Kat KUGLER Templeton

I attribute my success to my perseverance and persistence. That is what created the success - to never, never stop, never stop being who I am. I stayed authentic to myself throughout my career, even when there were trends and things that people said I should be doing. It was years of trying to just stay authentic, and I stayed myself, I stayed true to myself, and I still do. That just goes to show, be who you are. To always persevere and be persistent - that's what has gotten me to where I am today.

The best career advice I ever received was from Randy, a curator from LA who was a gallery owner when I was showing in a gallery in Portland, Oregon. He told me to make ART bigger and make it a spectacle. You only get one shot. That advice has stayed with me and influenced how I approach my work and opportunities.

My advice would definitely be to follow your intuition. As an artist, it's very easy to get caught up in trends and what everybody else wants you to see or do. Follow your intuition, and learn and be inspired by those things, but stay true to yourself. Take influence from others and see things about the world, but always be authentic to your expression. That authenticity is the most important thing you can bring to your work.

The largest challenge right now is having to navigate a world with AI art being such a heavy hitter and influence in everything that is crafted and made. I know that there's a lot of manufacturers and different industries who utilize AI art as the easy way to make a buck, but I do know that there are some purists out there who still seek to have work crafted by hand. I think the human touch is going to be what we will want to see in the future, and it'll become maybe more nostalgic, but the value of that work will go up more. As for opportunities, it's to continue to find new opportunities to meet others and to keep art - just the practice of creating artwork - alive through the human form. Even if you're producing it digitally, there's digital painters and digital creators, but overall, to be able to keep that alive and keep seeking those types of opportunities to put art out to the public.

Authenticity is the number one strongest value that I always have. No matter what, to take influence from others or to see things about the world, but to always be authentic to your expression - that's what matters most to me in my work. In my personal life, I'm a woman who has gone through and seen a lot of life and experienced a lot of hardship, which has helped me become a person who treats people with empathy, to see humans as humans. I want to be able to exist as a person who wants to love more and to be able to make more friends - actual, real, authentic connections with people. I want to spread the word that we are here to help each other, we're here to be here for each other. That's just me - I want to be that person who creates those genuine connections.