Welcome to Creators on the Rise, where we find and profile breakout creators who are in the midst of extraordinary growth. You can check out previous installments here.
Caitlyn Grabenstein has always loved making art.
But she didn’t expect that posting her art on Instagram would become such a big deal.
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Back in 2014, she was working in the music business in Nashville. A big part of her job was making art for the charitable business she was part of, and a big part of that art was collage, a medium where you layer elements on top of one another to create one unified piece. She was putting together things like concert posters, and started looking at Instagram as a free way to get the word out.
While working that job, she started producing personal collages, and posted those on Instagram (where she goes by cult.class, because she was a sociology major with a concentration in cults) too. To her surprise, her pieces “got more engagement” than the concert posters she’d been putting up.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this could work,'” she says. She started producing more and more personal art, much of it focused around her interest in extraterrestrial and supernatural themes, and by 2019, she had enough of a following to make her art her full-time pursuit.
Now, Grabenstein has more than half a million followers on Instagram–and she’s giving them something to snack on. Two weeks ago, she announced Cult Class Candy Bars, a limited-edition collection of cookies & cream, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate sea salt bars. Sets of three come with one bar in each flavor, plus a one-in-25 chance of getting a golden ticket that entitles the holder to a signed art print from Grabenstein.
The bars are open for preorder here, and you can check out our chat with Grabenstein below.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tubefilter: For anyone who’s reading this and doesn’t know you, give me an introduction about you, where you’re from, and how you got into art.
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Thank you for talking to me. I live in Connecticut now. I got into art, originally I was working in music down in Nashville and I needed art for my tour posters because I had a charitable music business, so I just started making it myself. I’ve always made art in some capacity throughout my life, like painting, drawing, whatever. I play music too, so that was a big thing for a while. I started doing the collage and digital stuff for the charitable business and I just loved it so much. I started doing album covers for my friends and stuff like that and it just took off. I started posting it on Instagram and that was back in around 2019, 2019 is when I went full-time with my design and art stuff.
Tubefilter: 2019. Okay, and then when did content creation come into it? When did you start posting online?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Oh my gosh. Well, I think I really started learning that with my charitable business back in Nashville. This is back in 2014, 2015. Instagram was still so big and people were so into it, and I really wanted to get really good at advertising on social media because it’s a free platform. I started making content for the charitable business, for music stuff, and then got the hang of doing that. That’s, again, 2015. Then I started posting my art in maybe 2016, 2017.
It was interesting because it got more engagement than like, “Come to this concert,” or whatever I was posting before that, and so I was like, “Oh, this could work.” I started making art for, not for Instagram, but posting it on Instagram. Then once Reels became big, I started doing animations with my art and videos and stuff like that. The content creation came with the whole platform, and just putting my art out there.
Tubefilter: Your art is very distinct, very interesting. What inspires you to pursue extraterrestrial themes?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Well, thank you. It is interesting. I’ve always been interested in sci-fi, UFO stuff since I was a kid. Just watching things on History Channel, I don’t even know if it was on History Channel back then, it probably wasn’t as mainstream as it is now. I’ve always been into, you know, Bigfoot, and UFOs, and aliens, and I love a retro aesthetic, I think that’s why I like collage so much, is because you get to use old things and recycle them make them new make them interesting. Just basically combining time periods and combining sci-fi surreal with reality became my favorite thing to do.
I don’t really know why, exactly, other than, I think it’s just more escapist. I feel like I really got into the groove of my aesthetic right around COVID. I had so much time to dig into my own feelings and make stuff that I thought was interesting. I think it seemed to resonate with other people, but even the explosions, that’s different. I use a lot of explosions. I think the UFOs represent things we don’t know in the world, and I really lean into that with all the weird stuff in my art.
Tubefilter: Where did your user handle come from, @cult.class?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes, so I was a sociology major in college with a concentration in cults.
Tubefilter: That explains it, okay.
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes, I really love cults and I used to play folk music in a folk duo and my husband actually came up with the name Cult Class. I was like, “That name is just too good,” so I just used it for my art after we stopped playing music.
Tubefilter: Amazing. So things really developed for you during COVID?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes. I remember before that things were going well, there was definitely an interest in my art and my content before COVID. I feel like because my art is so escapist and so surreal, and people had a lot of time to be on digital screens, I think it just was the perfect combination. It got a lot of visibility and it was very escapist, and I think a lot of people were looking for that at the time.
Tubefilter: Can you explain a little bit about the process of creating a collage piece?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Well, basically, it’s just taking layers of different images and combining them in a way that makes sense to the artist, I guess. Then for me, I don’t really usually plan a piece. It’s like, I see an old magazine clipping or an image, and then I get ideas of like, “Oh, that would be great with a UFO,” or great with whatever, and I build it off that. To me, it’s like a visual puzzle, because it’s making it work and then building the scene. I like to make scenes that almost look like they’re like from a movie or something. Something you can immerse yourself in. That’s my process, but collage is just building on layers basically.
Tubefilter: Very interesting. Sorry, I’m looking through your Instagram as you’re talking and your stuff is really cool.
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Thank you.
Tubefilter: I’m a big Mothman fan.
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Oh yes. Me too.
Tubefilter: A big part of your business is you sell your prints?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes.
Tubefilter: I’m curious about the business side, how content plays into you being able to make a living as an artist. Or does it?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Oh, my goodness. It’s tough now. I think it depends on what content you’re making. It does play into being an artist, but I think there’s a difference between being a creator and an artist.
Tubefilter: Agreed.
Caitlyn Grabenstein: There are so many great comedians and people who make really creative videos and really great content, and then I think there’s artists. Then there’s a cross-section of being able to monetize art with the content creation. They’re actually two different lanes. It can be tough. Once TikTok took off, it transformed everything. Really transformed visuals into video, which is tough for visual artists who are still artists. Although people have gotten smart, so you take videos of painting a painting or doing your work and being creative with it. Honestly, it’s tremendously helpful in making a living. I am a full-time artist, but it’s learning how to do it right.
Tubefilter: Do you have any advice about it?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes, I think if you want to make a living from doing your art, and you don’t want it to just be a hobby, then you have to treat it like a business. I think people lose that sometimes, which is understandable, because art is personal. If you want to make money off of it, you have to really watch your analytics and understand how your business works in order to propel your art and get visibility. Understanding what does well and why it does well. You don’t have to totally transform your art to cater to people, but understanding your audience is super important, I think, and being attentive to that as a businessperson.
Tubefilter: Do you have insight about your audience?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes, over the years, I definitely do. Definitely, people who I think who like my art definitely are into surreal UFOs. I track even the age range, and a lot of times the audience is around my age because I think they relate to the art that I’m making and where they’re located stuff like that. Yes, I keep tabs on what my audience is interested in, even the art that I picked for the candy bars that I did, those are some of my most popular pieces. I try to keep tabs on what everybody likes, just to keep a pulse on what people like. I still make things that I like too, but.
Tubefilter: How long does it take you on average to make a piece?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Oh, goodness. Sometimes it’ll take days because sometimes I find images that I’m like, “Oh, that person or that element would be so good in something.” Then it’ll take me– Honestly, a lot of the time goes into finding the right images to work together, and then editing them. I edit them, I add all these vintage effects and stuff, so making that all work. Sometimes I find things that work, and I get an idea in my head, and it takes only a couple hours, and sometimes it takes days or weeks.
If there’s something that’s haunting me, like this image would be so good, this person, or the idea of a person running through a field of flowers, but they’re upside down and the moon’s below them, I don’t know. That takes longer. It’s odd. I always think art is like a gift and sometimes it’s just given to you. It just comes.
Tubefilter: Got you. And then, I wanted to ask, you’re making chocolate bars?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes.
Tubefilter: I’d love to hear more about how that came about.
Caitlyn Grabenstein: I’m a big fan of candy. That’s something that my audience does know about me. I’ve always been a big candy fan. Another thing. UFOs and candy, I guess, my whole life. A dream of mine was to put my art on candy bars because I just felt like it was a perfect fit, and it would look really cool in a candy bar. Then I had the idea of basically making it like a Willy Wonka situation, where you can find a golden ticket in the candy bars and then you get a signed art print from me. I presented that to Viral Nation and they were like, “That would be a really cool idea,” and so they were down to make the candy bars. I picked the art, and we designed the packaging and everything and went from there.
Tubefilter: How involved were you in the flavor profiles?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Oh, I was very involved. That’s also a dream come true, because I taste tested everything and picked all the flavors and stuff. We have cookies and cream, milk chocolate, and a dark chocolate and sea salt option.
Tubefilter: Cool. How long was the overall design and production process?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Oh my gosh. We’ve probably been working on it for like five months or so. Just putting it all together, and how we want to do it, how many bars we wanted to sell. Each box is three different flavors, three different bars, three different designs on the bars. We weren’t sure how many bars we were going to put in the boxes. Also the boxes are branded, so we took time doing that. I’d say a good amount of time.
Tubefilter: How many golden tickets are there for prints?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: There are approximately one for every 25 boxes.
Tubefilter: Oh, high chances.
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes. Pretty high odds of getting one.
Tubefilter: That’s very cool. I’m always so interested, when creators make their own products, when artists make their own products, why they pick what they do. I feel like yours fits with your overall brand. Like, whimsical? You know what I mean.
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Fun. Thank you. I think my whole thing is just, like a lot of my art too is just people just peaceful or happy or having fun and chaos or whatever, and candy is sort of that. I love candy.
Tubefilter: Yes, absolutely. Where is it launching into? Is it online sales?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes, online sales. Strictly online sales right now.
Tubefilter: I know it’s very early, but based on how this does, do you plan on trying to make more, different kinds of candy? Is that something you’re thinking about?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Definitely. Oh my gosh. I have so many ideas. I mean, gummies are definitely on my mind, but different candy bars. I’d love to, I think our thoughts too are like, if it does well, maybe wholesale, all kinds of stuff, and just get the art out there with good chocolate. That was an important thing to me too. The chocolate is made in the U.S., and it’s all really good ingredients.
Tubefilter: Excellent to hear. In terms of full-time art, do you do gallery shows, or is it mostly print sales that you rely on?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes, prints. I haven’t done a gallery show, any in-person show– I was doing them before COVID, and then I haven’t done one since, I guess. I mostly do prints, and I do big commissions for brands and stuff like that. That’s my big business model, I guess, is just prints and commissions. That’s what I do. I’d like to do some things in person soon.
Tubefilter: This is a very broad question, but what’s your overall goal with this whole “being on the internet” thing?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: Yes, what’s so funny is, there are things that have happened that would be like goals in my life that I would’ve never even thought would’ve been goals in my life. Just based on the idea that this art did really well on the internet, and so making this candy bar, I’ve gotten to do commissions for people I’ve looked up to my whole life and brands that I looked up to. If I can keep doing that, that’s my goal. My goal is really to just get my art out there. I mean, at the core of it, I think I’m just an emotional person, and I enjoy making the art. Then on the business side of things, if I can just keep doing that and living that, that’s the ultimate dream.
Tubefilter: What’s been your favorite part of sharing your art online?
Caitlyn Grabenstein: I think social media gets a bad rep. I’m the first person to maybe sometimes give it a bad rep, [laughs] but I’ve reached people all over the world that I never otherwise would’ve been able to reach or speak to and they would have never seen my art. That’s been hands down the best thing about everything. It’s just like the connectedness of everything. I don’t know, I never thought I’d be talking to people in India, Australia, England, Brazil daily. They’re just all really nice people. I think humanity in general has a lot in common and it’s been fun to see that. The vehicle has been my art, and that’s been great.
