Vanessa Piche on Starting Over as an Artist: What Happens When You Lose Your Audience?

Estimated read time: 4 minutes

What do you do when the audience you've spent years building suddenly disappears? How do you rebuild from scratch in a new place, with new challenges, and a shifting online landscape? For many artists right now, these aren’t hypothetical questions. They’re real, pressing, and deeply personal. 

In this episode of the Art + Audience podcast, Stacie welcomes painter and fellow creative entrepreneur Vanessa Piche for a conversation that many artists will find painfully familiar and deeply comforting. This isn't a cheerleading session with five easy tips to explode your online sales. Instead, it's a raw, real-time reflection on what happens when everything that used to work… doesn’t anymore.

Meet Vanessa: From Coastal Art Fairs to Midwest Farm Life

For over a decade, Vanessa built her art business through in-person connections. She painted, showed up at art festivals every weekend, and eventually opened a brick-and-mortar store in Rhode Island. That’s where she sold not just her oil paintings but also her popular t-shirt line. Her marketing strategy? Simply being there consistently and authentically. And it worked.

But then came a massive life shift. Vanessa inherited her grandparents’ farm in Indiana and moved with horses, chickens, her daughter, and everything else in tow. Now, surrounded by barns and animals, she’s building a new life in a new place. Along with that comes the daunting challenge of rebuilding an audience from scratch.

Why Is It So Hard to Grow Right Now?

Both Stacie and Vanessa acknowledge something many artists have been whispering to each other behind the scenes: building an audience online feels harder than ever.

Organic reach on platforms like Instagram has plummeted. Algorithms seem broken. Even lead magnets, once a gold standard of email list growth, are now being ignored. And while TikTok is technically working for some, it’s still inconsistent, and its long-term reliability is uncertain.

So… What Now?

Vanessa and Stacie toy with an idea that feels both nostalgic and forward-thinking: maybe it’s time to get back in person. Maybe the pendulum is swinging back toward real-life connection and community.

From selling art at horse shows in Florida to hosting retreats on Vanessa’s soon-to-be art studio farm, the conversation turns hopeful. What if rebuilding your audience means leaning into what worked before the internet took over?

In-Person Trust Fuels Online Sales

One clear insight emerges. Customers who bought from Vanessa in person were more likely to buy from her again online. Trust was built face-to-face and translated digitally. This is not just anecdotal; it is strategic.

Stacie reflects on the age demographics, too: many collectors and art buyers are 45+, and this group often prefers in-person shopping. If they’re not on TikTok or Instagram, the question becomes: where are they?

Honest Failures and Real Experiments

In a refreshing moment of transparency, Vanessa lists what hasn’t worked for her recently: new lead magnets that flopped, a gorgeous collection launch that didn’t convert, and story views on Instagram tanking.

But instead of wallowing, she and Stacie are brainstorming. Could influencer outreach to niche TikTokers (think: farm life, horse lovers, homesteading accounts) help? What about reinventing in-person markets by combining live events with livestreaming?

The answers aren’t clear yet, but the commitment to figuring it out is.

A Mantra to Remember: “We’ve Always Had What We Needed”

As the episode closes, Stacie shares wisdom from a longtime friend:

“We’ve always had what we needed when we needed it, even when it didn’t feel like it at the moment.”

This episode reminds us that sometimes the most valuable thing isn’t a strategy; it’s solidarity. If you're rebuilding, restarting, or just trying to hold on while the ground shifts beneath you, you're not alone. As Vanessa puts it:

“We are on the side that’s going to survive it because we’re willing to have the conversation and willing to look at things differently.”

Follow Vanessa, visit vanessapiche.com, or find her on Instagram @vanessapiche.

If this episode resonated, share it with your fellow artists. Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the Art + Audience Podcast. Follow Stacie on Instagram @gingiber | @leverageyourart. 

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If you have questions about your own art journey? Call the Art + Audience hotline at (479) 966-9561, and Stacie might answer your question in a future episode!