Meet the Artisans!
Felicia Aukett
Creative Fool with Small Hands
- Aliases : Inane, Aspen -
- Professional Embodiment of the Shrug Emoji -
- Nonbinary Bisexual -
- She/Her - They/Them -
- 5ft only and full of height spite -
- Taken by my wonderful partner and soulmate for 10! years and going! -
- Libra -
- I love purple, cats, hazelnut coffee, sweater weather, my partner, witchy things, crystals, and naps! -
It's odd striking a balance between being visibly an Artist and having a broad, clean professional image. My opinion is that it is best to be confident and grounded in how I wish to present my little meat suit to the world and society.
I recognize that I am young, but social media and the internet changes so very rapidly. People can be vicious nowadays, hiding vile and sick opinions behind anonymous screens on the internet.
I have almost been afraid of starting this online business out of fear of "internet trolls" or "haters". I have almost been afraid of who I am and what I represent. Afraid of failure.
However, this project is in retaliation to the divisiveness and hatred in today's world. In retaliation to the toxicity and negativity we face on a daily basis.
This project is a chance to heal and have our own happiness and confidence in our abilities.
This project is a journey that has started very, very roughly and slowly but it just needs to keep going, not only for myself but for my business partners and family as well.
To live kindly, truthfully, humbly, and generously, even if I do not fit society's ideals of the proper citizen, is the only way I possibly can survive. I may not be heterosexual, or cisgender, or raised in religion or discipline, but I am full of love and righteousness in my life regardless. I am growing into accepting who I am because there is no way I could handle making unnecessary fundamental changes to my wants and needs for the sake of others. I will work on fully embracing who I am, even if I am unsure, even if it changes often.
I started working with Polymer Clay in 6th grade (~11 y.o), but have been drawn to most forms of art since elementary school. I received a digital drawing tablet around 4th grade (~9 y.o) and have been slowly improving my skills. I finally realized after I had graduated high school that lab science and college was a terrible life decision, and that my passions truly lied in Ceramics and Art in general. Four years of nearly living in the ceramics studio should've told me that. Eventually, my dream is to have my own ceramics/pottery studio adjacent to what is hopefully a forever home.
I do not have much in the way of formal training, and am currently nearly 7 years out of an official studio. I have been Acrylic Paint Pouring for at least 5 years, on and off. As of 2023, I have been working with Resin for a little over 4 years! Recently, I have gotten into sewing with a machine as well as by hand, stamp carving/printing, embossing, resin and much more.
I am of the opinion that every skill and medium I delve into can be used with others to near limitless possibilities. Practice creates consistency and I firmly believe most of my skills can be self-taught and honed. Higher education is just outside of my financial future as well as a challenge to my mental health. It is a path that many take to improve their lives and careers, but I don’t believe it is for everyone.
I draw inspiration from a variety of sources, trying to stay authentic to myself while simultaneously staying on trends for business sake. I love the occult and strange, spiritual without being outwardly religious. I am a sucker for glittery, sparkly, metallic, and shiny objects. A romantic at heart, I am a big ol’ softie that melts at affection and love. As much as I would love to work with neons and pastels more, I always find myself attracted to darker, washed out tones when I work with paint. Most of my digital work is original and personal, but I would love to be able to take digital commissions one day.
Abstruse Artisan is our first business venture. I wish to be in charge of my own financial flow. By creating a financially sustainable method of supporting myself through what I make, I give myself the freedom of marketing myself as truly and freely as possible. I do not have to worry about my appearance or mannerisms or language (within reason, I like to think that I am not, y'know, evil). To live freely without restrictions is the goal. I wish to live modestly, enough to support me and my family and wonderful causes. To live healthily, positively, to heal. To be kind to the planet and others.
So please, explore our little corner of the internet we have carved out for ourselves and if nothing else, we hope you are inspired to make a positive impact in your own life.
Morgan Loch
- Non Binary: They / Them Pronouns -
- Sagittarius (I don’t believe in astrology; I’m simply an iconophile) -
- likes fairly normal geeky things: anime, video games, Star Wars. -
- will try not to be (too) self deprecating writing this. -
I would argue that I share a lot of goals and interests with my two business partners. I view them as lodestars of sorts. I try to view things objectively, but usually find myself on the same page as both of them. I agree with their sentiments; so instead of reiterating them, I will put my focus elsewhere.
I was always considered an artistic person, since a very young age. My mind was fairly consistently focused on visual aesthetics. Lacking the computer tools we have today, I mostly drew in pencil as an outlet for my creativity. I had a modicum of talent, it seemed; enough to impress the average person. I had the privilege of being in art programs all throughout my education. The Disney renaissance being my formative years, I wanted to be an animator growing up. In school, I was always asked to draw pictures in people’s yearbooks. I was accepted into a small art college but ended up never going due to anxiety issues.
Though anxiety was a major problem for me during my schooling, there were other issues for me to contend with when it came to artistic endeavors. First, although I always knew art was my calling, art was a love/hate relationship for me. I was constantly needled by perfectionism and self-doubt.
Second, as a child, I was diagnosed with a hereditary degenerative eye disease: retinitis pigmentosa. My central vision is largely intact, but my peripheral vision has slowly diminished over the years. I am now legally blind and always knew this would be the end result. This knowledge has always put a hamper on any art career ambitions. Instead of going to art school, I ended up working for my family’s small business and remained there for almost two decades.
I’m well aware of the irony in trying to be a visual artist while also being blind. Despite the hardships, I feel that art is something I cannot turn away from. Although my handicap always dissuaded me from having an art career in someone’s employ, being self-employed, I am able to work at my own terms and pace.
I’m currently focused working in stone mosaics. Stone doesn’t always cut the way one wants; its inconsistent nature helps dull my perfectionist tendencies. But I definitely do not want stone work to be my sole focus. I would like to get back into illustration in the near future. I’d want to juggle a dichotomy of two art styles: one of clean, simple geometry; and another, more organic, natural and fluid. I’m also very interested in trying my hand in other mediums; perhaps something one of my partners are working in. Ceramics, embroidery, jewelry making; if anything, I’m eclectic (but I suppose that applies to all three of us).
Atlas Serrano
- Nonbinary - They/Them -
- Red and Black are personality traits to me -
Being an artist was always something I thought would remain a hobby for myself, so it's exciting to see myself branch out and bring the dream of being a self employed artist into reality. There's been constant hurdles and setbacks, from both internal and external forces, but I've used that time to hone my skills and I'm proud of the quality of my art now compared to when I first started back in 2018.
Embroidery has been my main focus, but all of us at AA strive to be a jack of all trades. Fluid painting is where I started, taxidermy is where I wanted to end up, resin took over my life for a short period, and wood working as well as ceramics have been something I'm trying to incorporate. I see no limits to what I'm willing to branch out to, working with any medium I can get my hands on.
I'm mostly doing commission based work, although I have some old projects as well as online products that were made for mass production. Embroidery is the only option I have available for commissions at the moment, but in the future there should be more openings!