Article by Meri Sanders

The Adaptable Artist

Mural artist Morgan Bricca takes on a pandemic

Bricca painting in Downtown Los Altos

By Meri Sanders

Unhappy with how little of her creativity was being expressed in her job, Morgan Bricca decided to quit and begin taking art classes again to have an escape from the technology-focused Silicon Valley. Her limiting and dull tech job led Bricca to realize her passion for art, but in a new light. Her Artist’s Way classes motivated her to do all sorts of projects like mosaics in her bathroom and eventually brought her to the idea of painting a mural in her house.

Once she started the project, she couldn’t stop: “I just lost track of time, and I felt like now that was fun, and then, of course, I go back to work on Monday and I was like, I wonder if I could just spend more time making… so that was my goal” (Bricca).

Of course, she still needed to see if she could make a living out of it. So, she made a deal with herself: “I want to do this for four years and then I’ll judge my work” (Bricca). Throughout those four years, Bricca developed her career as a mural artist local to the Bay Area, at first mainly by word of mouth, and at that point, she knew this is what she was meant to do. Since then she has further developed her career with projects all over the world even with the newly presented obstacle, a global pandemic.

Now Bricca has the ability to be limitless with her creativity as she is a fulltime mural artist. Over the years she has developed a portfolio of over 500 murals, both public and residential, all over the world. She is completely self-employed and is driven by her autonomous and adventurous lifestyle: “I really like autonomy and adventure so if I had to have a movie title it would be something like, ‘Morgan: Autonomy and Adventure.’ So autonomy to me is showing up when I want, picking the jobs I want, and so the opportunity there is getting to design a life that I enjoy and to me, that’s the biggest opportunity. The second opportunity is the adventure part and that every job takes me somewhere new” (Bricca). With her spontaneous and eventful career comes challenges too, but nothing that she can’t overcome.

Bricca standing in front of one of her murals

Bricca continues to find new ways to grow her community and further develop her career even in a global pandemic.

Bricca’s career has led her to unforgettable opportunities: “Every project is in a different neighborhood or a different country it’s like go to Portugal, go to China, next month I’m going to North Dakota and it’s like, I never would’ve chosen to go to North Dakota but I love that I’m going to go check out the Badlands of North Dakota and adventure makes me happy.” But some of those exciting experiences had to be put on hold once the world shut down. For lots of small businesses and self-employed artists, this was a really rough time; luckily, Bricca only had to pass up a few opportunities. “I’d say there were a couple projects, around four or five that were canceled, I mean all my projects are fun so it’s like aw that’s too bad but there’s always more” (Bricca). Bricca’s positive mindset led her to come to a new realization with her career, that slowing down was a good thing.

Before the pandemic, she had been very business-driven and was constantly jumping from project to project. Once she was forced to go at a different pace, she realized how beneficial it was for both herself and her artwork. “I feel that actually slowing down allows some energy and creativity to catch up and I feel like it allows my art to be better… so I plan to slow down in my creative process because I find it more enjoyable and I have more enthusiasm for it” (Bricca). Taking a step back from her physically rigorous job helped her to understand that it’s okay to

not rush into a new project right after the last. Deciding what she wants to share with the world through her art doesn’t mean she has to sacrifice every last minute to work. She loves getting to make each mural about the experience, not just the painting. “I have a big project in San Jose that’s going to be super fun, and I’m excited to work with the community and go to their barbeques with the unfolding of it and hire locals to help me paint it… I’ve been doing it so long that I just know how to unpack it in a really delightful way” (Bricca).

With her newly freed-up schedule without hustling from project to project, Bricca had the ability to slow down and work on two things, in particular, her book and podcast. The purpose of both projects is to create a community of unique artists like herself. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I feel like there are people who want to find this middle path of being able to make a living and at the same time make work that is meaningful to them and that they love. I’m not only a commercial artist and I’m not only a do what you love artist, I’m making money doing art and I’m also picking jobs that I love and are meaningful to me,” says Bricca. Her book, The Mural Artist’s Handbook, was a project in the back of Bricca’s mind for a while and the pandemic gave her the time to write it. All 135 pages consist of several chapters that highlight her process, projects, and how she has managed to turn her life into her dream.

Her podcast was a project that she had started before the pandemic but got back into at the start of 2021. When conducting an episode, Bricca chooses like-minded artists to sit down with her and explore the art of making murals. Technology has enabled her to connect with an even larger audience. Bricca states, “I feel like I’m finding more of my tribe now, and because of that and it’s so gratifying.”

Bricca constantly has new adventures lined up for her to continue beautifying the world, but her big hope for the future is to help other artists like her start their own businesses. “I would feel very successful if I helped other people because I’m so blessed by the work I do so if I could just inspire people not even how I do it but as a data point that this can be done” (Bricca).

“I have to steal from Maya Angelou because she’s my favorite poet: ‘Liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.’ That’s how I define success.”

(Image above) Bricca painting one of her murals

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Meri Sanders is a current junior at Los Altos High School as well as a student at Freestyle Academy! Some of her hobbies include drawing, reading, and spending time with her friends and family. She is extremely passionate about anything design and film/TV related and hopes to work as a production designer in her future. She also is very proud of her magazine that she co-founded with Medha (left) and Serena (right), Savvy Zine. You can check it out at savvyzine.wordpress.com!