by Amy Applebaum

Hey, everyone! Welcome! It’s Amy, and it’s that time of the month again where we acknowledge an extraordinary female entrepreneur for what she contributes to her community and the community around her. We think it’s important to acknowledge female entrepreneurs who make a difference. And that is why I am so excited to honor Ms. Clara Berta today… an incredible mixed media abstract artist.

Clara was born in Romania, and then she moved to Chicago at the age of 11. Later, she relocated to Los Angeles where she began her education and received her BA in Psychology from Antioch University.

Clara is an actress, fine artist, world traveler, and incredible designer. She grows beautiful gardens, explores writing and photography. She is an incredible all-around artist.

Today, Clara continues to explore artistic talents through private studies in mixed media with Carol Slade, Annie Wharton, monotype studies with Lynn Bernay and with Ron Pokrasso at the Riverside Museum and Palm Desert Museum.

Clara has concentrated on abstract expressionism through painting and unique monotypes. Her paintings and prints explore themes, such as the ebb and flow of memory, the significance of personal heritage, renewal, the passing of physical time, desire, passion, and love.

Clara has exhibited her work widely through the years. Her works appear in collections both in the United States and abroad. Presently, she produces commissioned work, and teaches mixed media and collage art classes in her Studio City studio.

Clara’s art has been featured in films and DVDs, including Deepak Chopra’s Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.

What I love about Clara is she creates from a place of peace and compassion. For her, art is healing.

I am so happy to have her as our Entrepreneur of the Month. And today, she is going to share her entrepreneurial journey with us!

If you’d like to hear our live interview, download the mp3 HERE.

1. What is the name of your company?

My company is called Berta Art.

2. What is your business?

I am a mixed media abstract artist working with acrylic paints, texture paste, and I collage with found objects. I also create personalized commissioned pieces for individuals and interior designers. I teach weekly classes in my studio academy to inspire others to create their own work.

3. Who is your target market?

My target market includes individual art collectors, galleries, interior designers and public spaces that benefit from displaying the healing artwork I create. For example, two of my paintings are hanging in St. Joseph’s Center in Venice. I also donate my work to fundraising events for causes I believe in.

Most recently I gave two works to Dreams on Canvas to help raise money for burn survivors and caregivers. I am also contributing my artworks to Midnight Mission, a homeless advocacy organization in downtown LA and the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. Oh yes, and I gave a piece to Fostering Imagination – they provide mentors to foster children as they transition into independence.

4. Why did you start your business?

I wanted to share my art with others and earn income from my passion.

5. How has having your own business changed your life?

I’ve become more confident in myself and have become a more powerful woman. It feels great to create an income for myself.

6. What do you like most about being an entrepreneur?

Creating commissioned works of art and teaching mixed media art classes. I love to see my students grow and blossom as they create amazing works of art in short periods of time. I like to watch my students unleash parts of them they never knew existed. What’s great about that is that it contributes to all the areas of their life. When they tap into their creative side, it opens up doors in their relationships; they connect with their bodies in ways they hadn’t thought of, and it opens up the mind, allowing for new thoughts, ideas and beliefs. So, in a way, art is good for female entrepreneurs… it makes them more well-rounded and helps them to think outside of the box.

7. What do you like least?

Doing the business part of my work, since I’d rather be in my studio making art and being creative. But I have an understanding now that if I want to move, touch and inspire people with my art, they have to know it exists and have the opportunity to view or experience it. I have to get it out there for people to enjoy, and that is what the business part does. So, from that perspective, what I like least is also what I love best!

8. Is being an entrepreneur something that comes naturally to you or something that you learned?

It is something I have learned over the years. It does not come to me naturally, but I do learn quickly from experience. And, as I said before, it is a critical part of getting my work out there for others to see and experience.

9. Who do you admire, look up to and/or model yourself after?

The artists I admire include Rob Rauschenberg, Joseph Cornell and Hannelore Baron.

10. Who are your mentors; the people who support you: coaches, cheerleaders, role models, etc.

Amy has been a powerful support and guide for me in moving my business forward. I feel that Amy gave me a great combination of tools for personal growth as well as for my business. She helped me structure my life in support of my goals. I also gained communication skills, too, learning to trust myself, to listen to my intuition and have more patience. I also have an artistic mentor, Rene De Loffre. He helps me clarify my style of work.

11. Share your scariest moment in business with us?

Financial uncertainty is scary. I’ve learned to cut down on expenses so I can stay focused on my goals and be more creative. But it’s still important to have fun; I just set priorities as to what’s important to me.

12. Share your best moment in business with us?

I had a gallery showing in New York last January – that was a huge success for me. I was so excited to be there, sold some pieces and was able to share my work with many, many people.

13. What is the best piece of advice you can give aspiring entrepreneurs today?

To have tenacity, patience and follow your dreams. I also noticed that using social media has increased my business tremendously. And since I’ve created a monthly newsletter, I now have a nice following and fans on Facebook and Twitter as well.

14. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Amy taught me that as an artist, I need to balance my time. In addition to doing what I love most, art, I had to also create structure in my life that includes time for business and personal endeavors… meaning create two hours each day for marketing and two hours for making art. This also includes making time to relax, time to work out, time to be in nature and also time for spiritual practice such as meditation and volunteering and helping others.

15. What are your future plans?

My vision is to invite guest speakers to teach in my mixed media class and also to have more students. Presently I teach two days a week, and that is growing. The more students I have, the more lives I can touch, the more people I can help unleash their creative side.

16. Do you have any products or services that you are launching right now that you’d like to share with us?

I just launched a new interior designer series incorporating textures, writings and exotic materials that evoke an inspiring atmosphere. My intention is to merge my own emotional reactions with the desires and feelings of the person the artwork is being created for. I often use antique woods as a base to convey the important link of history’s beauty with today through the use of modern techniques.

I can also incorporate photographs of the client’s life and travels, journals, and other materials to create works that capture their memories and special moments along with any desired color palette.  The results are a moving work of art that becomes a family heirloom and treasure.

17. How can we get in touch with you?

Well I invite you all to sign up for my newsletter – it’s a lot of fun! Here is my contact information:

Clara Berta
Mixed Media Artist
www.BertaArt.com
clara@BertaArt.com
(818) 692-0465

Thank You so much for sharing your journey with us, Clara. Your success is inspiring!

*Entrepreneur of the Month

If you believe that you or someone you know provides incredible value to their customers and or to the community around them and want to be considered as our Entrepreneur of The Month, please click here to fill out and submit the application below.