September 9, 2009
Focus
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Page 5 Massingill uses her downtown studio to sell her artistic creations, like this purse.
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KELSI WILLIAMSON Staff Photographer
KELSI WILLIAMSON Staff Photographer
Jessalyn Massingill, senior fine arts major from Abilene, puts her major to work in her downtown Abilene studio, selling her own products and offering personalized henna tattoos.
Student artist seeks entrepreneurial success Cara Leahy
Features Writer In a small studio just a few blocks from the Paramount Theatre, Jessalyn Massingill has created a modern-day Bohemia. On one side of her storefront window, passers-by can see into her photo gallery. On the other, sketches and paintings sprawl across two drafting tables under a swath of purple cloth. Massingill, senior fine arts major from Abilene, opened her studio, “Jessalyn Claire Studios,” during the August ArtWalk in Downtown Abilene. A fellow student, Kara Dubose, provided live music for the crowd of nearly 100 people who came during the 4 ½ hour opening party. Massingill says she has had “solid” business ever since. The shop’s merchandise varies from professional-grade photographs to hand-drawn and painted portraits. Massingill even creates personalized henna tattoos. Imported goods from India and Africa add an exotic flair to her showroom, and in the back, a backdrop and lights frame a room for future photo shoots. Her interest in the arts began at an early age, influenced in part by her family’s regular visits to Zambia. “Growing up in two places allowed me to see a three-dimensional view of the world, instead of a flat one,” Massingill says. Her work during high school stemmed largely from that African perspective, during which her peers began to notice her gifts in photography and drawing, she says.
“People started asking me to take their senior portraits,” she says. “Then, I started taking engagement photographs and weddings. I’m not sure I ever would have thought I had it in me without people asking me to do things.” After high school, Massingill came to Abilene, where she found a job with Shelli Kay Studios. As an ACU student, she eventually took part in the Study Abroad program in Oxford, and the four months she spent in Europe led her to spend another semester in Montevideo, Uruguay, where she had the opportunity to see local artists selling handmade wares. “People live this lifestyle of the craftsman, sitting on blankets, selling what they make, and I came back from Uruguay, and that was my plan,” Massingill says. Initially, she intended to set out a blanket and sell her work to students or whoever else came by. She hoped her experience
KELSI WILLIAMSON Staff Photographer
Massingill displays photos from her trips to Zambia.
eventually would become a selfsupporting business venture. The idea of being a “starving artist,” Massingill says, was appealing at first. “You live the art,” she says. “That’s what you do, and you survive.” After pitching the idea to her parents, however, Massingill chose a more secure option. Her parents encouraged her to look into creating a legitimate business, complete with a name, license and her own workspace. Her father helped guide her through the technical aspects, but Massingill did much of the legwork herself, laying out a business plan and researching startup strategies. She began to explore store locations and nail down financial details. She applied to be a wholesaler, and with her research and her dad’s business know-how, she was able to secure a location in Downtown Abilene. “Initially, I wanted to wait, get set up more, have the store set up before I opened,” Massingill says. “My dad was influential in telling me to get it open.” Her parents were her driving force at this point, she says. They pushed for her to have the opening, and her dad helped her select professional-quality lighting and equipment for her photo studio. Although she says the store was not quite up to her decorative standards, Massingill opened shortly before the beginning of the fall semester. “I’m my own boss, and I love it,” Massingill says. “If I can do it
now, why not?” At the time of this interview, Massingill was working on a commissioned portrait, with at least two wedding shoots lined up. She does multiple photo shoots in a week and will do tattoos by appointment during business hours. Her dedication allows her to make a career out of what she loves. “Some people are smart when it comes to math, and some people are good at science, and some people build buildings, and I do art,” Massingill says. “This, the studio, allows me to do photography and sell art and paint and draw and do the tattoos – all the exotic things that appeal to me.” Massingill attributes her success to something beyond commitment. “I don’t think there’s something particularly special about me,” Massingill says. “Just stubbornness.” It’s her love for art that inspires her stubbornness, Massingill says. She encourages others to use their own passions to fulfill their dreams. “Find something you love and start it,” says Massingill. “It comes down to being too stubborn to do anything else.” Her secret, says Massingill, is a refusal to be interested in anything other than her art. Now, Massingill’s studio is her creative workspace. Sketches of Oxford phone booths and stunningly lifelike portraits litter her drafting table, and a colorful painting of a woman sprawls across remaining space. In the shop, photographs from both sides of the Atlantic decorate the walls. Unframed portraits lean against the wall next to imported Indian rugs and handbags, and African bas-
kets sit beside stacks of handdesigned greeting cards. “The coolest part of this is that the more you do, the more you come up with,” says Massingill, who hopes to eventually show some of her pieces in galleries. Massingill says her primary focus is always her art. “The shop’s not the main part; the studio is,” Massingill says. “I’d like to spend more time doing hands-on art.” For now, the Abilene community will reap the benefits of Massingill’s artistic gifts. She already has two or three wedding shoots scheduled for the spring, and she expects more as word-of-mouth spreads about her business. Meanwhile, Massingill spends the majority of her time in her shop, sketching and painting and waiting for street traffic to bring her business. Massingill will unveil a show in ACU’s Cockerell Gallery on N. 2nd during Art Walk Sept. 10, something she hopes will spark conversation and interest in her studio. Those interested in Massingill’s work can contact her via email at jcm06i@acu.edu or visit her in person at 1051 N. 5th and Cypress Street in Downtown Abilene from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For examples of her work and pricing information, visit her website at www.jessalynclaire.com.
contact Leahy at
jmcnetwork@acu.edu