Vanessa Wilkes
I’ve had the pleasure of following Vanessa of Wilkes Studio for years, and now get the honor of sitting down with her to chat about her process, how she finds inspiration for change, and her growth as an artist.
Q: Much of your work, since I’ve followed you, is very text centric. Where did this original inspiration come from?
A: “In my art classes growing up, I was always taught to stay away from text. Most of my early works were hyper realistic colored pencil drawings, so I’ve come a long way from that! When I studied computer science in undergrad, I loved how digital it was, and that led to my career as a graphic designer.
When rediscovering my love for physical art during the pandemic, I was inspired by song lyrics and phrases that made me think about my life in a certain way - I would embroider them on hoodies, which led to paintings, and all of the sudden my love for graphic design and artistry merged through all my work.”
Q: I’d love to hear about how you built up this passion into a full-time career, and when you knew it was the right time to jump in full-time?
A: “One of the hobbies I took up over the pandemic was embroidery. I made myself this sweatshirt with [what is now my signature] wavy text and posted it to my personal Instagram page. After getting some DMs from friends who wanted their own, I switched over to the Wilkes Studio page and started regularly taking custom orders for sweatshirts. That’s how the account started to grow!
As the demand grew, too, it was clear I couldn’t have my full time graphic design job and be doing these hoodies by hand. Through a friend I was introduced to the embroidery team I still partner with today to accomplish these orders.
At the time, I just sort of… knew it was time to leave my corporate job. I needed to focus all of my time on building this brand, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Q: Social media was a big part of how your business grew. Do you have any advice for artists trying to set themselves apart?
A: “Originality is so important; I think that’s where the social media follower momentum comes from for a lot of artists. Of course, everything has been done before and we all get inspiration from somewhere, but trying to put your own twist on things and making them personal to you is my biggest advice. I think people can tell when something isn’t coming from within you. It’s often easy to spot!
Also, finding places to film that are aesthetically pleasing is a good one- if you’re in New York like me, it may be difficult, but it makes all the difference in the quality of the content. It can be frustrating as an artist to think about how we [unfortunately] live in a time where engagement is money, but putting the same energy toward your content as you would your art can really help.”
Wilkes spoke of the growth she had in content creation, particularly around the discomfort that can come with filming oneself. As she continued to post and developed more experience with content creation, she became more comfortable in this new form of expression.
“No one’s going to remember this in one month, even if it flops… if you're proud of it, then it’s not cringe.”
“I think people can tell when something isn’t coming from within you. ”
We also talked about some of the dichotomy in Wilkes’ work that gives it depth. A lot of her work dives into some deeper emotions she has around her dad’s passing or journal entries which dive into tougher topics. The light-hearted compositions and bright colors she uses in her work mask some of that sadness at first glance. This approach isn’t so obvious to a viewer, but it makes a lot of these topics approachable and relatable to many.
Q: Your work has evolved so much from your original text-centric prints to your newest series [This Might Be Your Dad’s Car]. What inspires new change in your work and how do you maintain a consistency in your brand while still having the freedom to shift in your work?
“For consistency, I think my love for text has been a great throughline in my brand. What started as embroidery has led me down countless different paths, but the text has always been something I return to in my work.
I tend to create around what I’m feeling, and the evolution of my work comes from changes within myself - Losing my dad as a kid has influenced a lot of my work. My series, Half Life, is about that. The paintings themselves are light, pastel tone gradient backgrounds paired with text that hits home for me. They represent the grieving process.
A lot of my work is like this actually–unsuspecting at first glance, but definitely not as light or airy as it looks from afar. It’s something I play with throughout a lot of my paintings.
My current painting series, “This Might Be Your Dad’s Car” is completely inspired by my dad’s lifelong work as a mechanic and his love of cars. It’s definitely a happier series than Half Life, that’s for sure! ”
Q: Where do you go in NYC for inspiration?
“I love going to gallery openings downtown. Something I admittedly don’t do as much as I would like to, but seeing other artists’ work and mingling with people who care about the arts definitely fuels me. I host an event series with a friend of mine that we call “crafter hours”. It is a craft club geared toward creating a space for people to get together, unwind, and make unique things. It’s been fun watching the club slowly grow and having a place to connect with like minded creatives.
Besides that, when in doubt, I turn to the internet! I get a lot of inspiration just scrolling on Pinterest or Cosmos. Both sites are great resources for finding images that trigger ideas within you.”
Wilkes’ newest collection, This Might be Your Dad’s Car, will be dropping soon, along with a line of Auto Ed merch, which was her dad’s auto body repair shop when he was still alive. It explores a more technical style and harks back to her dad’s time owning the shop. You can check out her process at @wilkes.studio.
