Today we’d like to introduce you to Adrienne Pike. She and her team share her story with us below.
Please kick things off for us with some background on the story.
Adrienne Pike Adelphia is a contemporary artist with her studio in America’s heartland, a lifetime artist influenced by nature. A Midwest farmer’s daughter, Pike was born in Ottawa, Illinois, and grew up near Illinois’s Starved Rock State Park. With a love for the outdoors, she has always been passionate about nature and inspired by the way spirit moves in all things.
Adrienne received her degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; where she studied painting, ceramics, hot glass, metals, and serigraphy. Today, she paints, throws and sculpts clay, blows glass at Starved Rock Hot Glass in Ottawa, and experiments with printmaking and collage. She lives with her husband and daughter in South Ottawa, farms with her father, and helps run her family’s business: Pine Hills Golf Club Bar & Restaurant.
Adrienne is an active member of the Ottawa Art League and Morris Watercolor Guild. She has been a member of the Kendall Arts Guild, Chicago Artists Coalition, and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America. She was one of fourteen artists chosen to take part in the Chicago Artists Coalition Gallery from September 2010 through September 2011. Coalition Gallery was a cooperative program of the Chicago Artists’ Coalition in which the artists manage all aspects of the gallery.
Adrienne was an honoree of the 40 Under 40 Class of 2014 recognized by the Illinois Small Business Development Center. She was one of 40 entrepreneurs and professionals in the Starved Rock Region chosen for their leadership and commitment to the quality of life and economic development in the area.
Adrienne has shown her work in Illinois, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Southern California. She is a watercolor workshop instructor, visual arts judge, and guest speaker.
You can find her work at Your Interior Motives in downtown Ottawa, Illinois, August Hill Winery in Utica, Illinois, and The Makery in LaSalle, Illinois.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
There’s a quote that has stuck with me for years “the function of the artist is to provide what life does not.” It’s from Tom Robbins’ book Another Roadside Attraction… and I think it best describes what I feel my purpose is.
Simply put: I like to create. I love to get my hands dirty. I am a painter, designer, gardener, and harmonizer. I work with ceramics, mixed media, printmaking, and blow glass. I gain satisfaction from creating–seeing work develop and evolve. I gain peace from being wrapped up in the process.
People are attracted to art because they feel an emotional connection. My work has a part of me in it–a snippet of my life–an emotion or experience depicted into something else. Ultimately, I hope that others feel a connection to my work. That it brings them somewhere they recognize–even if it’s not real.
About a year ago, my work and my direction as a painter changed, I spent a week at a workshop with California-based artist Bob Burridge. I was completely out of my painting comfort zone and as a result, I picked up acrylics again and began working in mixed media. A whole new body of work has developed. I look back and realize it was exactly where I needed to be.
What do you know now that you wished you had learned earlier?
Start local and build outward. Art School may teach you history and fundamentals but it doesn’t teach you how to survive on your abilities. Learn from as many different artists as you can and find a mentor–or two. Take workshops from other artists in areas you’re not familiar with and marketing classes on how to promote yourself and your work. Create for yourself. The best art develops when you work from your heart and push your limits.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My work is visible 24/7 at adriennepike.com and @adriennepikefineart on both FB and Instagram.
Original paintings are available at August Hill Winery in Utica, Illinois and the Ottawa Art League Hallway Gallery at the 807 Building in Downtown Ottawa, Illinois.
Contact Info:
- Website: adriennepike.com
- Email: daydream729@hotmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adriennepikefineart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adriennepikefineart/
Image Credit:
Adrienne Pike
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