Meet Regina Brejda | Owner of 4P Studios, Interdisciplinary Artist & Instructor

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

Hi Regina, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
From a very young age, I knew I wanted to work for myself. I had no idea what business I was going to start, but padding someone else’s pocketbook with my hard work, energy and effort never sounded like a good deal. I’ve been told that I’m the most “organized artist” anyone has met. I have a complimentary mix of artistic and business minds. While attending art school, all too often I heard my fellow classmates express concern over having access, post-graduation, to the larger equipment it took for some to practice and create; for example in pottery – access to kilns or wheels for throwing or for photographers that practice analog methods – access to enlargers and the chemicals needed for developing negatives and prints. While a lot of artists can have home studio set-ups for certain types of artistic practices, a lot can’t afford the equipment outright post-graduation or even have space in their homes large enough to dedicate to whatever medium they’ve chosen to pursue.

I wanted to create a space that offered aspiring artists and seasoned creatives a safe place to practice their mediums. A place that offered gallery shows, learning experiences, studio equipment and space, and the opportunity to collaborate with other artists. 4P Studios was born out of a selfishly driven motivation. I knew that if I wanted to have access to these types of services, I would at the very least have a customer base of one… myself. We will celebrate 7 years in business on February 2, 2022.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
4P Studios stands for Painting, Photography, Pottery, & Printmaking. These are all mediums that I practice, though as every artist, I am constantly learning and exploring new methods and mediums. Curiosity inspires me. I am currently working on a new series of work for an upcoming show in May of 2022. This body of work has been in development since 2015 when, during preparation for my last solo exhibition of that year, I was working with spray painting stencils I had hand cut. While listening to a podcast where the host was randomly talking about hunters and utilizing all parts of the animal for food, clothing, jewelry, etc… I started to think about all of the scraps from the larger stencil pieces as parts of a “carcass” that I could deconstruct further to reconstruct artwork that all tied together with a similar thread of being created from each other. A small collection of 6 pieces was born from that experience and displayed during that 2015 exhibition. Since then, I’ve looked at all of the “trash” from works I’ve created to develop this idea further. I’m excited about this upcoming exhibit as it’s been 6 years since I’ve last shown any work. Taking time away from my own work to teach lessons, support other artists and book/host shows for them is extremely rewarding. I’ve learned that I need to make sure I nurture our own creative drive too.

Making art is the “effortless” part. Doing the business side of things is the “boring” or “mundane” part. But both parts are equally important to the success of an artist. The road to being a full-time professional artist/business owner has been an interesting one! I had taken art classes as a young child and found so much joy from those experiences. Too many times we hear the phrase “starving artist” and I think as a child hearing that phrase stunted my further exploration into pursuing a creative career. This is the reason why I began my college career as a business major! (Don’t get me wrong, those business classes have played an instrumental roll in helping me understand how to operate my current studio/gallery space.) I took my first serious art class as a senior in high school. Black & White 35mm Film Photography. I fell in LOVE! There was something scientific, mathematical, and so incredibly magical about the whole process and then being in darkroom, literally watching your image develop right in front of your eyes?!? I was HOOKED! I had no idea what I was going to do after high-school, but attending art school hung around in my mind and seemed like a real possibility. It wasn’t until after 3 years as a business major, a 4 year break from college altogether, and the economy tanking, that I decided to go back to college to pursue a Bachelors of Fine Art. From that moment on, the dominoes fell into place or as some would say, the universe created a path for where I am today. A fellow artist friend and I opened our first studio and gallery in a 1,000 sq/ft. strip mall and saw incremental successes in teaching classes and hosting shows. Treating our fellow artists fairly was extremely important. Learning as we grew and allowing ourselves to experience this new world organically was instrumental in expanding our offerings and growing our client and customer base. We both kept our day jobs for a period of time to carry us through the initial “getting off the ground” phase. Soon after opening we partnered with a local frame shop to incorporate custom framing as a service and were able to offer local artists a very competitive discount to beautify their masterpieces. Where other arts organizations and galleries seemed to struggle in booking artists and hosting events to showcase work – we stayed booked over a year out on our monthly rotations of exhibitions at three local locations. My business partner decided that graduate school was the route he needed to take and left our little start-up space after about three years. We’re still good friends and catch up from time to time to talk about how much has changed and he is an awesome resource for brainstorming new obstacles. I continued to work several side gigs over the last 6 years in lieu of taking a paycheck,a 5 year goal I had was to purchase a piece of commercial property that could encompass all of 4P Studios’ offerings. And in 2019, I was able to use what I saved during that time to buy a property that has two separate buildings approximating 3,000 sq/ft. of workable space. I opened for business in the new location in September of 2019 and in June of 2021 – we completed the renovations for phase 1 of our major projects – The NEW pottery studio. Phase 2 is building out the darkroom for photography, which we hope to start at the beginning of 2022.

Lessons I’ve learned along the way… Don’t be afraid to sacrifice. Not saying that you shouldn’t have food, clothing, or shelter. But hustle. Grind. Don’t stop. And then don’t be afraid to slow down sometimes and reflect on where you started and how far you’ve come. Each day you are working towards your goal – whether it’s a massive new piece of artwork you want to complete, getting your work shown in a gallery, entering competitions, participating in markets and sales, building your dream empire – IS ONE DAY closer to achieving your dream. I heard a quote from another podcast awhile back, when we were first starting out that said, “The latin route for the word ‘passion’ is ‘to suffer’.” I believe it was said by Samantha Gash (an Ultra-Marathon Runner) on the Rich Roll podcast. Which basically means to me, that if you are truly passionate about something, you have to be willing to suffer for it. I would rather struggle every single day of my life to build something I’m proud of, where I can truly be myself, and express my creativity and business savvy – than to work my life away for someone else to benefit from my efforts. Trust in yourself. Get in touch with your intuition. Read books. A LOT OF BOOKS – on the subjects you find interesting AND subjects that will help you grow as a business owner or self-employed/freelance artist. Watch videos and listen to podcasts – about people who are thriving in your field. Don’t walk around like you know it all, continue to open yourself up for learning. And don’t be afraid to ask for help. Find a mentor, ask to shadow them. Be honest with people you work with or volunteer for about what your goals are. You’d be surprised how many people will support an authentic vision. WRTIE YOUR GOALS DOWN!!! (And try to do ONE thing each day that will bring you closer to achieving them.) And last, remove the negativity. If something is rubbing you the wrong way – it doesn’t belong in your life.

4P Studios is constantly evolving. The world is changing and as it does, we must do so too. Being fluid in how we serve our clients, customers, and artists is important to us. I have 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year goals; and these are crucial to helping me and the 4P Studios Crew stay on track.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There are a lot of free art activities in our area, from FIRST Friday Gallery Hops and street performers/music, to walking tours of local murals, to sculpture trails, to other galleries to visit and shop – 4P Studios three gallery locations – our main Martinez location, 4P Studios at the 600 Broad Gallery, 4P Studios at The Space Gallery, Art on Broad, Westobou Gallery, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Jessye Norman School of the Arts, and Tire City Potters to name a few. The Morris Museum of Art. Farmers markets on different nights of the week and the Saturday Market on the River. Two local breweries – Savannah River Brewing Co. and Riverwatch Brewery and one local distillery – 2nd City Distilling. Lots of local restaurants – some of my favorites – French Market Grille West (BEST Shrimp Po’ Boy east of New Orleans), Whiskey Bar Kitchen, The Pizza Joint, Farmhaus Burgers (OH!!! The boozy milkshakes are delish!), and Sole’.

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?
There are countless people who have been cheerleaders encouraging me on my journey and I am forever grateful to all of the supporters that have joined our cause along the way. However, two people whose faith has never wavered in me, would be my parents. Drew & Jean Brejda, obviously they deserve an immense amount of credit for raising a strong-willed, determined, and sometimes hard-headed daughter, but I think they saw the drive in me before I was willing to accept this path myself. They both lead by example. They both have a service to others attitude that I am grateful to have inherited from them. They have taught me that if you do anything with authenticity and to the best of your ability – others will be able to recognize this and will reward that hard work, energy, and effort by wanting to be a part of the team you grow to create.

Website: www.4pstudiosart.com

Instagram: @4P_Studios_Art_Gallery

Linkedin: Regina Brejda

Twitter: @ReginaBrejda

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/4pstudiosart

Youtube: https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UC2YSTqCE_3dmolOBwe9Ipmw/videos/upload?filter=%5B%5D&sort=%7B%22columnType%22%3A%22date%22%2C%22sortOrder%22%3A%22DESCENDING%22%7D

Other: TikTok: @4pstudios_art_gallery Snapchat: rbrejda