Mr Tischler has over a million followers across his website, podcast and YouTube channel where he produces instructional, inspirational painting videos featuring real-time work that sells to international buyers for well into five figures.
"It’s great to be back in Lawrence. The vast majority of my online career has been built in this room," he said of his reinstated gallery on the town’s main street.
"I said to my wife ‘there’s gold in these hills’, meaning the purpose, direction and feeling of home ... We moved away looking for something we actually had here all along."
Born in Texas, Mr Tischler moved to Australia at 10, where he completed a fine arts degree and began his career.
His wife and partner of 15 years is a New Zealander, a fulltime mother who moved with him to Lawrence in 2017 and manages much of their online business.
"We set up a fine art gallery in this same building and had it running for one season before Covid hit and shut everybody down.
"We moved to Marlborough Sounds for the kind of wilderness where I could work in my backyard then head straight into the forest to hunt a deer, [but] things like a five-hour round-trip for supplies became less attractive when we had our son, and soon enough, I was in touch with friends in Lawrence and had an offer on the lease of the same building."
Tischler and Co Gallery started setting back up in historic Gray’s Drapery in March, before Lawrence Community Art’s Clutha Youth Art Competition.
"The role I’m taking in the competition is to give people access to their own creativity.
"I’m always on the lookout for a kid who’s talented but needs an opportunity to say ‘come to the studio and watch this’.
"Some artists guard their secrets but I’m passionate about demystifying those things.
"I live for the breakthrough that happens, the moment they realise they’ve suddenly unlocked a technique.
"I show them how I do what I do to hand them the tools to bring their own vision to life."
Mr Tischler has donated prizes for the art competition, which will be exhibited for July 19-21 at his gallery in 3 Ross Pl.
"I’m not a fan of taping bananas to a wall. I love the classic, traditional art, where people can see the skill resulting from hard work and discipline, and everyone wants to know ‘how do you make a living doing this’?
"There has never been a better time to be an artist, because we can now take advantage of live websites and social media to reach an international community, a global market.
"It still takes hard work but the business side of things is also very creative and rewarding and a pattern seems to be emerging where the artists succeeding today are very much entrepreneurial and take full advantage of those opportunities.
"I think kids thrive the more they can get creative and explore.
"When their innate artistic genius is lifted up and celebrated it does something to their confidence and resilience that is valuable across the rest of their life.
"My goal was: ‘how do I keep doing this so it will sustain itself and I don’t have to go and get a job?’ and I love showing young people they absolutely can make it as an artist today."
