Houstonians and geologists love art!
On a recent Saturday afternoon at Sawyer Yards near downtown Houston, hundreds of Houstonians roamed the former warehouses that have been converted to gallery space. Resident artists open their studios to showcase their work and even more artists set up their tents outside. A wide cross-section of people, including geologists, are drawn to this and other art events around town. The recent “Geology is Beautiful” art contest sponsored by the HGS Bulletin received 15 submissions—a record compared to previous contests. This suggests that HGS members are interested in capturing the beauty in geology.
To better understand why and how some geologists become artists, I interviewed three geologists who recently pivoted to art after long careers in Oil and Gas. These artists shared that many of the skills they developed as geologists, such as communication, relationship-building, and 3D visualization are highly applicable to successful art careers. Furthermore, art allows them to explore their creativity, invest in themselves, and continue to learn. Courage, confidence, and community are three of the themes they echoed.
Meet the artists
“Metalsmithing helped my brain wake up and think about things differently,” says Carmen Fraticelli, Houston-based geologist, metalsmith and jewelry artist. Fraticelli started her jewelry making journey by taking a metalsmithing class while working as an exploration geologist. She found the class offered a way for her brain to relax and allowed her to think about geoscience differently. Fraticelli has continued her education by taking online classes and learning from a community of diverse and energetic artists. In 2020, she left the Oil and Gas industry to pursue jewelry full time. She now makes and sells jewelry direct to customers via art sales, through her online storefront, and by word of mouth to other geologists.
“In my work, I try to capture texture and detail. I tell a story beyond, ‘this is delicious,’” says Ana Pape, a geologist, food artist, and food photographer. An experienced baker, Pape decided to explore food photography in 2021. She left her role as an Oil and Gas exploration geologist and later took an eight-week photography and composition course. Since then, she has taken multiple courses and worked withcoaches to develop marketing strategies for her business. She now partners with local businesses, such as Local Hive, and national brands, like Watkins, to showcase her recipes created with their products.
“In 2019, I folded 1000 origami cranes,” says Julie Mahler, a geologist, Oil and Gas unitization expert, and paper artist. “Folding cranes takes a lot of patience; it’s a lot like reading unitization contracts or sitting through long zoom meetings,” laughs Mahler. Following that year of 1000 cranes, Mahler moved into
folding book pages into sculptural designs. As a self-taught artist, she has learned from online courses, through experimentation, and many hours practicing her skills. For example, Mahler’s tree of life design takes over 40 hours to fold. Mahler spends much of her daytime hours volunteering on non-profit boards, but “I always have origami paper in my purse,” she says. Mahler now sells her work at art shows, such as Sawyer yards, and at galleries in the Houston area.
Geologists are Partner of Choice
Fraticelli attributes her customer success to relationship-building and communication skills. She says that other geologists trust her because they know she will give them an honest answer. This allows her to build credibility and attract repeat customers. Furthermore, Fraticelli works hard to explain the science behind the stones she uses. “I simplify the science so that it is readable by the average person, but also interesting to scientists,” she says. The ability to effectively communicate with diverse audiences is one of the key geology skills that translate to the art business.
Pape shares a similar story and says she approaches her business with a ‘partner of choice’ mentality. “I tell prospective clients that I’m in their corner and here to help,” she says. Pape says she learned this mindset while working as an exploration geologist to establish credibility with governments and joint venture partners.
Pitching is a big part of her business, too. Pape says she contacts up to four businesses per week with an individualized pitch of how she can help their business. For example, Pape says that she earned one client’s business by suggesting improvements to their website with ‘lifestyle’ shots. Like Fraticelli, Pape’s experience in describing Oil and Gas prospects has helped her deliver clear and compelling messages to clients. She works to build relationships with these clients and has earned repeat business.
Geologist’s skills are artist’s skills
Mahler says that visualizing in 3D is directly applicable to both geology and to her art. “Pages of a book are like layers of rock,” she says. Mahler uses her training as a structural geologist to visualize her design before she begins to fold. Similarly, Pape says that she visualizes her photo compositions thinking about shapes and colors. “Editing a photo is like using Petrel,” she says. In both cases she uses a color bar to tell a story.
Conducting research is a focus for Pape and Fraticelli. Pape says it takes hours of research to determine the right proportions of ingredients in a new recipe. In addition, she works diligently to determine how to make a recipe unique. For example, Pape recently developed a recipe for a spiced pear pie. “People always think about apples for pie, but pears are in season and really delicious,” she says.
Fraticelli publishes a newsletter in which she describes the science behind gemstones and metals. For example, a recent post focused on the causes of fluorescence in rubies. Another post explored different alloys that are combined with gold to produce different hues and hardness. “To me, jewelry is a beautiful thing. To really understand what is in the jewelry makes it so much more special,” she says. Understanding the science of jewelry materials requires research skills and scientific understanding, in addition to the communication skills to explain what she learns.
Focus on financial discipline is a key part of Mahler’s approach to her art business that she learned by working in Oil and Gas. She says that she takes a “fast failure” approach by testing new points of sale for the minimum contract period and then moving on if it’s not profitable. While Mahler values the creativity, resilience, and self-expression from her art, she approaches it with a business-focused mindset.
Keys to success
Pape and Fraticelli say finding a community of like-minded artists is key to their success. During the recent COVID19 pandemic, online communities were the primary sources of learning and mentoring. Many of these online communities have survived and continue to provide critical support for artists. “Collaboration over competition,” is the mantra of her online baker community, says Pape. “Even though I haven’t met these people in person, I consider many of them friends,” she says. Her community supports each other by amplifying the content of their members, by carefully attributing work to content creators, and calling out sources that are not appropriately attributed. Fraticelli says that similar to geoscience teams, there are some highly supportive art communities “that come together to create amazing things.” Like geoscience teams, not all art communities are supportive, so it’s important to find a group that works for you.
Courage, confidence and resilience are a key themes echoed by Mahler, Pape and Fraticelli. Mahler says it takes courage and resilience to share her art with the world. “It was big change in perspective to think of myself as an artist rather than a crafter,” she says. The validation of customers and others viewing her work has helped to build confidence and courage. Similarly, Pape says it’s important to “gain confidence that you have something to offer.” She has gained this confidence through lots of practice in pitching to prospective clients. Fraticelli says, “Dip your toe in and try it out. If you don’t like it, try something else.”
A mindset of continuous learning is also shared by all three of the artists interviewed for this story. Pape explains that she wants to add to her skill set by learning videography. Fraticelli is training to be a gemologist. Mahler is learning a new folding technique to produce tessellations. “Sign up for a class,” says Pape. “It’s an investment in yourself that will help you get there faster and have accountability,” she says.
