Morgan Jamieson is an acclaimed Victorian Artist who lives and works on Wathaurong land on the Southern coastline of regional Victoria, Australia. Living on the coast, she has a strong connection to her native surroundings which continues to inspire her practice. Morgan Jamieson is the artist responsible for the piece featured on the Holiday 2021 packaging. Here, the artist discusses her career journey, inspirations and future.
Tell us about your career journey
I have been painting and selling artworks since I was 16 years old.
I excelled at creative subjects within high school and I went on to graduate University in 2006 with a degree in Visual Arts. This was just prior to the social media take off. Back then, I was told there was 'no such thing as a paid Artist' and this used to annoy me! However, with hindsight, I can now see that my entire career to this day has been built on the foundations of social media - without it I don't think I would be where I am today, professionally.
The year after I graduated, I started working at a boutique design agency as a Junior Designer, going on to stay within this business for 13 years. Everything that I know about design and running a small business is owed to this job. I loved it, I lived and breathed it. But, it was predominantly corporate design and I yearned for more creative work. So I started a side hustle - producing artwork, at first graphic prints and eventually pulling out the old paint and canvas from years gone by, once I started I couldn't stop. By this stage I had developed a small but substantial following on instagram and had a pretty healthy 'side income'. To me, I was living the dream, I had a great design job and I was earning a significant additional income by doing something that I loved on the side.
It was at this stage that I crossed paths with Julia Green from Greenhouse Interiors who gave me a gentle nudge to join the Greenhouse Interiors group of represented Artists and this was where the magic happened. I suddenly realised that being a Paid Artist was an achievable and feasible goal for me! Not long after joining GI I went on maternity leave from my design job, I went on to have two babies in under two years and that cemented the goal for me. I could stay at home with my babies while earning a living from selling my artwork. I made the extremely hard decision to leave my design job. I was sad, but it was time to back myself - and I haven't looked back.
Currently, I work 2 days a week, I get to stay at home with my babies during these golden years while they are young, and I am able to support our family's lifestyle by doing something that I love - producing artwork for people's homes. Somebody pinch me!
