Go With The Flow
“It was a life lesson in taking chances and following your intuition.”
Tell me about family life and growing up in North Carolina?
My parents divorced when I was two, my mom lived in Charlotte and my dad lived out in a very rural area on a lake. My childhood was a balance of city life and feral child life - getting lost in the woods, swimming in the lake, running around with a pack of neighborhood dogs, staying out all day until the sun went down. Life in the city was busy with school and activities. My mom was so generous and made sure my creative nature was nurtured. I was an only child so there was a lot of independent play, a lot of alone time. I felt a sense of autonomy and independence from a very young age. The duality of a busy city life and a slow rural life is still a theme of my life. I definitely long to slow down, disconnect and get lost in the woods, but the energy and connection to community in the city also feels essential to me.
I heard your grandma was a prolific craft maker and had a huge influence over you. Tell me more about her?
My dad and his family are from Scotland. Before they moved to the US, they lived in an artist colony called Catterline, it’s a small village on the coast beside Stonehaven. Their neighbors were the painters Joan Eardley and James Morrison. James Morrison gave my grandma her first set of paints and brushes and she started painting landscapes. I like to think that this ignited a creative spark in her. They moved to New York and she went to a trade school to learn how to draw advertisements, later she opened a craft store in Upstate New York. She’s incredibly curious, resourceful and talented. I don’t think she would describe herself as an artist, but her life’s work is prolific. She’s turning 90 this year and still teaches a knitting class every week!
I feel that we both share the same curiosity and intuitive drive to create, learn and explore. She has an entrepreneurial spirit and has reinvented herself several times. Her story reminds me that nothing is static, we can flow in and out of many versions of ourselves. I admire her greatly.
“I rode a fixed-gear bike, I drank so much beer, I’d take the Chinatown bus to NYC.”
What were you into during your teenage years?
As a teenager, growing up in North Carolina, basically pre-internet, discovering good music, art and clothing, was just word of mouth. A friend of mine moved to New York and would come back and visit occasionally, he felt like he had his finger on the pulse of what was going on. Once he left his CD holder book in my car and it was full of Elliott Smith, Belle and Sebastian, Pavement, Built to Spill, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr, etc. This music became my whole personality, I never gave the CD book back. It felt like a secret that no one at my high school knew about.
I mostly shopped at thrift stores like Value Village, it was a hobby as much as a way of expressing my personality. There was an amazing Vintage Store called Hong Kong, I couldn’t afford much there, but it was my source for good vintage tees.
You studied painting at Moore College in Philadelphia, so tell me about the course and your overall experience there?
Living in Philly and studying painting at Moore was one of my favorite chapters of life. Moore is an all women’s art school, super tiny, I think at the time there were 500 students total. I learned so much about myself and my art practice at Moore, it was so intimate and I felt comfortable taking up space and wasn’t afraid of expressing myself.
The 5 years I spent in Philly were definitely a time of major expansion, growth and very fundamental to the person that I am today. I met lifelong friends in Philly. I road a fixed -gear bike, I drank so much beer, I’d take the Chinatown bus to NYC on the weekends to go to art openings, I lived with my first boyfriend and got a dog. Philly was the first home that I got to pick as an adult and it will always be special to me.
“We can flow in and out of many versions of ourselves.”
After graduating you worked full-time at Free People, primarily doing in-store design, which I guess was a pretty cool entry into ‘work' life?
Landing the Display Artist job for Free People definitely felt like a major dream come true at the time. I think going to school for painting, you can feel like there are only so many options to make an income after you graduate and getting paid to make art can feel unlikely. This job involved creating and installing art displays for the wholesale division of the company, so I got to move to NYC. They built me a studio space in their Midtown office and I got to travel all over the world installing art displays for their showrooms, shops, and tradeshows. Tokyo, Sydney, London, Berlin, Milan, LA, etc. I made horrible money, but I made it work in my shitty Bushwick apartment with slumlords. It was a real high/low experience. My landlords wouldn’t fix the leak in my bedroom window for 2 years, but I was taking black cars to the airport and flying first class to Tokyo.
When and why did you move to Los Angeles?
I moved to LA in February 2015 - celebrating my 8 year anniversary! I started traveling to LA and San Francisco for work frequently, I would always extend my trip to spend time with friends that lived out here. California completely blew my mind; the landscape, the produce, the weather, the people. I was visiting friends in San Francisco and we drove up to Bolinas for the day. We spent the day on the beach, exploring tide pools, holding starfish, watching the dogs play in the waves. On the drive home, we stopped at an honor system produce stand just as the sun was setting, and at that moment I knew that this was the place and I had to be here. It took another year, but I moved to California. My move was fast and quick and didn’t leave any time for planning a place to live or finding a job. Moving to LA felt like a warm hug, things really flowed for me, work was offered, a dream home appeared. It was a life lesson in taking chances and following your intuition, even when it doesn’t rationally make sense or feels scary.
You’ve now worked as an independent designer for a few years so tell me about the journey so far? And is your studio primarily divided by commercial and personal projects?
Balancing commercial projects and personal projects is admittedly something that I struggle with. I would love to tip the scale and have more time to do more personal projects, but I’m learning to trust the timing of what shows, and when it shows up. I was once given the advice to work on my art 4 hours a day, 5 days a week and most weeks that feels impossible. But I think that consistency is the key, repeatedly showing up for your practice, even on the days that you don’t want to. One of my mantras is “Prana flows where energy goes”- for me this means that where you direct your energy is where life will flow. Being committed to my work feels like less of a choice and more of an undeniable aspect of who I am, so I just keep showing up.
“There is a level of rawness and vulnerability in folk art, making things because it is our human nature.”
On the commercial side I know you’ve collaborated on some great stores and have some interesting projects on the horizon?
I have a graphic collaboration with San Francisco brand Taylor Stitch that is launching this spring. I am really excited about these t-shirts, they are all custom-dyed, and will have my illustrations screen printed on them. I am also working with Wonder Valley to reimagine their Oil Shop in Marfa, Texas, a true dream project!
And on the personal side I love your textiles, ceramics and screen prints, to name just a few of the different mediums you work in. Can you tell me a little about where you draw inspiration from and how your work has been evolving?
I draw inspiration from so many sources, but a large portion is folk art and craft. There is a level of rawness and vulnerability in folk art, making things because it is our human nature, it is so pure and so expressive and it is often never made with the intention of success or recognition. It reminds me that to be human is to be an artist. In college, I saw the traveling exhibition and of the quilts from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. My maternal grandmother was an avid quilter, also born and raised in Alabama. She used whatever scrap fabric was on hand, as a child I would study them and always discover a new print that would catch my eye. This was something that really inspired me to start sewing. In 2011, I started creating my own hand-dyed, quilted abstractions. More recently, my use of color has been inspired by Amish quilts from the early 1900s to 1930s - they look like modern abstractions with bold and moody colors. I attempted to replicate their shapes and colors in my screen prints. Ceramics are a relatively new venture for me, and I generally let the process dictate the shape, it is so meditative. I just start working and let the shape unfold in front of me. My general aspiration is to find a common thread between all the work I make, to let my hand be clearly seen. I think I always continue to explore and want to learn new mediums, but I always want my essence to shine through whatever I make.
Any dream projects you can think of?
My ultimate dream is to have a giant space that is part working-studio and part retail store-front. With my background in retail design, I would love to create a space that is completely reflective of my aesthetic, to sell my own work, as well the other of friends and brands that I admire.
Is your time in LA drawing to a close soon, or are you set for life here?
Maine is super on my mind. It felt so good to my soul to spend time there the last two summers, there is an abundant amount of raw energy there. It feels ripe. It’s beautiful, spacious and it feels like there is a big community of artists, designers and California ex-pats. I truly have no idea what the future holds, but for right now, California is my home and no matter what California has my heart.
Top 5 tips in LA?
Remainders Pasadena – an amazing arts & crafts thrift store. Amazing resource for second hand fabric and honestly any craft supply.
Collage Coffee in Highland Park, a favorite pre-studio ritual.
Estate Sales in architectural gems - dig through dead people’s stuff.
Flea markets every Sunday, Santa Monica Airport & Pasadena City College are my favorites.
Go With The Flow
“It was a life lesson in taking chances and following your intuition.”
Tell me about family life and growing up in North Carolina?
My parents divorced when I was two, my mom lived in Charlotte and my dad lived out in a very rural area on a lake. My childhood was a balance of city life and feral child life - getting lost in the woods, swimming in the lake, running around with a pack of neighborhood dogs, staying out all day until the sun went down. Life in the city was busy with school and activities. My mom was so generous and made sure my creative nature was nurtured. I was an only child so there was a lot of independent play, a lot of alone time. I felt a sense of autonomy and independence from a very young age. The duality of a busy city life and a slow rural life is still a theme of my life. I definitely long to slow down, disconnect and get lost in the woods, but the energy and connection to community in the city also feels essential to me.
I heard your grandma was a prolific craft maker and had a huge influence over you. Tell me more about her?
My dad and his family are from Scotland. Before they moved to the US, they lived in an artist colony called Catterline, it’s a small village on the coast beside Stonehaven. Their neighbors were the painters Joan Eardley and James Morrison. James Morrison gave my grandma her first set of paints and brushes and she started painting landscapes. I like to think that this ignited a creative spark in her. They moved to New York and she went to a trade school to learn how to draw advertisements, later she opened a craft store in Upstate New York. She’s incredibly curious, resourceful and talented. I don’t think she would describe herself as an artist, but her life’s work is prolific. She’s turning 90 this year and still teaches a knitting class every week!
I feel that we both share the same curiosity and intuitive drive to create, learn and explore. She has an entrepreneurial spirit and has reinvented herself several times. Her story reminds me that nothing is static, we can flow in and out of many versions of ourselves. I admire her greatly.
“I rode a fixed-gear bike, I drank so much beer, I’d take the Chinatown bus to NYC.”
What were you into during your teenage years?
As a teenager, growing up in North Carolina, basically pre-internet, discovering good music, art and clothing, was just word of mouth. A friend of mine moved to New York and would come back and visit occasionally, he felt like he had his finger on the pulse of what was going on. Once he left his CD holder book in my car and it was full of Elliott Smith, Belle and Sebastian, Pavement, Built to Spill, The Breeders, Dinosaur Jr, etc. This music became my whole personality, I never gave the CD book back. It felt like a secret that no one at my high school knew about.
I mostly shopped at thrift stores like Value Village, it was a hobby as much as a way of expressing my personality. There was an amazing Vintage Store called Hong Kong, I couldn’t afford much there, but it was my source for good vintage tees.
You studied painting at Moore College in Philadelphia, so tell me about the course and your overall experience there?
Living in Philly and studying painting at Moore was one of my favorite chapters of life. Moore is an all women’s art school, super tiny, I think at the time there were 500 students total. I learned so much about myself and my art practice at Moore, it was so intimate and I felt comfortable taking up space and wasn’t afraid of expressing myself.
The 5 years I spent in Philly were definitely a time of major expansion, growth and very fundamental to the person that I am today. I met lifelong friends in Philly. I road a fixed -gear bike, I drank so much beer, I’d take the Chinatown bus to NYC on the weekends to go to art openings, I lived with my first boyfriend and got a dog. Philly was the first home that I got to pick as an adult and it will always be special to me.
“We can flow in and out of many versions of ourselves.”
After graduating you worked full-time at Free People, primarily doing in-store design, which I guess was a pretty cool entry into ‘work' life?
Landing the Display Artist job for Free People definitely felt like a major dream come true at the time. I think going to school for painting, you can feel like there are only so many options to make an income after you graduate and getting paid to make art can feel unlikely. This job involved creating and installing art displays for the wholesale division of the company, so I got to move to NYC. They built me a studio space in their Midtown office and I got to travel all over the world installing art displays for their showrooms, shops, and tradeshows. Tokyo, Sydney, London, Berlin, Milan, LA, etc. I made horrible money, but I made it work in my shitty Bushwick apartment with slumlords. It was a real high/low experience. My landlords wouldn’t fix the leak in my bedroom window for 2 years, but I was taking black cars to the airport and flying first class to Tokyo.
When and why did you move to Los Angeles?
I moved to LA in February 2015 - celebrating my 8 year anniversary! I started traveling to LA and San Francisco for work frequently, I would always extend my trip to spend time with friends that lived out here. California completely blew my mind; the landscape, the produce, the weather, the people. I was visiting friends in San Francisco and we drove up to Bolinas for the day. We spent the day on the beach, exploring tide pools, holding starfish, watching the dogs play in the waves. On the drive home, we stopped at an honor system produce stand just as the sun was setting, and at that moment I knew that this was the place and I had to be here. It took another year, but I moved to California. My move was fast and quick and didn’t leave any time for planning a place to live or finding a job. Moving to LA felt like a warm hug, things really flowed for me, work was offered, a dream home appeared. It was a life lesson in taking chances and following your intuition, even when it doesn’t rationally make sense or feels scary.
You’ve now worked as an independent designer for a few years so tell me about the journey so far? And is your studio primarily divided by commercial and personal projects?
Balancing commercial projects and personal projects is admittedly something that I struggle with. I would love to tip the scale and have more time to do more personal projects, but I’m learning to trust the timing of what shows, and when it shows up. I was once given the advice to work on my art 4 hours a day, 5 days a week and most weeks that feels impossible. But I think that consistency is the key, repeatedly showing up for your practice, even on the days that you don’t want to. One of my mantras is “Prana flows where energy goes”- for me this means that where you direct your energy is where life will flow. Being committed to my work feels like less of a choice and more of an undeniable aspect of who I am, so I just keep showing up.
“There is a level of rawness and vulnerability in folk art, making things because it is our human nature.”
On the commercial side I know you’ve collaborated on some great stores and have some interesting projects on the horizon?
I have a graphic collaboration with San Francisco brand Taylor Stitch that is launching this spring. I am really excited about these t-shirts, they are all custom-dyed, and will have my illustrations screen printed on them. I am also working with Wonder Valley to reimagine their Oil Shop in Marfa, Texas, a true dream project!
And on the personal side I love your textiles, ceramics and screen prints, to name just a few of the different mediums you work in. Can you tell me a little about where you draw inspiration from and how your work has been evolving?
I draw inspiration from so many sources, but a large portion is folk art and craft. There is a level of rawness and vulnerability in folk art, making things because it is our human nature, it is so pure and so expressive and it is often never made with the intention of success or recognition. It reminds me that to be human is to be an artist. In college, I saw the traveling exhibition and of the quilts from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. My maternal grandmother was an avid quilter, also born and raised in Alabama. She used whatever scrap fabric was on hand, as a child I would study them and always discover a new print that would catch my eye. This was something that really inspired me to start sewing. In 2011, I started creating my own hand-dyed, quilted abstractions. More recently, my use of color has been inspired by Amish quilts from the early 1900s to 1930s - they look like modern abstractions with bold and moody colors. I attempted to replicate their shapes and colors in my screen prints. Ceramics are a relatively new venture for me, and I generally let the process dictate the shape, it is so meditative. I just start working and let the shape unfold in front of me. My general aspiration is to find a common thread between all the work I make, to let my hand be clearly seen. I think I always continue to explore and want to learn new mediums, but I always want my essence to shine through whatever I make.
Any dream projects you can think of?
My ultimate dream is to have a giant space that is part working-studio and part retail store-front. With my background in retail design, I would love to create a space that is completely reflective of my aesthetic, to sell my own work, as well the other of friends and brands that I admire.
Is your time in LA drawing to a close soon, or are you set for life here?
Maine is super on my mind. It felt so good to my soul to spend time there the last two summers, there is an abundant amount of raw energy there. It feels ripe. It’s beautiful, spacious and it feels like there is a big community of artists, designers and California ex-pats. I truly have no idea what the future holds, but for right now, California is my home and no matter what California has my heart.
Top 5 tips in LA?
Remainders Pasadena – an amazing arts & crafts thrift store. Amazing resource for second hand fabric and honestly any craft supply.
Collage Coffee in Highland Park, a favorite pre-studio ritual.
Estate Sales in architectural gems - dig through dead people’s stuff.
Flea markets every Sunday, Santa Monica Airport & Pasadena City College are my favorites.
ALL CULTURE IS A CONVERSATION LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA © MR. WREN 2025
ALL CULTURE IS A CONVERSATION – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
© MR. WREN 2025