Meet Terry Ganey

We were lucky to catch up with Terry Ganey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Terry , sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

I am just learning to speak out now about my struggles with depression and anxiety – two things I have battled since I was a little girl which began with the trauma of losing my father at such a young age.

I feel like there is still so shame attached to the struggles with mental health issues, so I never publicly talked about it before now. Learning to be open and speak out about it has actually helped me, as well using my art not only as a way to pay my bills, but as a source of therapy for me.

In the past couple of years, I have been through some big changes in my life, and dealing with a few extra personal struggles, so I simply started keeping an art journal. I started painting more intuitively in it, using whatever colors spoke to me and moving the brush whichever way it was leading. Painting like this regularly in my journal has even begun to bleed over into my main art style – taking my art from a more realistic style in an abstract direction, which has also really been therapeutic for me ; it just feels natural and right painting my feelings out.

I have also been spending more time outdoors and practicing more little acts of self-care for myself daily. Lately, I have been learning the hard way to not over-schedule myself (which can lead to my anxiety amping up) and I am learning a new art – the art of saying “no”. If I feel it can lead to me becoming more stressed and anxious, or even becoming depressed because I am so overwhelmed, I simply say “no”, even if it upsets people. It takes another form of discipline to do all these things for my mental health, but it helps keep me in a good place, even when I am having a bad day.

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 feel like I was honestly born an artist. My dad was artistically talented (as well as my uncle) and one of my favorite memories of him was when we would be doing things as a family, like simply watching TV together, and he would draw all of us while he was sitting there. He worked for a paper mill, and he would bring home tons of cardboard paper for he and I to draw on. I was only 8 when he passed away unexpectedly at 36, so I hold tightly to those memories of him introducing me to the world of art.
I took art classes in grade school, but I never ended up going to college for it. I am completely self-taught, which in itself can cause people sometimes to not to take your art as serious. I put my art on the back burner for many years – but I always felt a piece of me was missing; I wasn’t being my authentic self by denying my call to art.
I completely turned myself over to art in 2017 when I left my job as a pharmacy technician at a local hospital and started renting a little studio at TheArtWorks in Wilmington, NC – where I found a great community of artists, who eventually became my tribe.
To learn as much as I can about my craft, I am constantly reading art books, magazines, watching tutorials, anything I can get on hands on that is art-related to help me learn more. I try to paint/draw almost daily – I always tell new artists/students that good old-fashioned practice -as much as you can-is what will help you more than anything to grow and succeed as an artist.
Since opening my studio, it has taken a lot of patience, persistence, and discipline (which I do struggle with sometimes), to get to where I am now. The past few years have been a crazy roller coaster ride in my art career – I did my second solo exhibition which was held downtown Wilmington near the Riverwalk at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. My little watercolor and ink sketch of a local brewery I did on an “sketch-crawl” with the Urban Sketchers Chapter of Wilmington, was used on their anniversary tee-shirts – that was a surreal thing for me. I also started teaching private watercolor classes in my studio! I love introducing a student to art, making sure they have a strong foundation in which to begin their creative journey, and showing them how painting can truly be a source of therapy, as well as an as a new found hobby. I teach only one student at a time because I not only teach by a set lesson plan, I teach intuitively and alter the lessons to what the student needs, what their style seems to be, and even what subjects they would love to paint.
The biggest thing happening currently in my art world is that I am currently illustrating my first children’s book called, “Everybody Stinks”, by PA author, Craig Jones. This wonderful project has not only helped me learn to how to navigate in the publishing world as an illustrator, but it has helped my creativity grow and showed me I could do things I never imagined I could do. I am in the final stages of the illustrations currently, so hopefully it will be hitting the shelves and elementary schools soon!
I am super grateful for where I am at currently, and could not have got to this place without the support of my amazing hubby, Andy, my mom, my best friends, my family at TheArtWorks, and my urban sketcher tribe.

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?

Three qualities that I feel are so important to me, my growth, and my art career are patience, dedication, and resilience.
It honestly took me a long time to get to the place I am at currently, to get my artwork noticed, and to honestly get my name out there in my local arts community. It took me many hours of watching, reading, learning, and practicing what I had learned to become a better artist. It took many months of working markets with no sales, periods of having creative blocks, and not being able to produce anything, and doing many commissions that weren’t the art I really wanted to create just to pay bills, to get to this place. I always tell younger artists or artists just starting out, you have to be patient – success does not happen over night, you have to stick with it, and keep showing up to grow and be seen, even in this world of super fast technology. Have patience with yourself to get over creative blocks and to even learn new techniques.
Dedication is sticking with it, showing up to create, even when you are having the worst day or you are feeling under the weather. You have to put in the work to reap the rewards. You have to be dedicated in your practice, your craft, and dedicated to learning. I feel like artists and even just as humans, we should never stop learning, which leaves to evolving. You also have to be dedicated and disciplined in allowing yourself to make mistakes, to make ugly art, and to take time for yourself. It truly is a “practice”, being an artist.
Resilience – something I was taught at an early age with the death of my father, watching my mom be strong and take on the role of a single parent, raising two little girls, when she herself was young, working, and still learning about life. Years later, I learned about that resilience first-hand, when I left an abusive marriage and became a single parent, trying to raise two little ones as well, work full-time, and take some college courses. I still tried carve out some art time for myself late at night, because it was then that it became a source of therapy and an escape for me. When I became a full-time artist, resilience came in the form of dealing with blows like not being accepted into shows, periods of no sales, the “art cliques” I have never really been accepted into, rejection and harsh criticism that can come from the public, as well as from some other artists.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

I am currently experiencing this now, so I am still learning how to handle it.
I may not be the best source of advice about this, but I can tell you what I am doing for myself and what I have been learning the hard way.
I am learning how to say “no” to people, which is hard to me because I have always been such a people pleaser; I am not one who likes to ruffle anyone’s feathers. I just want everyone to be happy, which I have learned is often at the expense of my own mental and emotional well-being. I am learning to turn down things if my schedule is already full, even if it upsets someone and saying yes would mean more exposure for me as an artist.
I am learning to plan my time more wisely, and to literally schedule in breaks for myself, which is honestly something I have always struggled with. I keep a total of FOUR planners- two virtual ones on my phone, my tablet, and 2 physical ones – a small one in my bag, and one hanging in my studio. As soon as I sign up to do something, I immediately put it down in my planners so I can keep up with everything, especially now that I teach classes. I also put in those self-care dates – like when I go out on a “photography adventure” – one of my hobbies – with my friend Heather or even if it is just a hour to lay in my backyard hammock and read a good book.
I am learning that it is totally okay to ask for help from family and friends – there should be no shame in admitting you can’t do it all, all the time.
Also, when I get overwhelmed, I turn off my phone, and retreat from the world because I sometimes feel like there is just so much noise and chaos going on around me, I can’t hear myself think or the beat of my own heart. I have to shut down from social media often because it alone overwhelms me at times, and makes my anxiety and even depression worse. That is when I cut all electronic devices off for a while and get out into nature to heal and recharge. Thankfully when I do shut-down, my family and my best friends understand that and know I will be back as soon as I am at peace again. They also understand when I put up boundaries for my mental and emotional health, and they respect them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.terryganeystudio.com
• Instagram: @terryganeystudio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terryganeystudio

Image Credits

Stephen Lutz