Lauren Williams has been popping up in designs feeds all over Instagram, she’s become a go-to artist that designers work with to add unique one-of-a-kind art in clients homes.  I love visiting her Instagram feed to see behind the scenes videos which are as mesmerizing as they are inspiring! Let’s get to know Lauren Williams…   Tell me a bit about your journey, were you always an artist? I’ve always had an interest in art and design but never pursued it until just a few years ago. Thankfully, I was able to explore artistic design through event production while living in Los Angeles after college. From designing Green Rooms backstage for talent, to Red Carpet arrivals and high-end celebrity events, I was introduced to many different forms of creative execution and problem solving, based on ideas and budget. While in LA, I met my husband James. We chose to step back from the entertainment industry and open our own yoga and spin studio in Silverlake, California. After having our first son, we decided that the fitness industry was not for us and our new family lifestyle. So, we left LA for Dallas (where I am from) and lived in various rental homes for the first few years as we “started over” professionally. One specific rental home had a dining room wall that was begging for a large piece of art. Unfortunately my budget for art and my taste for art did not align, so I took it upon myself to create something for the space. This is where the world of creating and selling artwork began for me.   As designers we see an evolution in our style and aesthetic, I assume the same holds true for artists. What was your evolution like? How has it evolved?  Over the last 5 years I have seen a very wide range in the evolution of my work. From never creating (outside of decorating my own home with thrifted accessories that I spray painted) to working consistently every day as a professional artist, you can imagine that my skills and techniques have grown exponentially! For the last five years, I’ve been blessed to call my garage an art studio. It started with me using one area of our three car garage as my “dye station” as I explored this new art form. I set up racks from Ikea to suspend my Canvas With…

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MaryAnn Puls lives and works in Portland, Oregon (which by the way is one of my favourites cities ever!) creates in 2-d and 3-d, and well, I just love it all.  I love the muted tones in her pieces, and how layered they feel. I find it so incredible that she remembers her first colour experience (read about it below), kinda gets you think about you remember your own! Truth be told, I don’t remember mine, and it makes me love her story even more. Let’s get to know MaryAnn Puls…   Tell me a bit about your journey, were you always an artist? My journey into art started off early as an observer, a little visual junkie at about age 4, with my first colour experience being robin’s egg blue, literally a robin’s egg. I remember being amazed by looking at the fragments of a found shell. It was not only the intense chroma but the quality of the surface that mesmerized me – I would of course not have been able to articulate that then, but was quite aware that this found object – with its unique colour, its prior location a nest and once home to a baby robin – was precious and extremely enjoyable to hold and observe. I was also drawn to interiors and architecture. I spent my first few years of school (umm, hate to admit in the 60’s) in classrooms with tall windows and wall-to-wall wood build-ins with alcove to hang our little coats. Being exposed to these and other visually interesting, well designed spaces left an impression on me. Ironically I recently discovered that the 1947 [Mid-Century Modern] house my husband and I purchased a decade ago was designed by the architects who designed those mid-century classrooms. They had only designed a few homes.   As designers we see an evolution in our style and aesthetic, I assume the same holds true for artists. What was your evolution like? How has it evolved?  Oh, Aesthetics! That’s a pretty complex subject! I think there are so many things that can factor into it. Are we born with it and it develops into something else? I don’t know for sure. My father painted landscapes as a hobby. I thought they were really good but looking back they were not my aesthetic. And most of the other visual art I was exposed to was (reproductions)…

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I’ll give you one guess as o how I found Sarah Rutledge. Instagram, same way I find 90% of the artists I love! Sarah Rutledge is a wildly talented abstract painter, who happens to also give amazing advice at the end of this interview. It should be said that she sent this months ago, so her #5 favourite thing happens to be a weird coincidence and very on the nose right now. You’ll see what I mean. 😉 Let’s get to know Sarah Rutledge…   Tell me a bit about your journey, were you always an artist? I’ve always been an artist, but didn’t call myself one until the last couple of years. Art and music were always a big part of my life and I had planned to go to the Alberta College of Art and Design after high school, but decided not to because of my fear of not being able to support myself in the arts. After many years of higher education and working in jobs that just didn’t fit, I decided to stop denying the creative parts of who I was and finally gave myself the permission to follow the desires of my heart and pursue what made me feel the most alive. I threw myself into abstract painting and haven’t looked back. Developing my abilities as a painter has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling things I’ve ever done.   As designers we see an evolution in our style and aesthetic, I assume the same holds true for artists. What was your evolution like? How has it evolved?  I started out painting on paper and now I paint primarily on canvas and wood panel. My work has become more thoughtful and intentional. When I first started, I painted whatever flowed through me, but now I’m more conscious of how I want each piece to feel when I’m finished with it and that directs my process.   What is the message behind your art? What do you want people to take away or feel through your pieces? There is a lot of layering of colour and texture in my work, which encourages the viewer to look beyond the surface. I believe abstract art can help us connect more deeply with ourselves. Through looking at unrecognizable forms, we’re forced to ask questions about what we’re viewing and how it makes us feel. I believe in…

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I met Elizabeth Salonen of Mottoform, the way I seem to meet anyone in the design or creative world…online. The more I dug into her work the more impress I became, she’s a product, textile / surface, homewares and furniture designer. And so damn talented!  You have to check out her amazing wallpaper line as well, she’s doing a lot of really cool things, all of which are clearly driven by a real passion for what she does.  Let’s get to know Elizabeth Salonen…   Tell me a bit about your journey, were you always an artist? I grew up in a family of makers and surrounded by design. My father is Finnish and we grew up with Finnish design classics in our home. My mother is a really talented graphic designer, and when I was growing up she was studying at Cranbrook Academy of Art (designed by Saarinen). I spent a lot of time on campus and we went to design lectures and openings together. When I found out about product design, I knew it was for me, I wanted to touch and feel the things I designed. After graduating in Industrial Design from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, I worked in colour and material design for a few years at Ford Motor Company. I took this time to really explore the limits for what can be done creatively in a corporate environment with show cars – for example, we had hand-printed quirky stencil graffiti messages all over the car, and I reworked conventional materials with suppliers to take on a different identity.   I’ve always known I wanted to be be an entrepreneur and work independently so in 2005 I moved to Helsinki, Finland and established a design studio, Mottoform, where I worked on a variety of projects from sports watches, to lighting, to textiles, to wallpaper, furniture and housewares. I was honoured to receive Industrial Designer of the Year award in Finland in 2012. Throughout my career I’ve always put a strong emphasis on materials, and enjoyed exploring new processes and techniques. I also inherited a strong graphic sense (probably from my mother), that found its way into my work, into prints, patterns and textures. At first my textile prints were more illustrative. Gradually I wanted to get away from the computer and started making prints from paper cutouts, by painting, and with hand-made patterns.…

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Lindsay Chambers’ work has become a fast favourite of mine. As described on her website “Her work explores the delicacies of the human condition through paintings based on crumpled paper sculptures.”  As described by me…her work is very freaken’ cool.  It’s fair to say I’m far less eloquent.  When I reached out to Lindsay Chambers asking to feature her on my Artist Spotlight series, she replied saying she’d been following me as well! Completely made my day! Let’s get to know Lindsay Chambers…   Tell me a bit about your journey, were you always an artist? My career as an artist has often co-existed with other career paths but I have always maintained a studio practice and have been fortunate to find exhibiting opportunities. In 2003, I graduated with an Honours BA in Fine Art and Psychology from the University of Waterloo. This was the first year I participated in the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. In 2004, I completed a post graduate certificate in 3D for Broadcast Animation and Design at Humber College. I continued to paint during this time and quickly realized that a career in the 3D Animation industry was not where I wanted to be. Essentially broke, I rented a small corner in the art studio of a friend and started painting full-time. I worked as an Art Educator at a local gallery to pay bills, exhibited and participated in juried shows when I could. In 2007, I completed my Bachelor of Education and moved to the UK to teach, exhibit and eventually recruit teachers overseas. During this time, I traveled extensively immersing myself in the vast amount of Art Galleries available in the UK, Europe and South East Asia. I had found a wood-shop to make my stretchers and continued to exhibit in juried art exhibitions in the UK. In 2009, I returned to Toronto where started up my painting practice in full force, squeezing into shows I had missed the deadline for and looking for a steady job while filling my days painting after submitting resumes. I eventually landed a contract government job with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. When my contract was over I began painting full-time again. Throughout the following 10 years, I have had so many successes both in Art and life, having three children, painting, exhibiting, selling and receiving commissions of my work.   As designers we see an…

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