Today we’d like to introduce you to Izzi Ballstaedt
Hi IZZI, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Midway, Ut, loved being outside and on a basketball court. There was always a need to be creative and I had a lot of different outlets throughout my youth. I was around a lot of music growing up, I played several instruments from guitar to the flute, I was very entrepreneurial as well. But I was able to be very creative when I played basketball and I let that fill my creative desires. I was interested in graphic design, but was introduced to painting my senior year of high school. Thats when I fell in love. I wasn’t very good at it at all, but I loved it. After high school I played basketball in college and started studying design and art. I had a lot of advice tell me to pursue business and leave the design and art as a hobby. So I did for several years. I dropped painting for almost five years and focused on design in my free time. As I studied that and free lanced I learned a ton, but there was still something I needed to express. Thats when painting came back into my life. I had these images in my head, sometimes vision like sequences that I needed to put on canvases, other times just ideas. After my first participation in a group show I loved the experience of bringing people together and connecting over art. I have this desire to keep expressing these images in my head, but also to create these series that can be seen all together and bring people as a community to have an immersive experience in art. Evoking emotion and opportunities to align with each other in a physical place.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’ve had my fair share of losses as well as wins, just like anyone does. But my experience with art has been far different then my other ventures. I’ve had good amount of opportunities and ease into it. For only having done this for a couple years, compared to my 7 years of graphic design, I’ve had a lot more wins and opportunities to show my work. I’m not sure why that is, part of me feels like I’ve been called to do this and I’ve been given an open door that some higher power wants me to pursue this. Now I have put in a lot of hours to it and I continue to put myself out there. I do have my losses, I have markets where I don’t sell anything or not getting to be apart of every show I want yet. But I’m in it for the long run, I just love creating and I know each of these paintings will find its proper owner at the right time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an artist, designer, and raconteur. I primarily work with oil paints, when I’m not painting I’m working on graphic design projects. Matthias Carnahan summed up my work the best “{IZZI’s} art ignites nostalgic memories in vibrant colors. His brushstrokes blend familiar yet abstract scenes, with golden yellows and greens evoking skies, fields and cherished moments. Bright and joyful, his work holds a gentle melancholy, inviting viewers to linger where past and present blur.”
My muse comes from music a lot of the time, my cloudscape series are all derived from specific songs that have pushed some emotion that needed to be portrayed on canvas. I want a story to come out of my paintings, and that story is for you as a viewer to create, but thats how I imagine each piece. I feel like that opens the door for an audience to connect, whether it be through multiple senses, music and imagery, or viewing themselves in the painting and creating a story from the captured moment.
What’s next?
I plan to continue to create, painting is nourishing for me, so I will paint for the rest of my life. But I do hope to be able to share it around the world. When the world is ready I’ll be shown in museums and galleries all over.
Pricing:
- My paintings are available for sell, feel free to contact me for specific pricing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.theparlor.studio/izzi
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/izzipaints/
