WOMAN x ARTIST

Woman x Artist

a conversation presented by olivia heller

ay 2020 M

rnali u s Jo

pstone Ca

m

+ Design

Front Cover: Photo of Emily Payne’s studio table.

“Can a woman artist — however virtuosic and talented, however disciplined — ever attain a fundamental freedom from the fact of her own womanhood?

Must the politics of femininity invariably be accounted for, whether by determinedly ignoring them or by deliberately confronting them? The latter is a fateful choice that can shape an artist’s life and work; but does the former — the avoidance of oneself as a female subject — inevitably compromise the expressive act?”

Rachel Cusk

a wo m a n i n h i b i t t h e a b i l i t y t o c r e at e

W h at c h a Ac c o rd i n g to w h o m ? l e g i t i m at e a rt ?

Who gets

t o d i c tat e w h at i s au t h e n t i c a rt wo r k ? D o e s b e i n g

r a c t e r i z e s l e g i t i m at e a rt ?

Sway Installation (in progress) detail by Emily Payne

On October 21st of 2019, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City opened its doors after four months of renovation. In addition to aesthetic renovations, MoMA has articulated that their new museum will be featuring a more diverse representation of artists, both in terms of race and gender (Pogrebin). The issue of a lack of representation for women in popular art spaces has been prevalent throughout history. However, this is an unprecedented action from a prominent museum, especially in the heart of Manhattan. Other museums around the country are following in this pursuit, announcing changes in the representation of women and marginalized communities. For example, the Baltimore Museum of Art announced that in the year 2020, every piece of work purchased for their permanent collection will be created by a woman (McCauley). However, these museums are just now coming around to direct action to a phenomenon that has plagued the popular art culture for generations. Why now?

For centuries, art done by women has been judged on a different level than art done by men. In order to be legitimized in the public sphere of art, women have had to either emulate their male counterparts or accentuate their feminine qualities; either way, women have had to redefine their feminity to fit the mold of artist, which for centuries has been synonymous with that of the man.

The most popular artists of our time have all had to confront and reconfigure their femininity in order to fit in with the art world, from Joan Mitchell, who intentionally acted like the men around her in both temperament and work style, to Georgia O’Keefe, who actively made the viewer confront female sexuality through her work. This invisibility versus hyper-visibility of femininity keeps gender in the conversation for each artist, whether it is welcome or not.

Elaine de Kooning stated in 1971, “To be put in any category not defined by one’s work is to be falsified” (Szalai). Women in the arts have had to grapple with the dual identity of woman and artist, and the footnote of gender that will always be attached to the work. In contrast, their male counterparts are able to shed any awareness of their gender for their craft.

This piece is an investigation and a conversation with the women who occupy the art world today. As the spaces where art is created change, the expectations of who an artist is, what they look like, and the societal roles they occupy must be reexamined and reconfigured.

This book is in celebration of that shift.

Note: This project is an amalgamation of interviews I have conducted with artists around the world, getting insight into life experiences that are vastly different, and yet, share common threads of frustration, longing, empathy, joy, and observations of the harsh societal realities around them.

In this piece of work, I will be referring to artists who are women by the term “artists” (not “female artists,” not “women who do art,” nor any such variations that are categorically gendered). In order to further shift the conversation surrounding the identity of “woman” and “artist,” I want to leave room for individual interpretation on the identity of an artist, (whether that be in full embracing of the partnership of woman and artist or a rejection of this combined identity) so that she may be seen and legitimized in the space that her male counterparts have occupied for generations.

I feel it is also important to note that though this piece of work attempts to capture some of the female experience in the arts, it doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of the nuanced and in many cases much more discriminatory experiences of intersectional female identities, including the LGBTQ+ community, the BIPOC community, the non-binary community, etc. This project is by no means an effort to diminish these experiences or standardize entirely unique experiences; it is simply a jumping off point to begin the discussion of discrimination in the arts, which for so long has been unheard by the broader fine art sphere.

The label of “artist” and all that it connotes, has been entirely synonymous with the characteristics of a male artist. The minute the word “female” is placed in front of the word “artist”, a different set of expectations and standards is placed on the subject matter and the quality of work that an artist presents.

This concept is not new, and remains a topic of contemplation in the minds of artists of all ages. Within each creator, there is a relationship to the word “artist”, whether that be a simple choice of identification, in terms of one’s career, or validation in a path that was not anticipated, based on one’s gender.

“I thought for a long time that it was kind of arrogant to call myself an artist because I hadn’t dedicated my life to conceptual art like I had always thought an ‘artist’ did; I had to find my own path, then once it felt like I finally found my creative voice and began pursuing it full time I started getting more comfortable with the notion of calling myself an artist and meaning it.”

Lili Arnold, Artist in Santa Cruz, CA “I think the term ‘art’ itself conjures up all these high-minded, far-off concepts of white walls and red wine glasses and cultural importance, when it's just what it is. Art. …There are so many elements at work that it doesn't make sense to gatekeep in the least little bit.”

Ruth Speer, Artist in Newberg, OR

“I think I sometimes feel uncomfortable identifying myself as an artist — feelings of imposter syndrome creep in.”

Lizzie Christian, Artist in Minneapolis, MN

“I don't know if I'm an artist or not. One day I'll identify as an artist and the next day I'll say I'm a designer, I have nothing to do with art. …

Both of them, me identifying as a woman and me identifying as an artist, they are full of self doubt and full of the sense of not fitting in, not filling the description; I'm not that person that I'm supposed to be.”

Sofia Salazar, Artist in Norwich, UK

“It took me a while to think of myself as an uppercase Artist. I think I thought of myself as a lowercase artist for a long time because … it's one of the things that I've done my entire life. … It wasn't until I was in my 40’s that I got my first show, and it wasn't until then that I felt like I'm an artist with a capital A.” Jane Hambleton, Artist in Berkeley, CA “I don't want to be grouped all the time because I think it limits the way that things work. I do want to support women and be the feminist that I am but when I write things down about my work, I don't identify as Leigh Davis, female artist. I do identify with being female, I do identify with being a mother, and I do identify with the feminine parts of myself, but it's also okay to just not label myself.”

Leigh Davis, Artist in D.C.

“I only recently became comfortable calling myself an ‘artist.’ Before that, I would have felt too uncomfortable, self-conscious, or snotty to say ‘I am an artist !’ I would tell people that I was ‘a potter’ or ‘did graphic design’ or ‘made things’.”

Rae Dunn, Artist in Berkeley, CA

“I think of myself as a maker because I feel like I’m making something that's an extension of me as a human, not that the word artist doesn't [imply that], but because of all of the connotations that come with ‘artist’.

It's strange how when you say you're an artist, people automatically attach things to that. And in conversation, using the term ‘maker’ has given pause to the people that I've been in conversation with. And so that's been interesting to hear, ‘Oh, what do you mean you’re a maker?’ Or to always attach a word to ‘artist’, like I am a fiber artist or I am an installation artist — somehow there always seems to be some desire to make people ask questions, to make them feel more curious rather than being like, ‘Well, you think you know what I am, but you don't.’”

Abi Ogle, Artist in Alabama

In the top 26 museums in the country …

Acquisitions of Work by Women

29,247

11% Museum Acquisitions of Work by Women vs.

Total Acquisitions 2008-2018

Total Acquisitions

260,470

Exhibitions of Work by Women

718

14% Total Exhibitions

5,219

Museum Exhibitions of Work by Women vs. Total Exhibitions 2008-2018

In financial terms …

“More than $196.6 billion has been spent on art at auction between 2008 and the first five months of 2019.

Of this, work made by women accounts for just $4 billion—around 2 percent.” (artnet News)

money generated by auction ($ billions)

5

Female Artists

Male Artists

“For context, works by Pablo Picasso generated $4.8 billion at auction during the same period, more than the total spent on every single female artist in our data set combined—almost 6,000 women.” (artnet News)

4 3 2 1 Pablo Picasso

~6,000 Female Artists

“The market for art by women is not only smaller, it is also disproportionately concentrated on a few artists. Just five account for $1.6 billion of the $4 billion total spent on work by women over the past 11.5 years. That 40.7 percent market share was split between, in descending order, Yayoi Kusama, Joan Mitchell, Louise Bourgeois, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Agnes Martin.” artnet News This Rain, 1960 by Agnes Martin

the precedent

To get a better understanding of the historical precedent for women in the arts, let’s look at the top five women who have dominated in the global art sphere. As observed in the study by artnet News and “In Other Words�, the women who have occupied the upper echelon of the fine art world, in terms of financial success, are Yayoi Kusama, Joan Mitchell, Louise Bourgeois, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Agnes Martin.

Each of these women has had a fascinating and individualistic journey confronting the intersection of her womanhood and her identity as an artist, as she ventured into the public eye, and joined her male counterparts in the canon of internationally renowned art. Using these five women as a microcosm of the artist experience (though they do not represent every facet of the intersectional artist journey), each displays a different component of the complexities that exist in balancing the identity of woman and artist.

joan mitchell

Mitchell’s work gained her recognition in the spaces that her male counterparts occupied. However, she was able to maintain that space when she was able to act like her male colleagues. Patricia Albers states, in her book Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter, “[the men got] a kick out of that blend of moxie and brains that had her swearing like a sailor in one breath, and quoting [T.S.] Eliot in the next” (Albers). To emulate her male counterparts, every facet of life was a male imitation: she drank, smoked, had sex, and painted like a man.

Although she was married and divorced, she could be heard at parties “denouncing the insidiousness of marriage as a trap for free souls” (Schjeldahl). Mitchell’s ferocious and fiercly independent attitude was echoed in her position to other women in the arts; she was averse to being placed in any sort of grouping among her female Hemlock, 1956 contemporaries — she even ironically nicknamed herself “Lady Painter” as a way to criticize the female artist label.

yayoi kusama

Kusama is a Japanese artist who played a fundamental role in the post-war New York art scene and whose work was a precursor to the pop-art movement, contributing much of the exposure towards diverse female artists in the modern era. After a childhood of physical and mental abuse, where she was forced to spy on her father’s extramarital affairs, Kusama was completely averse to sex or the male body. Throughout her life, Kusama rejected this societal

expectation of heterosexual intercourse and companionship, creating relationships that were strictly platonic and for the benefit of her work. For example, Kusama’s friendship with American artist Joseph Cornell was partially benefitted by both party’s lack of sexual desire: “[Cornell] hated sex. That's why we got along so well", said Kusama (Lubow).

Red Colored Pumpkin, 1992 Art making became a way of making sense in a chaotic and traumatic world, and was the route to which she connected with mainstream cultural environments. However, her personal life represented a rejection of the societal expectations that were expected as a woman.

louise bourgeois

Bourgeois explored concepts of femininity, motherhood, and what it meant for women to be subjects rather than objects in art.

However, as observed by Jerry Gorovoy (Bourgeois's assistant and friend), “She was a strong feminist, but never called herself a ‘female artist’ or a ‘feminist artist’. …

To call her a ‘female artist’ or a ‘feminist artist’ is reductive. It was simply autobiographical – she was dealing with universal emotions: jealousy, rejection, and so on. These are pre-gender” (Ferrier). Bourgeois and her work presented a rejection of a label that would require her to conform to any sort of expectation. “It wasn’t that she explicitly rejected being defined in feminist terms. … Rather, she adopted a contrary attitude towards critics eager to pigeonhole – or at least understand – her exclusively with those terms” (Ferrier).

Femme Maison, 1984

agnes martin

Through her minimalist style, there was inherent commentary in Martin’s work on the erasure of the artist’s identity for the sake of the content of the work. However, unlike other minimalists at the time, Martin struck a unique tone. She said, “Until you can clear up your identity you will be tied to a repetition of this life” (Duggan). By this, she meant that in erasing the biography and the inherent personality that becomes attached to art, we are erasing the connotations that are associated with the person, including gender and sexuality. Martin confronted these issues by striking them from her work, pulling herself from the historical precedence of the relation of art and artist, and, ironically, making an even greater statement on her identity.

georgia o’keeffe

O’Keeffe established a precedent for women in the arts by creating work that was inherently erotic and by rejecting that feminine eroticism was a sign of submitting to the male gaze, rather creating space and acceptance of female sexuality. O’Keeffe successfully painted in a field surrounded by men, and observed, “The men liked to put me down as the best woman painter. I think I’m one of the best painters”. She was able to incorporate blatant sexuality through “vulvar forms and floral imagery” (Georgia O'Keeffe), both inherently feminine concepts, while still casting off the idea that this somehow put her in a different category of value and importance than her male counterparts.

Oriental Poppies, 1927

what has changed?

Through time, the uncompromising conversation of an artist’s identity has entered gray areas, and nuanced definitions of what an artist, who is also a woman, can look like, and, even further, how she can hold space in the gallery and fine art sphere. These prevailing examples of female success are definitions of a past version of who a successful artist can be, and how she maneuvers the artist space. These women have had to tackle a black and white conversation of their identities: embrace your femininity, or abandon it. Now, we are beginning to see a shift in this conversation — the introduction of a nuanced identity, and the possibility of being both a woman (and all the societal expectations that holds) and an artist (and the expectations that label connotes). This becomes possible as both labels are being deconstructed and examined. What is a woman’s role in society today? What are the expectations of one who calls themselves an artist?

As the societal atmospheres where women have historically been excluded from become more diverse, including the workplace, government, etc., the conversation of women in the arts becomes more prominent. Women are holding higher up positions in society, meaning that the ability to buy artwork does not lie simply within one gender.

As these definitions shift, so does the definition of what success looks like for an artist. This is where the conversation begins today.

We have historical precedent for what success looks like in the art world, and to whom that label is attached. Now, as these definitions are shifting, we must redefine what legitimacy and success in the arts means.

Comfort Zone by Leigh Davis

The material that a woman uses can dictate the legitimacy of her work.

Laundry, Iceland, 2018 by Emily Payne

“I am for the most part a (still life artist) and (woman artist) and therefore considered decorative.�

Kiata Mason

Historically, there has been a set of techniques and materials (such as fabric or embroidery) available to women in the domestic setting. The products of these techniques and material have been deemed as “craft” and decorative. When women are creating art in the public sphere and using these same materials, there is a harkening to these historical times and an association to crafting that has long since been dissociated from legitimate art. Work that is utilizing historically domesticated and feminine materials doesn’t count as artwork. It counts towards an outdated understanding of the woman‘s role in the home and in what she creates there.

Art as craft is inherently symptomatic of the larger issue at hand; women’s roles have been domestic, so the work that they are producing are domestic creations. Therefore, when a woman expects the same recognition as a traditional “artist”, she is delegitimized into the category that has been created for her: the domestic being.

Spine Series by Nina Payne (grandmother)

Romantic Grunge, 2020, by Kiata Mason

When a woman marries, and has a baby, she is fulfilling her “womanly duty”. How have these empowering acts as a woman diffused her power as an artist? A woman is pulled by the other expectations of her identity; being the wife, being the mother, being the homemaker. These roles, in the societal view, grow impatient when a woman prioritizes her work and role as an artist.

Women are taught that their identities as women and artists can’t coexist, and that artwork created by a mother is somehow a betrayal of both identities; she’s not paying attention to her kids, or she’s not paying attention to her art. When she says she is an artist, there must always be a footnote, tethering her to her other identities.

Nervous, 2019, by Emma Moriconi

“There's this whole long list of unspoken rules and standards that girls are held up to, which translates to women and mothers. Mothers who are creative people in any capacity — whether that means they really love to cook or they're businesswomen — they're always coming back to something else. It's, ‘You have to have a clean house and be a good cook’, or ‘You have to have a clean house and have your business running’. How do you grapple with that other thing? It's like you're playing roles.

There's always this other side of you, almost like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You see a lot of people walking away from one thing because the ‘other’ is too strong — they want to be makers, but something else is pulling them. Instead of saying, ‘No, this is a part of my life, and I would like for it to bleed into my life, even though there's chaos and uncertainty and fear’, instead of continuing to press on or to let that [self ] survive in conversation with the ‘other’, it's oftentimes stifled or sacrificed.”

Abi Ogle

Layback, 2020, by Sofia Salazar

There is an expectation that a woman’s art must be a commentary on femininity and the experience of womanhood.

“I think that [the concept of ‘female art’] is still too strong, it takes over everything. It's ‘woman’ first and then I'll see what she makes. And then you have this idea the whole time; it's ‘Oh, but she's a girl, she's probably suffered all this inequality’. The fact is, I don't want people to contemplate that I've been left aside or whatever I've suffered for being a woman. I don't want people to consider that when they see my work.

I feel like you're pitying me, and you feel like you have to be careful, because she's soft and you can break her. No, I would like you to judge my work. My work revolves about me and around myself as a person and my ego. It's very selfish and narcissistic, but I don't want people to think that I'm trying to say something just because I'm a woman. I might be saying things because I want to say them, but not because I'm a woman.”

Sofia Salazar

Femininity exists in the process of creation.

There is a birthing and sensuality to the strokes and fabrication of artwork; that is the space where womanhood exists.

Nymphaea Caerulea aka Egyptian Lotus, 2019, by Lili Arnold

Art by a woman is financially valued, and in turn, psychologically valued, less than work by her male counter parts.

Treading Water by Jane Hambleton

“I have to make money and I have to be part of this capitalist system in order to be valued.�

Leigh Davis

Cutting Through the Fog Like a Knife, 2017 by Abi Ogle

“Am I going to be an artist or am I going to have a family? Am I gonna devote myself to this art or devote myself to trying to be everything, like a superhero? Women who are artists have to make that choice. ... Can I be an artist and a mom and have a job to support me?”

Michelle Nye The finances of art that both validate a career and dictate a life have historically benefitted the male artist, as men dominate the spaces that purchase art, as well as those that quantify the value of art.

When art done by a woman is valued less than work done by a man, the trickle-down effect echoes this injustice. According to an interview with Michelle Nye, the Interim Director at the SFMOMA Artist Gallery, the top 30 works sold on their price list are by men, the top selling at $42,000. The first piece done by a woman on the list is priced at $18,000. Accordingly, women earn less overall than male artists. A study in 2016 published in Social Currents, found that women make approximately $20,000 less a year than their male counterparts (Lindemann). This means there is an inherent lack of security in a woman supporting herself on being an artist alone, relying on external monetary support to enable her career.

The financial value that is placed on a woman’s work influences the psychological legitimacy and value of an artwork — when something costs less, what happens to the value? When a woman earns less, what happens to her value as an artist? The finances of the artworld dictate the importance placed on art and artists.

In many ways, the most influential course of change is in the shift from the singular artist mindset to that of a community. The identity of the artist has been that of the lone wolf, a man alone in his studio, creating for his own gain, and skiving off his other obligations with the rationale of sheer dedication to his craft. When a man identifies as an artist, there is never an expectation that he is juggling multiple identities and “other� expectations of what he should be accomplishing. He is an artist, therefore that is his singular purpose.

However, with more diverse visibility of artists, and the value of art by women in the international canon increasing, the common thread that

can seen is a rejection of this singular framework.

Women are creating communities and safe spaces to lift one another and encourage each other, benefiting from the role of empathy and community thinking, as opposed to competitive and selfish mindsets.

Women historically have had to emulate the style of the male artist, and in turn, confront the harsh reality that womanhood has not been compatible with the expectations of the artist.

However, a diversified and more inclusive definition of what an artist looks like means that there can be a broader conversation of, not only the demographic of an artist, but the attitude that is cultivated surrounding the creation and exposure of artwork.

Cut and Pasties, by Jane Hambleton

j’aime les radis francais by Rae Dunn

design rationale

Through this project, I've been trying to figure out a way in which the design element can play a role in the commentary on the content of the work. Ultimately, it all comes down to the fact that these powerful women have had to add a gendered footnote to their work, and that this somehow delegitimizes who they are and what their work is about. It places them in a separate category.

Each aspect of womanhood is a factor that can delegitimize the work that women produce.

Therefore, I want this project to act as a form of legitimacy for the work that women do, and through that, there needs to be an exploration of what makes something legitimate. What makes art legitimate? Is it always financially motivated? Is it recognition and who displays that recognition? I want this printed work to enact a test of my hypothesis, of the limits of what legitimacy can look like, and the recognition that can come about through printed matter and distribution.

This project is an act of protest, a space to create permanence and legitimize these voices, and in turn feel like there can be some progress and visibility.

In creating a zine format, I want to create a network of distribution, both to the people who are featured, and the people who need to understand this material. In this capacity, the act of spreading this information is part of the process of creating the conversation around the validity of the ideas published in this project. These words, these sentiments, will be written in ink, cannot be washed away, and will stay alive through the text. In addition, given that this project is about art, why can’t the materialization of the project also be art?

style guide

Header Type: Amagro Bold Serif typeface designed by Fabio Servolo.

#ABC198

#F1E2D8

#B12424

#E0C422

#365689

Body Type: Adobe Caslon Pro Semibold Serif typeface designed

by Carol Twombly for Adobe.

The color scheme for this project was inspired by Peak, an artwork created by my mother, Emily Payne.

thanks to...

Lili Arnold

https://www.liliarnold.com/ @liliarnoldstudios

Lizzie Christian

https://www.etsy.com/shop/rarepress/ @rarepress

Leigh Davis

http://www.leighdavisprojects.com/

Rae Dunn

https://www.raedunn.com/ @raedunn

Jane Hambleton

https://www.janehambleton.com/ @janehambleton_art

Kiata Mason

@kiatamasonart

Erin McGuiness

https://www.erinmcguiness.com/ @erinmcguiness

Emma Moriconi

https://www.emmamoriconi.com/ @emmoriconi

Michelle Nye

https://www.sfmoma.org/ artists-gallery/ @michellelnye

Abi Ogle

https://aogleart.com/ @abiogle

Sofia Salazar

https://hiedra.bigcartel.com/ @__hiedra__

Donna Seager & Suzanne Gray https://www.seagergray.com/ @seagergray

Ruth Speer

https://www.ruthspeer.com/ @septemberwildflowers

... for participating in this project, and inspiring me along the way.

Special thanks to my Capstone class: Dileiny Cruz, Mollie Gold, Michael Izquierdo, Tyler Kelley, Gabrielle Larochelle, Sophia Rothkegel, Olivia Wilkey, Candice Wood, Sofia Giselle Velasquez Dunaway, and Ryanne Salzano.

work cited

Bourgeois, Louise. Femme Maison. Photogravure, with chine collé.

MoMA, New York, NY, 1984, New York.

Cusk, Rachel. “Can a Woman Who Is an Artist Ever Just Be an Artist?”

The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Nov. 2019.

Duggan, Bob. “A Beautiful Mind: Agnes Martin, Minimalism, and the Feminist Voice.” Big Think, Big Think, 17 Sept. 2018.

Ferrier, Morwenna. “Louise Bourgeois – the Reluctant Hero of Feminist Art.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 14 Mar. 2016.

“Georgia O'Keeffe.” The Dinner Party, Brooklyn Museum. 2019.

Halperin, Julia, and Charlotte Burns. “Female Artists Represent Just 2 Percent of the Market. Here's Why-and How That Can Change.” Artnet News, 19 Sept. 2019.

Kusama, Yayoi. Red Colored Pumpkin. Screenprint. 墨融 Mode Rose Art. 1992.

Lindemann, Danielle J., et al. “An Asymmetrical Portrait.” Social Cur rents, vol. 3, no. 4, 2016, pp. 332–348., doi:10.1177/2329496516636399.

Lubow, Arthur. “Yayoi Kusama Celebrates the Opening of Her Retro spective at the Whitney Museum.” W Magazine | Women's Fashion & Celebrity News, 1 June 2012.

Martin, Agnes. This Rain. Oil on canvas. WikiArt, 1960.

McCauley, Mary Carole. “Baltimore Museum of Art Will Only Acquire Works from Women next Year: 'You Have to Do Something Radical'.” Baltimoresun.com, Baltimore Sun, 20 Nov. 2019.

Mitchell, Joan. Hemlock. Oil on canvas. 1956, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY. O'Keeffe, Georgia. Oriental Poppies. Oil on canvas. 1927, Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN. Pogrebin, Robin. “MoMA's Makeover Rethinks the Presentation of Art.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 June 2017.

Schjeldahl, Peter. “Tough Love.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 19 June 2017.

Sheets, Hilarie M. “Female Artists Are (Finally) Getting Their Turn.”

The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Mar. 2016.

Szalai, Jennifer. “'Ninth Street Women' Shines a Welcome New Light on New York's Postwar Art Scene.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2018.

This piece is dedicated to my mama, Emily Payne, an artist by any definition of the word.

She has taught me to celebrate and empower the creative process, and to find joy and in every small and beautiful detail.