Creating art is difficult, and so is making money at it, but two Chicago artists are trying their best.
Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rembrandt are all artists who, at one time or another, were commissioned.
Because no artist really wants to be a “starving artist.”
Natalie Shugailo has embraced both the beauty, and the business, in painting a sprawling, vivid mural on a building in west suburban Forest Park sponsored by Hollywood Casino.
Photo credit Terry Keshner
She told WBBM as she took a break from her work on a recent hot afternoon that “they (the casino) wanted to use artists to launch their new casino but have it be highlighting our creativity, our art, and I wanted something exotic and bright because we’re in the Midwest and I wanted it be like the jungle or somewhere cool.”
“I just kind of ran with it when they (said) as long as it has a Hollywood vibe and it feels a more special and (like) nightlife, I’m like ‘ok I can do that’. It was a really easy collaboration,” Shugailo said.
Heidi Scheleski’s paintings were recently featured at a downtown Chicago coffee shop. She tells WBBM business gives art a “bright light.”
“I enjoy it (the business aspect of art) it’s another outlet for me to be expressive and connect with people and I think by learning more business I’m able to give back to the world and other people in the right way.”
Scheleski says, “the art pieces that I have here (in Dollop at Prudential Plaza) are all different emotional experiences. I think a lot of artists became a little bit weary of the business side but I fully embrace it because I think it’s another experience for me to be creative.”
