Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Hinahara.
Natalie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was fortunate to grow up in a home that was full of art. Whether it was my grandpa’s paintings on the walls, my dad’s music or my mom’s flower gardens, I learned from a young age to notice and savor the beauty and to create in whatever way made sense to me. Some of my earliest memories are of drawing and painting at the kitchen table, which I would sometimes get wrapped up in before I remembered to eat breakfast.
When deciding which college to attend, I was torn between art school and pursuing my other passion, which was environmental sustainability. I ended up going to UW-Madison, where I could take classes in food systems and horticulture as well as painting and printmaking. I think having two very different majors helped me to stay grounded and balanced. And, as much as they were separate subjects, I often found them feeding into each other. I used my art-making as a way to meditate on and process the material I was learning in my environmental studies classes and was sometimes compelled to create work that directly addressed a particular issue.
I continue to make work that is driven by my attempt to understand the complex and contradictory relationship we (humans) have with the natural world.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think the most pervasive challenge in my path toward being a professional artist is feeling pulled in many different directions. I have always known that being an artist and maker is at the core of who I am. But I wasn’t always sure that I wanted to pursue it as a livelihood. At different points in my life, I have felt sure I would be an educator, farmer, or birth doula. I’m now realizing that I can be all of those things in my life, along with being an artist, if I want to. But it is definitely not a clear or straight path!
Another challenge when starting out (in any business) is learning to separate opportunities that foster growth and move you in the direction of your goals from ones that end up weighing you down. In the beginning, it is easy and exciting to say yes to everything that comes your way. But its equally important to know when to say no so that you are putting your creative energy into projects that inspire and nourish you.
Please tell us about Natalie Hinahara Art & Design.
I am a fine artist who specializes in painting and printmaking. Within the very large world of printmaking, I mainly focus on screen printing and relief (block) printing.
Most of my source imagery comes from the many warm seasons I have spent biking, backpacking, and farming in my home state of Wisconsin. Specific places that deeply inform my work are the southern shores of Lake Superior and the Driftless Region of Southwest Wisconsin, where I currently live.
My art making is a way for me to process the fraught relationship that our modern human culture has with the natural world. Although I am often disheartened by the abuse and destruction we inflict on the world around us (plants, the soil, other human beings, etc.) the art that grows out of these ruminations is full of color, light, and hope. I wish for my work to give the viewer the gift it has given me, which is a moment to pause and celebrate the resilience and beauty of the plants, streams, and ecosystems that support us.
Although I am in the very early phase of putting my art into the world, it seems that I’m becoming known for my reduction prints of cultivated and wild plants as well as my larger, more abstract, landscape-inspired paintings.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I could give my younger self a piece of advice, it would be that there is never a reason to stop making art. There were a couple of periods of time when I allowed the busyness of life overwhelm me and distract me from my art practice. One was my freshman year of college when I said yes to every student group, project, and opportunity that came my way. Another was after I graduated from undergrad and was working multiple jobs and moving every year (or less). If I would have kept a more consistent art practice in those times, I’m sure I would have felt more grounded and my art would have also benefited by not having those interruptions.
Other than that, I don’t feel like I would go back and do anything differently, because all of the mistakes made and lessons learned helped to move me along the path to where I am today.
Pricing:
- Original prints: $40-100
- Original paintings: $200-450
- Reproduction prints: $20-40
- Cards: $3
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nataliehinahara.com/
- Phone: 608-695-2260
- Email: nhinahara@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nataliehinahara/
Image Credit:
Bad Axe Enterprises, Alyson Morgan
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