WATIE WHITE
COVER story WATIE WHITE, ARTIST AND ENTREPRENEUR
THE ART OF business
PICTURING WATIE WHITE AS BOTH ARTIST AND ENTREPRENEUR Watie White’s art has been exhibited at numerous institutions from Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, to Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney and Omaha’s own Joslyn Art Museum — not to mention countless pieces in private and public collections. He’s spoken at many prestigious art events and been a visiting artist at several art schools. In recent years, his studio has produced public art projects like 100 People, Benson Mural Project and New Nebraskans in collaboration with local entities including Habitat for Humanity of Omaha, Immigrant Legal Center, Omaha Housing Authority and Omaha Public Schools. There’s no question that White is creatively successful. At his open studio event held annually to coincide with Berkshire Hathaway weekend, however, visitors often express curiosity about how an artist can also be commercially successful. The affable artist said he finds some of the misconceptions amusing. “I get the questions about, ‘How do you make a living?’ ‘Do you live on this?’ ‘Do you sleep in this room?’ They’re a little bit disbelieving
that this is a way a real person can live and work in the world … I think they are actively challenging their own understanding of how someone has their own sustainable creative practice,” he said. “They think that if you’re an artist, it must be fun and must be silly; you must goof around all day … Well, I think we have a different picture in our mind about what’s going on in this situation.” In actuality, White has a lot in common with other successful entrepreneurs.
Education
To begin with, he’s educated. White is a graduate of Carleton College (Minnesota) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. “When I went to college, I never questioned if I would be doing art or not. The question was, ‘How do I get to do more of it and do things that are meaningful?’” he said, adding that attending a liberal arts college as an undergraduate was a good fit. “I learned how to ‘learn’ things, how to think about what I’m being
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