Blog
Art Therapy
09 . 11 . 2023
For these four One of a Kind artists, creating is a form of therapeutic self-care. They find joy, comfort, relief, and healing in their process and works of art and they hope that others will too.
A former teacher turned beaded jewelry artist, Deb Reutter uses tiny Japanese glass beads to create one-of-a-kind pieces from everyday details, patterns and colors that inspire her.
Tell us about your creative process:
Deb: Through my journey of learning and making, I am finding my voice and honoring my unique process. When I notice something beautiful and interesting. I take a picture, design a pattern, determine colorways, and ultimately create the piece. I hand sew or loom tiny Japanese glass cylinder beads and couple them with components I often metalsmith myself.
What does your artwork represent?
Deb: My work represents the beauty I see in the seemingly mundane, everyday world. It represents what I see when I look around and pay attention. It also represents perseverance and hard work. I am not a professionally trained artist, but I am tenacious and creative. I hope my artwork will inspire others to explore their own creativity and passion.
How has creating helped you in your own life?
Deb: What makes my story exceptional and inspiring is that in November 2021, I had a ruptured brain aneurysm that nearly ended my life. Prior to this, I was a teacher for 20+ years. However, I was unable to return to teaching because of lasting cognitive issues. Jewelry was my hobby prior to teaching but while I was in recovery it became my therapy. It is meditative and calming and I love what I am doing. I view the world a bit differently than before. I see, appreciate, and find beauty in details of everyday life that I want to share through my jewelry.
Amy Madej is a contemporary ceramic artist and educator who discovered that clay is a great canvas for the many doodles and small designs she often found herself creating. "Joyful" is often a word used to describe Amy's work and Joy happens to be her middle name!
What motivates you to create?
Amy: I find motivation in creating things that bring joy, tranquility, and connection. Seeing the happy expressions on visitors' faces, providing a peaceful moment for someone to enjoy a cup of coffee, or creating a unique bowl or platter for a favorite meal to share. Most importantly, helping individuals find a heartfelt gift for their loved ones is a truly rewarding experience that inspires me to keep creating.
What does your artwork represent?
Amy: The connection to self and others, seeing and feeling the layers within us and others. The hand-carved symbolism illustrates hope, love, loss, dreaming, healing, and growth. The human touch in all my work conveys joyful energy.
How has an event in your own life served as inspiration?
Amy: My pieces are a collection of my personal experiences, including my passions, challenges, and dreams. Each of the designs on my pieces has been inspired by growth, love, hope, the circle of life, everyone we meet in our lives, dreaming big, and the climbs we endure and overcome. One particular event that has deeply impacted my art is the occurrence of several miscarriages. Through my artistic expression, I find solace in persevering, spreading happiness, and nurturing a positive outlook.
Bianca Williams luxury candle brand is a collection of home fragrances that embodies sophistication, sustainability, and craftsmanship. Mae & George is a woman and minority-owned enterprise that embodies innovation and serves as a reflection of one's values and moments.
What motivates you to create?
Bianca: My motivation to create is an unwavering desire for a high-quality scented candle. I believe stories can be told through scent and fragrance and it should transport a person to a special memory or time. Scent can bring back memories long after the experience is over, and I want to tell those stories through my candles.
What do you hope your candles will convey?
Bianca: I hope to convey through my work that it's okay; it's okay to take a break, it's okay to slow down, it's okay to break routine or get a new one, it's okay to take care of yourself. I hope people can do that with our candles, find a moment in the day to set a mood that's positive and supports self-care.
What is an instance in your own life that has served as inspiration?
Bianca: My background is in occupational therapy. For 20 years that's what I lived and breathed. I absolutely love it. In practice I would often use scent where it was appropriate. Scent is powerful and when someone responds to scent when they were not otherwise responding to any other external stimuli, it's fascinating. That's how this company was born, my love affair with the powerful effect of fragrance.
Nearly 10 years ago, Martha Economos started painting as a hobby but after a few classes she was inspired to start researching and experimenting on her own. Today, Martha is a disciplined, determined, and committed self-taught artist that creates contemporary/abstract oil paintings and pet portraits with an added focus on prints of original art.
Tell us about your work:
Martha: For my color series, I like picking one color for a painting. With that, I create varying degrees of tints and tones while mixing values and sometimes adding multiple colors. I often begin my process by dripping paint then letting abstract creativity take on a life of its own. I usually always end up going back in and adding more texture with a palette knife.
What do you enjoy about painting?
Martha: As an introvert I enjoy a fair amount of time alone. In that time, I find painting allows me to decompress from all the "noise" of day-to-day life...an escape if you will! In that peace and quiet, I'm better able to translate my mood onto canvas.
What does your artwork symbolize?
Martha: My color series was a symbol for climate change initially. Blue for melting ice caps, red for the ever-increasing wildfires. From there, I started looking at other parts of nature as my muse which translated into my sunrise series, rainforests series, and overcast series.
Meet and shop from these artists plus hundreds more, December 7-10!