Today we’d like to introduce you to Daylight Artist Collective.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Daylight Artist Collective is an artist-supported, collaborative space for creating art and building community. It began when two of our founding members, Janine Crum and Janelle Hallette, were looking for studio space. Serendipitously, our current location became available, and they put a call out to other creatives to see if anyone wanted to join in a collaborative studio space. Six artists began the journey in 2022, and we have grown to know ten resident artists who share studio space and have a mutual creative vision. We believe that making art is a purposeful way to live and strive to create an environment where people are seen, known, and understood. We believe that art is inclusive, not exclusive. We aim to inspire and support fellow and future creatives in all we do.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a fairly smooth road. From inception to the current status, our vision to create a collaborative workspace for artist who are looking to build community has stayed true. Some of our artists had challenges finding the right space for the type of art they create. This collaborative community has become just the right fit. Along the way, we have seen resident artists come and go, but the growth of our space and our reach to the artist community at large is just getting started!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
Daylight Artist Collective is a collaborative space in which we build community. Each artist has their own specialty.
Elizabeth Beattie – Artist Statement:
I have always been attracted to and inspired by the natural landscape. It is my favorite muse for my art. I am currently exploring multiple mediums, but I hesitate to call myself a mixed-media artist because not all my pieces contain multiple mediums. Oil and cold wax are my main mediums right now, but I am enjoying adding in other elements like collage and soft pastels. Each piece I create is an exploration of the mediums I am using, with only a soft idea of what I am going for. I love to let the work unfold and surprise me.
Megan Brown – Artist Statement:
One aspect of human experience that has always captured my attention is our relationship to the natural world. Slowing down to be in the present moment to notice the intricate details and beautiful color variation of the simplest flower brings me so much pleasure and allows me to feel grounded in the midst of chaos. Through watercolor, I strive to translate the beauty of natural subjects and the peace, joy and wonder they inspire within me.
Janine Crum – Artist Statement:
Lately, I have been exploring the relationship between landscape and sky to chronicle my personal journey of hardship and hope. Through expressive skies and dynamic storm clouds, I enjoy capturing the complex mix of emotions many of us have felt since the onset of the pandemic.
My current body of work came out of a need to express the fluctuating inner landscapes I have been navigating over the past year and a half as the looming uncertainty of a pandemic, political turmoil, and the weight of a growing worldwide crisis began to take a toll on my mental health. Learning to paint my way through these feelings has become a haven to express what I often do not feel I have the words to explain, and the process has given my mind and body enough rest to move through another day.
Kara Chapin – Artist Statement:
I have always loved stained glass- from lofty cathedral windows to simple sun catchers. Through stained glass, light is transformed to shine the vision of the artist to the eye of the beholder. I also really enjoy the process of creating stained glass- designing the project, cutting each piece of glass, grinding the edges, copper-taping each piece, soldering them all together, and completing the project. I love the joy my art can inspire in others!
Making art that is accessible to anyone brings me great joy, so I mostly make sun catchers, jewelry, and garden stakes. I have several favorite patterns I often recreate, yet I am also always coming up with new designs. I am often contacted for commission pieces, and I love to make people’s dreams into a new stained-glass piece. I am excited to join Daylight Artist Collective to continue to grow as an artist in a collaborative and supportive space.
Brenda Ferguson – Artist Statement:
I love to create art and to use various mediums, be it oil, acrylic, fabric, clay, pencil, charcoal, or even Crayola – I’m all for it. I started making art and drawing at an early age (and yes, I still love coloring books!) – that was and still is my safe space, and I find creating art very therapeutic. My goal in joining the Daylight Artist Collective is to continue to grow and learn as an artist and to connect with other artists and community members who are passionate about making and supporting art.
Lindsay Ferguson -Artist Statement:
My passion for art emerged from being immersed in it at a young age — whether by watching my mother paint and sew or by getting to explore various mediums and cultural art forms as a student. I’ve always been drawn to visual art and find painting and drawing both relaxing and satisfying in a way that few other activities can touch. I’m endlessly fascinated by people and their stories, and so I’m particularly drawn to portrait art. In my own work, I’m compelled to capture the forms of Black women and people of color to reflect the world around me, and because I saw these groups the least represented in museums while growing up. As a multi-passionate creative, my focus at Daylight Artist Collective is to establish consistency specifically in my painting and drawing, to lean into the play and imperfection of artmaking while building my skills and learning from the other resident artists, and to connect with art lovers in the Columbus area.
Janelle Hallett – Artist Statement:
My work uses traditional tapestry techniques on a frame loom using both natural and synthetic fibers. I use tabby weave to create images with color blending by bundling multiple strands of yarn to create dimension and variation. There are two ways I approach tapestry weaving in my art: I let the fibers inspire my direction, or I draw inspiration from the natural world and select fibers that evoke natural elements.
I am a fiber artist working with both traditional tapestry techniques and non-traditional style looms. I use colors, music, and nature as my inspiration and rely on the artist flow state to bring my pieces to fruition. There are two ways I approach tapestry weaving in my art: I let the fibers inspire my direction, or I draw inspiration from the natural world and select fibers that evoke natural elements.
Currently focusing on circular weavings and how the shape and fibers work together to create textures, movement, and feeling, I am interested in exploring new fibers and yarns and how these materials translate into new shapes beyond circular or square/rectangular.
Gerilyn Larsen is an abstract artist working in acrylics, watercolors, collage, and whatever else she can get her hands on. A Central Ohio native, she lives in Westerville with her husband, son, and dogs. Gerilyn has always been passionate about art and creativity.
Gerilyn’s work is meditative for both the artist and the viewer. She uses line and form to explore human relationships and call to the grit of the urban landscape and the organic structures of the natural world. Gerilyn loves the messy process of creating backgrounds and the tight, exacting process of applying her structures to the surface of her work. Her recent travels have raised an interest in iconography and the inherent duality of the world.
Eager to be a part of a creative group like Daylight Artist Collective, Gerilyn is excited to contribute to the local arts community and hang out with other creatives!
Elle Rachelle – Artist Statement:
I have a goal to create every day and each of these creations big or small influence my larger works in some way. I use every single medium that I like, and my likes change from time to time. I currently love to use acrylics, charcoals, and pastels, which lend well to my non-traditional works that are a bit abstract without being too serious. I have a color palette that I love but prefer to be limitless when I am creating.
I am inspired by humanity and the myriad of journeys each of us navigates in our life experience. My goal is always to capture what I see intuitively. While my art is not always realistic, I push them to convey messages transmitted via the physical characteristics or random facial expressions of the people I create. I memorize a lot of expressions and attempt to get them on paper.
I love mark-making and collage, and my work often reflects some aspect of both. Steering away from traditional collage work, I prefer to use elements I have created, including doodles, found objects, paper, and fabrics I have colored using natural dyes and paints. And, because I love words, my work is often influenced by poetry I have read or written or song lyrics. Each of these components influences the direction of my art.
I am currently focused on printmaking, creating art through the eyes of an adoptee, and developing workshops that encourage others to dig deep and explore their own inner artists. I am also working to teach young kiddos, especially my granddaughters, to work with art mediums from an early age. You will easily find them sitting next to me, brushes, and mediums in hand as we all learn something new from the experience of creating.
Erin Wallace is a self-taught creative. She has been creating in various mediums such as textiles, quilting, and digital photography for well over a decade. More recently, her pandemic project was to learn watercolor, and she has since jumped head-first into the enchanting medium of encaustics. Encaustic mixed media allows her to mix her passions and combine images, fabrics, and other materials into complex and interesting works. She loves to share encaustic art demonstrations and workshops in the community.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Janine – One of my favorite art books is The Creative Call by Janice Elsheimer and am currently listening to the podcast On Purpose by Jay Shetty.
Gerilyn – I like to listen to art podcasts like Art Juice, The Laura Horn Art Podcast, and Fail like an Artist. I have really enjoyed reading Rick Rubin’s book The Creative Act!
Elle – My favorite podcast is Levar Burton Reads! I love to hear him tell me stories while I work! I am currently reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, but repeat reading Fragmentation and Repair and Sketchbook Explorations, both by Shelly Rhodes.
Erin – Walking on Water, Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L’Engle, Aggressively Happy by Joy Marie Clarkson, and of course my favorite tunes streaming on Spotify!
Pricing:
- Bind your own journal workshop – $85
- Beginner oil workshop – $75
- Monthly sketch night – $10
- Monthly social night – $10
Contact Info:
- Website: daylightartistcollective.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/daylightartistcollective
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/daylightartistcollective
Image Credits
Erin Wallace
