ADRIENNE BELAIR

I grew up in the garden, watching my parents tend to flowers, fruits, and vegetables. I watched them nurture something from seed, giving it water, soil, and sun. I watched them wait patiently as the plants grew and blossomed into something beautiful and nourishing. This is how I create my artwork: I take a seed and nurture it until it grows into something I could not have imagined myself.

I start with little idea of what is to come, allowing the journey and the process to guide me so the art can grow into whatever it is meant to be. To further this freedom in the process, I seek to work in collaboration with my materials rather than in command; we are equal contributors to the creation. I am drawn to materials like clay, handmade paper, and watercolor because of the rich life they contain.

My artwork contains visual motifs of floral and organic forms as a way to reference the lessons of creation I learned from my parents in the garden.

I often reference my childhood because it was a time in our lives when we were encouraged to believe in magic—and what is the creation of art, if not magic itself? This belief manifests in celestial imagery, with stars, moons, and whimsy ever present in my work.

My hope is that my artwork will act as a reminder that magic still exists, and that even in adulthood, whimsy fills the world—and what a joy it is to experience.