PITTSFIELD — It took a couple of careers and a number of years before Marguerite Bride was finally able to take a childhood interest and turn it into a profession.
Bride currently makes a living as an artist. She does watercolor paintings of different scenes and structures in the Berkshires and beyond, frequently on commission. One of her paintings, “The Masters Hands” was signed by musician Dave Brubeck and later auctioned at a fundraiser for the Colonial Theatre. She’s also been painting the posters for Pittsfield’s annual Independence Day parade since 2012.
We asked Bride recently about how she became a working artist and what goes into being one. This is what she told us.
Q: How old were you when you first started drawing and painting?
A: It’s funny, I drew a lot with my mom, who was really a housewife who just liked to draw paper dolls. In high school, she and I had this idea that I would go to RISD (the Rhode Island School of Design). I grew up outside of Providence (Johnston, R.I.) and RISD was the local art school. Then junior year, I decided I wanted to be a nurse.
I went to St. Xavier Academy in Providence. This was a Catholic girls school. They don’t really want you to be artists. They want you to be nuns. First of all, that wasn’t going to work. Or to be a nurse. It’s good to be a nurse. It was go to Salve Regina College and be a teacher or a nun. I said, “I’m not going to do that but I’ll be a nurse.”
Artist
Job description: Professional artists include painters, illustrators, sculptors and craft artists. Most produce artworks that may be displayed or sold. They may create commissioned pieces, such as a painting or portrait of a specific person or place, or they may create images used to illustrate books or animate television shows, commercials or movies. The professional art field also encompasses multimedia artists and animators and art directors.
Educational requirements: Formal training is not required to become a fine artist or a craft artist, but it does help in finding employment or for professional development. To be an art director or work as a multimedia artist, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov) suggests obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Recommended fields of study include fine arts, art, computer graphics and design. Coursework in fine arts may include 3-D design, sculpture, digital photography, printmaking and electronic imaging.
Financial compensation: In 2020, the average salaries in art-related professions were $52,340 for all fine artists; $88,080 for multimedia artists and animators; and $114,490 for art directors, according to the BLS. Between 2020 and 2030, job growth is expected to increase 17 percent in fine arts professions; 16 percent for multimedia artists and animators; and 11 percent for art directors.
Q: The art just went away?
A: So RISD went away. I went off to get my degree in nursing, worked as an RN for many years. I didn’t look back except doing a few cartoons for the nursing newspaper. Art and drawing and painting, everything like that was on hold for many decades.
Q: Did you do anything else ?
A: I did nursing for maybe 14 years. Then I moved into another career when my kids were in middle school. I thought we’ve got to get these kids through college so I’ve got to get a good paying job. So I went back to college myself in computer science and eventually ended up with a job in the software industry in the late 80s, early 90s. It was pretty hot to be in that industry at that point, and there weren’t very many women in it, so it was good. I worked for a couple of companies for another 15 years. You might notice that I have 15 year (careers).
Q: I did. Fifteen-year increments. So how did art reenter the picture?
A: So I got the kids through college. Everything was good. But as the last one’s going off to college she said, “Mom, you really need a hobby, you know.” So I said, “What do you think?” She was going off to be an art major. I thought, “I wish more than anything in the world I could go back and be an art major.” A teacher of hers was a friend of mine — this is when we lived in Worcester County. So I studied with that person. I knew zero about painting.
I took a number of classes at the Worcester Art Museum and I took that on as a hobby. Then, what do you know in 1995, we moved to the Berkshires and I left high tech behind, and I said, “Maybe this is my time.” It wasn’t until 1995 that I actually jumped on it full-time.
Q: There must have been a learning curve.
A: I worked with some artists in the Berkshires, and I said I don’t even have the basics under my belt. That’s when I went to BCC (Berkshire Community College) and took every single art course they had to offer. It took me a few years to get through it all. So I studied art, then I hibernated for a few years, and tried to figure out what I liked to do, what medium did I like, because I tried everything. By the time 1999 rolled around, I finally got up the nerve to show something to a gallery, and I was shocked. It was accepted. I think 1999 was the beginning of my professional career.
Q: And it went from there.
A: This turned out to be my third career, although I thought it was just going to be a fun hobby. I just loved it so much. The more you do it the better you get, the more you fine-tune your interests and everything.
Q: How did you get started?
A: I fell into this funny little niche painting house portraits. It was for family members, little wedding presents and stuff, and I’ll be darned, I loved it so much and people wanted to pay me for it. Now I’ve done, gee, 250 house commission portraits at this point for folks from all over the world now, not just the Berkshires. Apparently, I get found on the website (www.margebride-paintings.com), and when people google watercolor house portraits I pop up.
Q: What to do you like about painting houses?
A: I don’t know. Maybe it’s the discipline of it. I like the discipline of the windows and the angles. I could never paint an abstract flowing painting. My mind doesn’t work that way. I like to do angles and lines. It’s kind of interesting, when I teach now, everyone wants to do a barn, and that’s a good thing to start with. It’s a big structure and you can learn a lot of techniques.
Q: What is it like trying to make a living as a professional artist?
A: There’s a couple of things that I brought from my other careers. As a nurse, you have to deal with people of all kinds. I had that in my back pocket. if you’re going to be an artist and you’re going to sell your paintings you have to know how to deal with people and know what they’re looking for and you have to know how to listen. A lot of my work is commission work so listening is really important.
The other thing is because I have a computer science background I have a lot of technical skills. I’ve always used computers in my art. A lot of people would do thumbnail sketches. I use high tech to get to low tech. It allows me to see what I am working on and then I can just shut down the computer and go on and work. I can’t just go to my studio and start painting.
What I had to do is understand where people were going to buy art. Who is it going to appeal to? A lot of people who go to the Berkshires like to go home with some art. Maybe they don’t want to spend $10,000 or $20,000 on a piece of art, but they’ll spend a few hundred. I try to focus on where I can sell and market my work in the medium range things that appeal to art. Berkshire scenes and house portraits. Fortunately, for me that took off.
Unless you are a very renowned artist and making tons of money, it’s tough to make it your sole income. You have to be doing other things.
Q: How did you become involved painting the posters for the Pittsfield Parade Committee?
A: They came to me. It was probably 2011. I used to work at Pasko’s, a frame shop on Elm Street. That’s where I learned how to frame. My friend was doing parade posters every year. Jeff Hunt (a longtime parade committee member) would bring in a bunch of posters. He called me up and went to my studio and said would like you do that poster? We’ll pay you this much. I said, “Fine I’ll give it a try,” and I’ve done it ever since.
Q: I know they always have a theme for the parade, but where do your ideas for the posters come from?
A: Sometimes it’s rough. This year was kind of easy, “Stars, Stripes and Smiles.” Why not have children with big smiles on their faces holding flags? That’s stars, stripes and smiles, right? And put City Hall in the background.
Q: What advice would you give to someone who wanted to be a professional artist?
A: You can’t just jump into the art world and expect to be a success. You have to pay your dues. You have to do the little art shows and the tent shows. You have to get your name out there. All of these things are great to get involved in. It’s also great to network with other artists. A lot of my friend artists will share information about shows, or send a client my way. … Promote yourself on social media. … Do whatever you can.
Tony Dobrowolski can be reached at tdobrowolski@berkshireeagle.com or 413-496-6224.
December 2012
Cover of Berkshire Homestyle
