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Wichita artist grows business from art


Last Update: 11/11/2009 2:35 pm
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WICHITA, Kansas -- While the harder and smarter one works and the better their education means the more money they’ll make rings true for most enterprises, the same does not necessarily apply to an artist.

“I think that the respect that our culture gives to teachers and artists is not the same that they give doctors and lawyers,” said artist Steve Murillo. “We put our full energies, full efforts into a project whether we're doing it for a charity for nothing, or whether we're doing it for a $500 client or for a $5,000 client.”

Most artists don't do their art for fame and fortune. That fame often comes long after they are gone. They do it because they love art. Steve Murillo has crossed over. He commands a price for what he does. He's known for his large-format art like murals, like the one that depicts the art-deco history of Wichita that adorns a wall in Café Moderne.

“We don't sell them the artwork thinking 'this is how much this painting is worth,’” Murillo said. “We give them the gift of our art, and they give us the gift of their patronage.”

Steve has a bachelors and masters degree in art. He says that compensation for an art has little to do with education. However, it will open doors and instill confidence. Failure, passion and perseverance have brought him to a point whereby he made the decision that art absolutely will be his “business”.

“I think that once a person makes that kind of decision, then it's no longer an experiment,” he said. “It's no longer thinking, ‘well I hope this is it.’”

In addition to his art, he runs a gallery in the open spaces of a building in Old Town. Generally galleries will make 50 to 60 percent on the sale of a piece; however, thus far he has created a space as a service to help other artists.

His advice to other artists –

“Just follow your bliss,” he said. “I think that desire is the key element. I think that you really have to love whatever you do. And if you love it, you'll just do it all the time.”

Murillo embraces the ‘build it and they will come’ model.

Steve’s success illustrates that a business plan may be as creative as the artist behind it.


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