Meet Michael Farmer | Artist and Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michael Farmer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michael, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
For a long time, and even still now I was very risk averse. However there have been certain risk averse actions or habits that have allowed me to take risks in other ways. As an artist it has been important to have a regular stream of income. For over 20 years that came from a career in customer support. This allowed me to pursue my creative endeavors without the pressure of having to support myself through them. I recently re-careered into teaching art at the high school level. This career move has opened up more time that I can devote to art and creative pursuits, like developing innovative product ideas. Having a steady stream of income has freed me to take aesthetic and conceptual risks in my art that other artists are absolutely unable to make. I was able to develop a large body of work around the concept of religion and technology. While commercially this is not a wise idea, it has been a huge step forward in my career as an artist. This series was just recently exhibited for four months at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, one of the largest spaces for contemporary art in the East Valley, if not the greater metropolitan Phoenix area. There is always the downside to risk. I am developing a new art series that tackles the issue of gun violence in America. While this is an extraordinarily risky artistic move, it really speaks to the relevant issues of today, and is something that I feel needs to be said. I have just begun submitting these artworks to shows nationally. I have gotten rejections from every show submitted to date. This is where persistence and resolve enter into the risk-taking picture. I love what I am doing so much, giving up is not an option. I prefer to have minimal financial investment, and maximum mental and time investment. That way I feel I can maximize payoff based on my available resources.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I went to school to become a filmmaker. After a short time in Hollywood I changed paths. I taught myself the basics of oil painting and was a self taught hobbyist painter for 20 years, while maintaining a day job in customer support. After meeting the woman of my dreams I decided life was too short for part time art. I started taking classes in exploration of a career teaching art. During that time I made a radical change in the type and style of the art I was creating. I grew up loving surrealism, and had painted in that style for decades. In 2018 after attending a funeral of a family friend I went back to work in a reflective mood, thinking of my own mortality. I wondered what would happen if you asked Google what the meaning of life was. What came up was an article on Wikipedia. That inspired a new idea for an artwork. I had the concept but not the skills or know-how to execute it. I took a class in 3D design from Ronna Nemitz and suddenly I saw how I could make it a reality. That one artwork spawned another, then another, then another, until I had over 70 original artworks 4 years later, all in a style and medium dramatically different from my earlier way of working. Whereas before I had been painting abstract surrealism in oil paint on canvas, this new series was a combination of collage, assemblage, graphics, and pop art. After opening myself to means of expression other than oil painting my artistic world opened in ways I could never have imagined. Currently I have two new series of artwork. One uses linoleum block printing and explores gun violence in America. The other goes back to my surrealist roots of oil painting but incorporates elements of collage as the basis for the final paintings. These series might not have happened if I hadn’t broken out of my comfort zone and tried something different. I have had to overcome many challenges to get where I am today including mental health struggles. I would consider myself a good example of someone who survived those challenges and got the proper help, so I could not just live a better life, but can actually thrive and succeed. I know from personal experience there are dark, crazy times in people’s lives. If you are lucky enough to find the good people who are willing and able to help you, and you, yourself, can stick with getting better bit by bit, over a long period you can overcome what circumstance and biology may put in your way. Things don’t happen overnight. They take years and decades. One thing I learned is that life is a marathon, not a sprint – if you do it right. I know if you try to go too far too fast you burn yourself out. Burning out can take many forms, and I know from personal experience none of them are good.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am an art nut and museum rat so any trip would include several days of art – Phoenix Art Museum, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, and all the independently run spaces, like Modified Arts, Eye Lounge, Five15. I am also a craft beer aficionado, so a visit would include many great local breweries like Wilderness Brewery, Fate Brewery, Helton Brewery, and Wren House Brewery. These are just a few off the top of my head. You could visit a different brewery every night and just scratch the surface.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Along the way I have had many great mentors. First of which is Ronna Nemitz. She has provided me with advice and support on my art and how to be an artist. Second is Ted Decker, who has taught me the value of networking in marketing myself and my art. Last but not least is my wife. Without her none of this would have been possible.

Website: https://michaelfarmerart.com

Instagram: @michaelfarmerart

Facebook: mikefarmerart

Image Credits
Profile photo taken by Dave Bentley