Being an artist is being a business woman : Mia Schon

Written by : Noa Gelfged

Thank you Mia for answering my questions today. Being an artist is being a business woman, can you identify yourself in this sentence ?

It’s a pleasure. I agree with this idea! It takes time to create a business and understand how everything works to launch it! For me there is a common connection between being a business woman and an artist, we just have to learn how combining both.

Tell me about yourself, where are you from and what are your background ?

I was born in Boston and I graduated from the University of Michigan in 2009. I followed two programs, Fine Art and Design to make sure to study a large aspect of art.

“My culture influenced my success”

Why did you decide to follow an artistic career ?

I had the chance to grow up inside an art positive family. In fact, we are almost all artists, from my grandma to my mother and father. They all encouraged and supported me to follow this way. However, my family have not a bourgeois or hipster art style. It means that they all are focused on business at the same time. It teaches me how to deal with art and manage everything behind.

“You move to start somewhere”

Why did you decide to move from Boston to Tel Aviv ?

I moved to Israel at 27 years old with the idea of spending three months in Tel-Aviv. I wanted to take a break to discover the Israeli art and meet some artists here. I grew up by seeing Jewish art and I needed to see the difference with Art from this country. Then I got a job in Tech and they required me to make my Alyah, so after one year I decided to make it and to stay here. I’m leaving in Israel for 5 years now.

Your job is being an artist. In fact, I’ve seen that your doing plenty of activities related to art. Can you develop all your different activities ?

Yes I’m glad to have many different activities. On the one hand I’m teaching workshops once a week. I love explaining how to use materials, ideas and creativity to create Mosaic. On the other hand, I’m always collaborating for creating commissioned pieces in public art. I’m working for non-profit organizations, for the city and also for myself, for free (laugh).

How did you come up with the idea of Mosaic with Mia ? When did you start it?

When I moved here, I started creating mosaic on the street to see which impact it could give. And one day a famous art magazine wrote an article about one of my street creations and shared it to 16.000 people. At first I didn’t realize how lucky I was but it made my advertisement really quickly. After it, I decided to open my business and started working with a structured way and came up with the idea of teaching art.

To discover her website here

Did you start alone ? Do you work only by yourself ?

I started by myself by creating mosaic but I understood rapidly that making art takes time and requires different ideas. I’m generally helped by other people and I learned to work in team. Sharing ideas in art is really important! Jennifer (from Tech it Forward) was really helpful to me from my beginning. We met each other thanks to a friend we have in common. The way we met was funny and unusual. One day, I was talking with a women in the street and we discovered that our grandfathers from Boston were brothers. She was close to Jennifer and introduced me to her. This story always reminds me how small is the world !

“Making an impact is my definition of success”

What is the idea behind Mosaic with Mia ? Is there an impact behind your work you want to give? If yes, which one is it ?

My goal is to change the way people interact with each other. For me, Mosaic is symbolic and everyone can contribute to it. It brings people together. I learned this sharing feeling from my grandma and it stayed deep inside me.

Can you explain me how you work (in terms of processes, pourcentage of planning) and how you manage your business ?

I will tell you the truth! If you want to succeed in art to make your living, you have to work a lot on the administration of your business. I’m spending 70% of my time on sending emails, answering people, building ads, paying bills and on writing proposals because generally people don’t come to us to ask to create art. We, as artists, have to show our work and motivation all the time. It’s also the reason why I decided to teach in addition to my public art.

What do you do during your free time ?

I have the feeling that I always have to go further in art. But instead of working on mosaic, I focus myself on collage and painting which are my hobbies. It’s important for me to try to discover other aspects of art.

Many people think that artists struggle financially but your business seems to be structured and successful. How can you explain this difference between this mentality and reality ?

We always have to be creative, to think further and makes plan for the next months. In other terms, we have to be “the fuel and fire”.

A funny fact you would like to share ? (about you or your environment)

I’m using a lot of mirror for creating my mosaic. Many of people around me think firstly that there is a meaning behind, something related to the reflection. I will tell you the truth : Mirrors are extremely available everywhere. It’s easy to find them because when they are broken, people throw them away. So I decided to use them and take profit of it.

Those are my tips for anyone who wants to be active in Art !

“Show your work”

“Be proud of yourself”

“Listen to yourself, to your feelings”

“Be honest in what you are doing”