Meet Elissa Fertig

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elissa Fertig a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Elissa, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is a skill that gets a bad rap, but it is an essential part of being a creative and having success in your chosen field. More than “getting back up when you’ve fallen”, resilience is also about self-respect. You must respect yourself, and your goals, enough to honor them even when things are difficult.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a writer and art historian living in Chicago, IL. I am focused professionally, though it’s still in its early days, on an exciting new project with my colleague and friend Camilla Mikolajewska called Vagabond Art. Vagabond Art is a curatorial initiative that creates conversations between artists and local businesses through events and exhibitions, as well as independent pop-ups. We are flexible and versatile, and part of what makes Vagabond special is its ability to create meaningful connections in nearly every creative industry, whether that’s music, food, or visual art. Making connections between creatives is one of the tenets of our brand. In the past, beyond more traditional gallery-style exhibitions, we have hosted dinner parties and networking events, connecting people across platforms. We have many more exciting events coming up in Chicago, and hopefully beyond. Stay tuned for all of our events via our Instagram @vbondart. You can follow my own writing projects at @efntsy.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I am still very early in my career but some things that have been important for me (and I think it’s different for everyone) are these three things:

1. Resilience. This is particularly true with the creative industry. You have to just keep going, even when it seems like you can’t catch a break. You will!

2. Time is your friend. Try to be patient. Things will come if you just keep at it. It’s also nice, if you’re a creative, to create, leave it and return. Time will make that thing appear different than it initially did and that is only to your benefit – you can get feedback from how you’ve developed in the interim.

3. Stay true to you. Everyone’s journey is wildly different. This feedback might not work for you and that’s completely fine. Be open to what other people have to say about your work, but only you know what’s right for you.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

The first book that comes to mind is Maggie Nelson’s “On Freedom”, which I have read three times and received some mixed reviews.

I love Nelson’s blend of academia, auto-fiction and memoir. After reading her work, I realized that this hybrid blend of styles and genres was possible. With writing, and art, there aren’t many rules that you need to stick to in order to have a successful piece of work. This is true of curatorial projects as well. Parameters are important, but so is breaking them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://elissafertig.squarespace.com
• Instagram: @efntsy, @vbondart

Image Credits

Camilla Mikolajewska