Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Waychoff
Hi Austin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As the Artist and Business Owner behind Austin Waychoff Studio LLC, I am excited to share how I’m adventuring into new territory with my art and business! I am a professional visual artist specializing in handmade crochet products, paintings, and digital art. This is my first year running Austin Waychoff Studio LLC full time, and it has been a wonderful time of healing, learning, and making art that connects with a wider community. Although this chapter, working as a full time artist and entrepreneur, is new, many of the values that make me who I am have remained the same. I am a visionary, an enthusiast, and a maker that enjoys creating every single day! I love problem solving, learning new skills, and connecting with people. This time though, I get to steer the ship and strategize my time and energy to explore what I love. I learned only recently about The Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988. This law helped businesses owned and controlled by women, eliminating the requirement for male co-signers. That was not that long ago! To think that I am among one of the first generations of women to get to do what I do makes me very thankful to those that have advocated before me. It also makes me proud of myself, my hard work, growth, focus and ambition that has gotten me to this point, to take this leap for what I love and having faith in myself that I can do it!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Change is scary. I had outgrown my past and was needing a dramatic change, a new chapter, for the better. So often society tells us to “pick a lane” from a very early age and stick with it, because it is safe and because we are good at it. But unforeseen circumstances can call us to change lanes. It can be extremely painful, but often results in much better opportunities and experiences that we couldn’t have known about if we had stayed where we were. For example, I played basketball my whole life, but two concussions while playing in college forced me to stop playing the game I loved. I was heartbroken. I had to suddenly pivot and adapt away from a sport and group of people that were so closely linked to my identity. I didn’t know it at first, but stopping basketball gave me more time to connect with friends that I otherwise would not have had the time to do so. It also gave me a lot more time to work in the studio, on my art and chat with my mentors in my classes. This ultimately allowed me to obtain a scholarship to achieve my Masters Degree.
More recently, I found myself facing another necessary change. In 2023, I chose to leave the career I had loved so deeply for 12 years, feeling overworked, underpaid, and wrecked by the lies of the crooked education system. Being a teacher through the pandemic years had left me completely emotionally and mentally burnt out. A witness to it rotting from the top, my energy was slowly eroded by the countless times safety for myself and my students was put on the back-burner. The hoops my students were told to go through to achieve “success”, only to be told to hide any expression of their culture, race, gender, and other beautiful things that make up their identity is impossible to encapsulate in this brief space. I was scolded and told that my students could “make art, but oh no, not that way” or “express themselves, just keep certain artworks from the public eye.” Administrations preach real-world curriculums, meanwhile stifling student expression of real-world current events, multicultural experiences and advocacy of diversity and inclusion. It is a thick curtain with deep pockets. As an Art Historian, Artist and Educator, I realized how impossible and unsustainable it had become for me to authentically teach my students to love and understand art, with my hands tied from including the real context and deep history behind the pieces they were learning about. There is not a teacher shortage. There is an undeniable teacher retention issue. If you’re a teacher out there advocating for yourself and your students, please know that I see you.
Although extinguished in some ways by the lack of teacher support and inconsistent leadership, the fire within me to make, share and learn about art and my dream to go full time with my own art business continued to burn brightly. Finally, my mental health had been through the mud enough that I knew it was time to take the leap. It was terrifying, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Those 12 years were not all for naught. I learned so much from my wonderful students. Their creativity, kindness, confidence, empathy and advocacy still gives me hope. I grew so much as a person from all of my years of researching and teaching about art including but not limited to: drawing, panting, sequential art, art history, filmmaking, animation, photography, graphic design, and the social justice RISE program I helped co- facilitate (Respect, Include, Support, Educate).
I grieve for my time with my students, but when I had my first market show selling my crochet plushies, a past student of mine ran up to my tent and said enthusiastically, “Mrs. Waychoff! You followed your dream! I am so PROUD of you!” Needless to say, I wept. Hearing those words initiated with their whole heart made me remember that being authentically me had, and always will, make a positive impact on others. I’ve learned that the art is important, but so is the person behind the art. Facing change, advocating for ourselves, and having the courage to create is an everyday practice, and being human means I am no expert. It’s a muscle I’m constantly reminding myself to strengthen. I am excited at the possibilities to come from this new chapter, even those that I can’t even imagine yet!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Austin Waychoff Studio LLC currently has four focuses:
1) Crochet Plushies – Art has often been what I reach for in times of processing the good and the difficult. While grieving my father’s passing in 2023, I reached for the art of crochet. The meditative loops and counting gave my mind peace, and learning a new skill with complex crochet patterns gave me the motivation and rush of a new challenge. I have now made hundreds of crochet plushies (one-of-a-kind stuffed animals) and I sell them on my online shop (AustinWaychoffStudio.com) and in person at markets.This has allowed me to tap into the wonderful Charleston community of creative entrepreneurs and vendors that I have always wanted to be part of! Shout out to my husband, Nick, who has been a great teammate with me running markets. Having patrons come to my tent, see something I’ve made and say things like “I love that, it’s so cute!” makes me smile. My heart responds, “I love it too! I’m so glad you agree!” That heart to heart connection with my audience is what makes it all worth it. I sell my handmade crochet plushies in a range of colors, shapes and sizes that appeal to kids and adults alike! All items are crocheted by me using super soft yarn. My plushies include a wide range of critters including cute farm animals (cows, chickens, ducks, bees, opossums, cats & dogs), sea-life (sea turtles, sting rays, whales, frogs, axolotl, penguins), dinosaurs (t-rex, stegosaurus, triceratops), and food-themed (pop-tarts, veggies, tacos, strawberries), and more!
2) Hand-Painted Pet Portrait Ornaments – For over a decade now, I have taken commissions of painting portraits of people’s pets onto ornaments. I currently have this as a custom seasonal product on my website, and I ship to homes all across the USA. I love having the opportunity to help memorialize someone’s furry friend in such a special way. My style is vibrant and colorful, and subject matter has evolved beyond the usual dogs and cats to include horses, bunnies, parrots, and bearded dragons! I have these gallery of pet portraits on view on my website. I look forward to this corner of my shop opening every year.
3) Paintings – I think painting will always be my first love. My paintings are where I go to allow my brain to create what I want using vibrant color relationships and intentional mark making. My recent body of work explores relationships and power dynamics with subject matter of animals, big and little cats often among them, interacting with a figure. I enjoy capturing moments of tension that encourage viewers to question what is about to happen, why it is happening or what it means. Creating visual narratives helps me process the patterns I see in my own relationships. It makes me feel connected to others when I learn they can relate to these themes.
4) Digital Art & Content Creation: I’ve honed my skills as a graphic designer and filmmaker towards creating content that shares my art with the world. I’m grateful that I can design my own website, create my own business cards and logo, and design my brand with bright fun, cute nostalgia and handmade whimsey in mind. Creating photography, filming and editing videos, adding music and colorful graphics, all to communicate what content I want for my business, is great fun! Technology continues to give me new and excited ideas of how to alter my artwork.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Book – Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon is a great book for times when you feel like you need a jump-start with your creative practice.
Apps – I’ve supported some of my favorite youtube artists through Patreon, this helps directly support artists and allows you to join their community resources, sticker clubs, prints and other resources they provide. Along the same lines, Discord is an app that gives that community feel. As I’m learning more about crochet pattern making and pattern testing, I have enjoyed using this app to directly communicate and encourage other crocheters.
Podcast – “Dare to Lead” by Brene’ Brown is so empowering and relatable with so many life experiences. Also, If you need a good laugh and love talking about history, “Girl Historians” Podcast has been my go-to lately.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.AustinWaychoffStudio.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austinwaychoffstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AustinWaychoffStudio/
- Other: https://www.austinwaychoffstudio.com/ornaments
