We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Zackary Petot. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Zackary below.
Zackary, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Creativity is a constant for me, from a young age I was always interested in art and decided at a young age to go to school for art. After graduating with my Master of Fine Arts and moving to St. Louis, Missouri, I remembered something one of my college professors said, “You are the only one to carry on your creativity in your art practice, no one else will care if you stop making or leave art all together.” That statement has stuck with me and has been accurate since leaving my academic career. Keeping up with my art practice takes dedication and commitment. Overseeing a local non-profit arts organization has really helped me be a part of a community that keeps my creativity thriving. Whether it be my personal art practice or putting together exhibition programming at my job add to keeping creativity alive in my life.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
At a young age, I had an extreme interest in drawing and anything art related. During my high school years, I quickly realized choosing a career in art would be my focus. Heading into that profession typically gets the reaction of how you will survive in an industry where artists are typically referred to as the starving artist, but I was determined to prove everyone wrong. I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southeast Missouri State University in 2014 and then received my Master of Fine Arts from the University of North Texas in 2018. After graduating with my master’s degree, I relocated to St. Louis, Missouri to start my career. Upon arrival I quickly realized that knowing no one in the area was making it hard to obtain a job at any local colleges, museums, or galleries. After being persistent for a year, I obtained a full-time job working as the Exhibitions Director at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild and began adjuncting part-time at a local community college. After teaching lower-level foundation courses and helping develop exhibition programming for a year and a half, I was approached to teach printmaking courses at another local community college. I quickly realized I was staying very busy with the non-profit side of my career and teaching was fun, but was unaware of how quickly burnout was setting in. After a year and half of non-profit work, adjunct teaching between two colleges, and establishing myself in the St. Louis art scene with several solo exhibitions, I realized something had to give. I was exhausted, the endless cycle of trying to be everywhere all at once had caught up to me. Which in a situation of happenstance, my boss approached me about stepping up to become the Executive Director of the non-profit I was working for. I immediately was interested and felt this was the answer to all my issues. So, after a few months of planning, I was determined as the new Executive and Artistic Director of the St. Louis Artists’ Guild. Having this new role meant I would have to temporarily hang up my teaching jacket to focus on the non-profit more, but it also meant more stability in schedule, pay, and more time to focus on other aspects of my career.
Before taking my new position, I had witnessed the non-profit work I had done the previous three years flourish in the community while helping continue the 137-year legacy of an organization in the community. Being a part of something that helps bring together first time, emerging, and established artists with the focus of art and education was exciting. Also seeing the direct results of your hard work in broadening audience and creating new opportunities was fulfilling.
One of the major advantages of working in the art non-profit sector has been the community aspect which has not only expanded my network, but also knowledge of resources available in my community. As an artist, finding resources can be difficult and having a community has allowed me to find access to equipment, or other artists to collaborate with. While non-profit work has helped me establish myself in the local community, it has also really helped give a wide net of resources to tap and have access to. My art practice focuses on making work that touches on queer history mainly from the 1940’s through the 1980’s, and ideas of eroticism.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Determination, perseverance, and a well-rounded skill set/training were the most impactful in my journey to where I am today. My advice to anyone interested in an art career whether as an artist, arts instructor, or non-profit is to have determination to get through the rough patches. It took me a full year of applying and working odd end jobs to get a job in the direction I wanted to go. Also diversify your skill sets, by volunteering at a non-profit gallery could lead to a job in that area down the road, or learn a variety of skills like graphic design, marketing. That was one of the biggest things for me was having a wide skillset, so I could help on multiple fronts for places I was interested in working.
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
My current obstacle I am facing is finding the time to be in my studio after becoming the Executive and Artistic Director. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day or because my schedule is so hectic, my off time becomes more focused on family, friendships, or handling the day to day that I can’t get done. One way I am trying to resolve or overcome finding the time, is setting an hour or one day on my off time to spend in the studio whether that be making work, working unfinished projects, or just researching new ideas.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.zackpetot.com
- Instagram: @zackpetot
