About Kat
Your art deserves to be seen. Let’s build the career around it.
I'm Ekaterina Popova: artist, certified master coach, and founder of Create! Magazine. Create! U is where I teach what fifteen years of making, selling, and publishing art taught me.
Hey, I'm Ekaterina Popova
Artist, founder of Create! Magazine, certified master coach
I help artists get seen, get paid, and build careers that support their lives. I'm a painter who has sold hundreds of original paintings and exhibited internationally, the host of The Create! Podcast with over one million downloads, and the co-author of The Complete Smartist Guide and The Creative Business Handbook.
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Where it started
Art was the only thing I ever wanted to do.
I moved to the US with my mom when I was twelve. In college I said yes to running a small gallery near campus. I was terrified and felt completely unqualified. It changed my life, and it taught me the basics of business one step at a time.
After graduation I worked retail and restaurant shifts and painted on the floor of my apartment before and after work. I applied to every open call I could find.
KEEP READING ↓Since I couldn't find a job in the arts, I built one.
One hard night in 2013 I realized that if there was nothing out there for me, I could create it. I started FreshPaint Magazine with a laptop and a Wi-Fi connection. In 2016 it became Create! Magazine.
I had no idea how to run a business, and I failed often. But I kept going. That's the part I want you to hear: there is no formula or cookie-cutter path for artists. Yours gets to look like you.
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What I believe
If you're an artist, you belong in the art world.
You can make art and run a business. You can have both. You are allowed to thrive creatively and financially. And your studio practice always comes first, because everything else is built on it.
I built Create! U so you don't have to figure it all out alone.
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“Working with Kat has been a game-changer for my art career. I was recently paid the highest amount I have ever been paid for a large painting, and I couldn’t have done this without Kat’s encouragement and guidance. She showed me how to honor my creative worth, and I developed a price system for my work that is sustainable and supports me and my family.”
– Sara, artist
As seen in:
Create! U
Self-paced courses for artists building a creative career and a business they love. Led by Ekaterina Popova, founder of Create! Magazine.
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