P R E S S
HGTV"s Hometown
Season 3: Episode 7
The Luker Home
Season 3: Episode 8
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Season 4: Episode 13
The Keith Home
Season 4 Episode 15
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Season 5 Episode 11
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The Student Printz
"Mississippi Artists Share Hope during CO-VID 19"
Written by Bethany Morris
March 2020
Excerpt from the Article:
"Shelby Leigh Kizer of Petal is a watercolor artist and owner of Shelby Leigh Designs. She has implemented this lifestyle change in her work. Kizer’s work is gestural, whimsically inspired by nature and landscapes, so she would normally spend her days traveling around Mississippi creating pieces. Due to the pandemic, however, she is stuck inside the city.
Kizer has used this time of rest to create a new floral collection that she’s titled “Be Still.” She was inspired by the inconsistencies of the pandemic to find peace and a constant in God, so she wrote scripture on the back of each piece in the series.
“It made me take the beauty that was already there and push me out of my regular box and just focus on the beauty around me even though there’s chaos everywhere,” Kizer said.
Similar to Mooney, Kizer has also been doing Instagram lives of her creating pieces. She says she’ll continue to do them after the pandemic, because people have been really engaged and interested in the process behind her art."
WDAM
"Sarah Ellen Gillespie Museum features local artist’s work"
Written by Melissa Rademaker
October 2020
"The Sarah Ellen Museum of Art at William Carey University is featuring an exhibit by local artist, Shelby Leigh Kizer.
Kizer graduated from William Carey with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and this is her first solo show.
“It was exciting to work on something with a theme altogether," says Kizer. "You know in college you work on a lot of different things, so it was great to do this.”
Kizer’s collection is titled “Peace in Chaos.”
Her works are inspired by her life, faith, and finding beauty in her surroundings, especially during the pandemic.
“So the dark charcoal lines are kind of the chaos and it’s kind of like filled all throughout, but I feel like the white and the colors and the happiness win in this, and so that’s kind of the message, it’s like peace will win," Kizer says, as she described one of her paintings.
The museum celebrated the collection with an opening reception on Oct. 6th.
Visitors can view and purchase art at the museum on Wednesdays between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., or by appointment.
Kizer says she hopes her bright works can bring joy.
"I hope they read as peaceful, like the peace wins over the chaos, the light wins in the dark,” says Kizer"
The Abundant Artist Blog
CASE STUDY BLOG POST – SHELBY LEIGH KIZER/ TAA MASTERMIND GROUP
March 2021
Shelby Kizer is a young artist who has quickly taken the art scene by storm by developing a financially sustainable art business. After graduating from college in 2018, she found herself reflecting on the same question many other artists ask themselves “How do I turn my passion for art into a thriving business.” Shelby spent several months working jobs outside of her field as she continued to search for guidance on how to grow her business. Within 2 short years, Shelby has transitioned her business from making $0 to $30,000 in profit.
“The first year, I didn’t make any money. My profit was $0. I just broke even.”
After a trial and error year, Shelby decided to read Cory’s book, “How to Sell Your Art Online.” With the new tools, she acquired Shelby began to shift gears in how she managed her business. Trade shows and art fairs became two of her primary sources of income. The other half was website sales and some direct sales over social media. One year after reading How to Sell Your Art Online, Shelby hit $10,000 in profit.!
The motivation of turning a profit was the driving force behind her continued desire to stay on course on the journey of growing her business.
Like many other artists, at the beginning of 2020, Shelby had big plans on how she was going to continue to scale her business. But, she had to quickly shift gears to adjust to the dramatic economic effects of Covid-19. With a new plan in place, Shelby took to social media and cultivated a new fan base by doing custom scenery pieces. Within two months, Shelby completed 120 small pieces making her around $9,600.
In hopes of continuing to excel in her business during the Covid-19 Pandemic, Shelby joined the TAA Mastermind Group. After receiving the guidance of TAA’s head coach, Sarah Guthrie, Shelby watched her business jump from $10,000 to $30,000 in profit!
