Fort Worth abstract artist draws inspiration from nature’s peace and textures

Editor’s note: Made in Tarrant is an occasional Q&A series on small businesses started in Tarrant County. Submit your business here. 

Heather Essian launched her company, Heather Essian Fine Art and Textiles, in 2015 and opened her gallery at 3926 W. Vickery Blvd. almost three years ago. Her artful creations include paintings, plasterwork and sculptures, as well as her own line of wallpaper and textiles. 

Contact information: 

Website: https://www.heatheressian.com/

heather@heatheressian.com 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artist_heatheressian/ 

This interview has been edited for clarity, grammar and length. 

Sandra Sadek: Were you always an artist? 

Heather Essian: I’ve always been an artist. But prior to painting, prior to having kids, I was a full-time photographer. So I had a studio on Magnolia Avenue and photographed weddings and portraits for families and stuff like that. Then I got pregnant with our first daughter and decided I wanted to transition to staying home full time with her. So that’s when I retired from my photography business. But I’m just a creative through and through, and of course, couldn’t not do anything. And so it was at that point that I started to explore other artistic journeys and creative endeavors.

We had an unfinished room above our garage. And being an artist, being creative, I needed a creative outlet … and was super interested in abstract painting. I just started to teach myself, essentially, how to create artwork. And that’s when Instagram was becoming really big, so I started documenting sort of my journey of learning how to paint. From there, people were invested in the story and my journey, and they started to ask me to paint something specific for them. That’s kind of what started my business — other people following along on my journey, deciding that they wanted artwork for their own home. The rest is history. 

Sadek: Can you share a bit about your art?

Essian: I do take commissions for artwork and paintings. I also specialize in plasterwork, so I do a lot of plaster sculptures, plaster bowls, plaster vessels and even unique plaster sculptural pieces for the wall. 

I also have a line of wallpaper and textiles. I feel that one of the things I’m most inspired by in our home and decor is the way that furniture pieces play off the art pieces and the way that textiles complement the whole space. That was kind of where my vision for textiles and wallpapers came out. I just love interior design and interior decor. I love to create and have different styles and ways of creating — different outlets — so I just really wanted to start my own wallpaper and fabric line. Every design starts out as a painting of mine or some kind of artwork of mine and then that’s printed on fabrics of all [types] and wallpapers.

Sadek: Where do you draw inspiration from?

Essian: I like to surround myself in my home with just a peaceful, more textural, neutral decor. I like to say that my wallpapers and textiles are livable, meaning they’re not going to be overly trendy. They’re going to have an organic feel to them, for sure inspired by nature. But I also have some really fun colorways, too. But my goal is that the wallpaper, for example, would feel like an art piece in the room and would feel like something people could live with for many, many years because it’s not a trendy piece. It’s something that they love to look at, that makes them happy, just like an original piece of artwork.

My paintings are really no different. I’m really passionate about texture and movement and tension between lines and brushstrokes and form. So there’s a nature-inspired aspect to my abstract painting. I also specialize in landscape painting, which is kind of a nod to my upbringing. I grew up in the country exploring fields and climbing trees and now live smack in the middle of a very urban neighborhood in the city. The landscapes are kind of my escape, just remembering what open fields look like and beautiful trees look like, not another house or cars or power lines. In general, I feel like my artwork, my creations are definitely grounded.

Sadek: What is a big lesson you’ve learned from this experience?

Essian: The biggest lesson I’ve learned is trusting my instincts and what I’m going to create — not second-guessing it, not questioning if I’m headed in the right direction or if I’m doing something that people aren’t going to like. Just really trust the way that I’m wired uniquely and creating out of that, creating in a way that gives me confidence. That spills over into being a business owner, because I’m very confident in the work that I’m producing, which makes me confident and able to then serve the people who will collect my art and who will invest in my wallpapers and textiles.

Sadek: What is your favorite part about what you do every day?

Essian: I just love making things with my hands. I love that I can literally create something out of nothing. So whether it’s wallpaper and textiles or plaster pieces or my paintings, I’m starting with a blank slate and I can literally use any color, any pattern, any medium to create something that’s super unique, that there’s not another thing like it. It just makes sense in my brain to do that. It just brings me the most joy to get to create that way.

Sadek: Anything else you’d like to mention?

Essian: I’ve curated my space to not only have artwork but also have textiles and wallpapers. People can come in and set up a free consultation, look through the wallpapers and textiles, and we can consult them on what would look best in their home. If they don’t see the colors that they love, I can also create a custom colorway that matches their home perfectly. So that’s a service that I offer. 

I also have other gift items in my gallery space … not all the time are people in the market for textiles and artwork, so I’ve got some really fun little gift items in the store, like stationery and unique jewelry pieces and home styling objects and stuff like that. So I really have something for everyone.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here. 

Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org or @ssadek19. 

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