Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Vian Borchert. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Vian, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
My optimism stems from the fact that I am a dreamer. I’ve always been a dreamer ever since I was a young child. I would always dream about beautiful things and imagine things much prettier than they are in real life. I sometimes sit and wonder why I dream that the upcoming events or situations are much better than how they are in actuality. Then, I realize that the hopeless optimist in me seems to take over the whole core of who I am. Being a dreamer and an optimist is much like being a hopeless romantic which I also am. You truly want to believe in romance – you truly want to believe in the good, you truly want to believe that good is awaiting one and will occur. In general though, I think it is a character trait more than anything else – although as they say one can practice their optimism muscle and keep optimism afloat. Yet, for me specifically I believe my optimism is due to the fact that I am a dreamer and have this personality where I go about life seeing things from rose tinted glasses. Moreover, as an art educator, whenever some of my students say something negative, I try to redirect them and lift them up and instill in them positive thoughts and mindset reminding them to try to see matters in a more glass half full rather than glass half empty approach.
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 visual artist and painter. I describe my art as a form of visual poetry. I have been creating art professionally for many years. I am an award winning artist and poet. I come from an art background where my family instilled in me the love for the arts. I do believe in my case I inherited the artistic genes that run in my family. I always loved and enjoyed creating and making art as a child. I was a shy child, thus, retreating to the arts was a form of solace and self-care to allow my talents and my imagination to come through. I am also a “Notable Alumni” from the Corcoran College of Art and Design George Washington University. My artistic upbringing along with my formal art education all refined and formed me into the artist that I am. Upon graduation, I traveled and exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions where I had the chance to meet wonderful artists and art enthusiasts from all over. My artistic path and career grew with every exhibition and every art endeavor. It’s been a couple of decades on this winding road of being an artist. Being an artist is an intrinsic and integral part of who I am, much like breathing, eating and sleeping. Creating art and being a creative person is the totality of who I am. My style of art falls in the abstract expressionist genre with a minimal twist. My art is inspired by the environment, nature and my travels. My work is mainly acrylic on canvas. Moreover, I exhibit in major cities in key galleries and museums. My work is internationally collected and sought after. Furthermore, my work is acquired by embassies, hospitals, corporations besides private clients. Blue is my favorite color since it reminds me of the peaceful blue sea and the ever-changing dynamic blue sky. Thus, one sees lots of blues in my sea of paintings. As of late, I was very delighted to experience and see my artwork titled “Spectrum” displayed on a huge digital billboard in Times Square – Broadway in NYC. Additionally, my paintings can be seen and are available at “1stDibs” and “Artsy” which are premier auction houses and marketplaces. Always, keep the look out for my latest work and new paintings making an appearance on these sites/platforms. Link to “1stDibs”:
https://www.1stdibs.com/creators/vian-borchert/art/
Link to “Artsy”
https://www.artsy.net/artist/vian-borchert
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back, the three areas that are most impactful, I believe are: Education, Education and Education. Yet, for the sake of not sounding repetitive, I’ll say the following: education, talent, hard work, perseverance and work experience.
My education has shaped the person that I am and refined my vision in the arts. Also, an incredible amount of artistic talent is needed to make it in this business.
Work experience: In my case, working in numerous museums and being an art educator for many years has shown me firsthand how I can help and ease people’s way and vision into how to “Look at art” which is the most basic yet essential approach to understanding and learning art.
Time: the most important is the natural growth occurring and not speeding things up to make oneself seem like one is at a specific stage when one is still a beginner. So, being absolutely true to oneself while allowing time to make one see and understand the path one’s on.
When it comes to qualities, an artist needs all the patience in the world to persevere in this tough business and make something out of oneself. Art is truly not for everyone, especially the creation of art, but if it is intrinsic within one, then it will clearly come out. Thus, qualities such as absolute maddening love and passion for this craft, and patience and perseverance are a must.
My honest to goodness advice to people scratching their head thinking of becoming artists, is if you truly have a remarkable and very clear talent then this might be a go. But, if you struggle to create art and you still can’t master the ABC’s of drawing and painting, then this art path and career might not be the right pairing for you. Thus, do the time, get the needed training and formal education, don’t take shortcuts, and later on evaluate yourself if this is for you or not. There are so many fields within the arts such as making music, acting, performance that might be the better fit to one rather than painting. Therefore, don’t follow the “abstract artist trend” that one sees taking over social media where anyone with a bucket of paint and a big canvas calls themselves an artist – follow the inner voice of your inner child and remind yourself of what you liked most as a child, perhaps “Lego” building was more your forté, then in this regard, a profession in engineering might be more your calling. I am not discouraging people from becoming artists, but I see that there is a flaw in our society to converge into the “I am an artist trend” – My main thing here is to tell people save your precious time, energy and money because in the fine art world if your art is just “meh” that would be quite clear and the fooling and trying to “fake it to make it” can only go so far.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Going into the art field is no bed of roses. If I have to use imagery, then at times it feels like I am in a deeply foggy medieval labyrinth with overgrown trees, going through it in the midst of the night. The road seems so unclear. The absolute challenge in my career is to stay on track and find the light at the end of the tunnel and head that way, and keep on heading forward towards the light with your head up high. Currently, I am finding my inner desire to grow even more and spread my art worldwide into world-class museums, something I feel needs to be the next step in my art career. Case in point, I want to achieve that big dream I keep dreaming about which is my current challenge. To resolve such a challenge, I retreat to myself similar to what I did as a child, and I meditate and allow the universe to run its course allowing the universal flow to occur for what is meant for me in this life. When something is beyond my own control and out of my hands, I resort to the universe to do what it believes is best. I am a true believer of not forcing things, and if it is meant to happen, then it will happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.vianborchert.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vianborchert/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VianBorchertFineArts/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ViansArtCorner
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdB4RoTyxEA
- Other: “1stDibs” link for Borcher’ts paintings: https://www.1stdibs.com/creators/vian-borchert/art/ “Artsy” link for Borchert’s paintings: https://www.artsy.net/artist/vian-borchert
Image Credits
Vian Borchert, Oliver Borchert
