building up a collection that was getting better. You can really solidify your identity as an artist by always creating.” Michael said.

2022 is going to be the year where Michael hopes to get a studio space and take on bigger projects. He wants to expand into stickers, prints, 3D art, and hopefully do solo shows and murals.

“Just take the next step to be more confident and be where you wanna be. Fear is a friend who can point you towards what to pursue. Change careers. Listen to fears. Lean into them and be the person you want to be.” He said.

You can follow Michael on Instagram and check out his new website!