Meet Brandi Untz | Digital Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brandi Untz and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brandi, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
After creating digital art for seven years, I felt my work was ready to offer for sale. I’ve always wanted to earn a living as an artist, so once I created work worth selling, starting a business was an easy decision.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Both my nature-impressionist and abstracts stand out and I believe that comes from being self-taught. There is something about digital art – the exploration of the software and how I can use it to express my ideas that gives me a sense of limitless possibilities. One of my biggest challenges is not knowing how to bring an idea to fruition. At times, I put an idea aside for years and come back to it when I develop more skills and know how I can make that idea happen. Every piece of art I create is an expansion of skills and evolution that helps the next idea come to light. The number one lesson I’ve learned is to just keep going. All failures have lessons to be learned and pave the road to success.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Any visit to Houston has to include stops at several museums…Museum of Fine Art, Museum of Natural Science, the Holocaust Museum, and the Contemporary Art Museum. An early morning walk in Memorial Park, on the nature trails, is an essential outdoor activity to me. Visiting Hardy & Nance Studios during an art show is a must do; it’s one of the best ways to meet living artists and talk about art. Food-wise, there are so many excellent places to eat. Favorites of mine include Thailanna off W. 18th and 610, Asian Cafe in the Heights, Teotihuacan on Airline Dr, and Antonio’s Flying Pizza on Hillcroft. And dessert at Dessert Gallery, of course. A great way to tour Houston is to drive around and look for mural art throughout downtown and other areas. The mural work in the city has grown tremendously these last few years. A Houston visit also has to include a drive down to Galveston to walk along the Seawall and feel that ocean breeze.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The Hardy & Nance Studios and all the artists there. Especially, Robin Baker and Claire Richards. They were cheerleaders to me becoming the first artist-in-residence there and eventually having my own studio. Hardy & Nance is a unique artist community here in Houston, and I would not be the artist I am right now if I’d not become part of that community.

Website: https://brandiuntz.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandiuntz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandiuntz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/brandiuntzart