We recently connected with Karen Golightly and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Karen, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.
My ability to take a risk came from two sources: my father, Billy Bedsole, and my former boss, Carol DeForest. My father was a coach for over 50 years, baseball, basketball, and football. He spend a few of those years coaching my older brother, and then decades coaching young men (starting at age 6-15). Though my brother was a star basketball player, I was average at best. But I wanted that connection with my father, so I grew to love the sport (still do!). He knew I wasn’t very good, but he taught me plenty of skills to make me better. His one main lesson was: If you don’t shoot, you’ll never score. It was drilled into my head by the time I was 8, and it’s stuck with me. Of course, basketball never became my passion or my career, but I took those words to heart, and applied them to everything else in my life. Sometimes I miss, sure. But I just keep shooting.
The other main influence on my ability to take a risk came from my former boss, painter, sculptor, ceramicist, Carol DeForest. I worked for Carol from the time I was 21, and had just returned from six months in Australia, for the next ten years. I had never worked as or for an artist, and I’m not at all skilled in painting, sculpting, or ceramics, but Carol, like my dad, taught me the skills to be good enough. She also introduced me to the art community here in Memphis., which became a huge part of my future. Her advice: Never fear the future. Again, those words ring in my ears even today.
Ten years ago, I helped to start Paint Memphis, a nonprofit that makes art accessible to people of all identities, geographies, and regardless of their socio-economic status. It started as an effort to make my street art photography easier, by having more of it available to me in Memphis. I had been all over the world, taking street art photos, but on my return to Memphis, there was little of it on our streets. I found amazing works of art in abandoned buildings, on train cars, in ditches. But I wanted everyone to be able to see these fantastic pieces everywhere in Memphis. So, with a few years research and a lot of meetings with the City of Memphis and other organizations, they finally gave us a wall on Chelsea Avenue. It became the first city-sanctioned permission wall in Memphis and showed us how involved the neighbors wanted to be in our organization. With only 35 artists, we transformed a dumping ground full of 6-foot weeds, tires, mattresses, and a 3/4 mile long grey wall into a green space that neighbors and all Memphians wanted to see and continue to maintain. Did I know what I was doing? No. Absolutely not. But I found people who did, and I kept learning and our organization kept growing until we were hosting over 150 artists annually with over 50,000 square feet of mural space each year. And some unexpected, amazing things came out of that 2015 project. A hilarious artist from Nashville, Brad Wells, who painted a butterfly mural and became our “poster media man,” since he stayed over a week and greeted every media outlet who came on the scene, passed away a few months after our event. He had connected with every artist that year and made plans to collaborate with many of them His sweetness and passion made all of the hard work worth it, and pushed me to work harder the next year.
I’ve met hundreds of new people in Memphis every single year we’ve had Paint Memphis (since 2015). I’m excited for our future, and yes, it’s all be worth the risk.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m an assistant professor of English, Director of creative writing, and the Chair of Literature and Languages at Christian Brothers University here in Memphis. I have three amazing almost grown children, Bella, Phin, and Pip. They are really the reason that I get up in the morning. I’ve tried to instill in them that they need to dream bigger, and work hard to make those dreams come true. I’ve published on novel, There Are Things I Know, and have edited another nonfiction book, Memphis: 200 Years Together.
One of the things I’m really excited about is working as the Director of Development for Paint Memphis. It’s one of the most amazing projects and nonprofits I’ve ever been involved with. I’ve learned an incredible about of skills and knowledge with my experience with Paint Memphis, as founder, executive director, director of development, Girl Friday, etc.
Our main event will be on October 7, 2023, in the Edge District in Memphis, Tennessee. We also offer grafitti, mural, and lettering workshops throughout the year. You can check out our website and social media (FB and IG) to find out more details.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
To me, drive is the most important quality for me in making Paint Memphis, and my career as a whole, successful. However, I would also consider trying your hardest to remain positive. If someone says no to you, that really just means “not right now.” Finally, I think that trying to remain patient, and not have a knee-jerk reaction when something goes wrong (and it will go wrong). If you stop, take a minute, a day, a week, and really think about the obstacle or problem you encounter, then you can probably find a way around it. If you can’t, one of your friends or acquaintances can. To that end, make lots of friends, get to know a lot of people, even if you consider yourself an introvert (like I do). You’re going to need them on this journey.
I think the best advice I can give is to find what you love and make it happen. You can do it. Take a shot.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
We would love folks to partner and collaborate with us. We have quite a few volunteers, but we need someone who would like to organize these folks, and really show how much we appreciate their efforts.
Personally, I would love a mentor in the Memphis area, who could connect me to sources of funding, particularly corporate or individual funders. This is an area in which I really need help. I also need more confidence in approaching these donors (again, I’m an introvert). But I believe in Paint Memphis, and I know it can grow and expand in the future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://paintmemphis.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paint_memphis/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaintMemphis/
Image Credits
Zach Curtis Justin Fox Burks Kirsten Sandlin Karen B. Golightly Bill Simmers Curtis Glover
