Career Changer Attempts Transitions to the Arts in Sour Economy
A Texas artist leaps from teaching to start his own art business during hard financial times.
Responsible for a family of five, he wrestles with whether to fall back to what he knows, or to
continue on with his artwork.
College Station, TX, July 20, 2010 --(PR.com)-- A career change for U.S. workers in a strong economy
can be daunting. Making a second career change during a double-dip recession is downright frightening.
John Grant, a College Station, Texas artist has done both.
First he bailed out of teaching in East Los Angeles County to pursue a childhood dream of being an
architect. He enrolled in Texas A&M's Master of Architecture Program in 2003. Though he graduated
with honors, once Grant entered the architecture field, he felt like a fish out of water. Wired more like a
Picasso than a Frank Lloyd Wright, Grant discovered that creativity was the sole domain of upper-level
architectural principals. In the workaday architectural world, he learned that plans needed to be drawn
with precision, not with flair and originality.
The second time around, Grant determined to make a career change out of architecture into the creative
arts. So he began his new company called Grant Artistry. Drawing pencil portraits for clients across the
country, Grant now receives more orders than he can complete. Commissions pour in from old friends on
his website and complete strangers on Facebook. Budgeting his time to quickly complete commissions is
an ongoing struggle for Grant. He currently devotes at least sixty hours to each portrait.
Grant states that his main problem is that he needs to increase his earnings (Currently he only charges
$150-$300 for each portrait.). He wrestles with whether or not he should draw more, or drastically curtail
his artwork and fall back into teaching. He recently completed a five month stint as a temporary teacher
in a Bryan, Texas. But Grant would prefer not to return to teaching because classroom discipline was
such a challenge.
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