Who is Ivy Rose?
Powerful. Passionate. Provocative.
I am an ambitious surrealist artist from Baltimore, MD. I hold bachelors degree in Studio Art and Anthropology from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Ivy Rose Art is about harnessing your inner authenticity and embracing art as a way of healing. My tagline is, “heal your heart, look at art!” As a business I have a full clothing line, facilitate “Paint and Sip” classes, create commissions, make prints and stickers, handcraft jewelry, provide art lessons, and live paint. I love helping others find their inner artist and find joy in capturing love through painting wedding portraits. I am very passionate about the liquor industry and have even worked to create labels for beers!
Currently, I am working as an Art Educator for the nonprofit Art With a Heart in Baltimore, MD.
Who is she?
I have experienced a lot of intense trauma in my life and believed that strength to be my identity for a long time. When I initially started to get back into painting in 2020 after a 3 year hiatus, my intention was to heal that trauma once and for all. But, as I faced those dark parts and started to truly heal them, I felt lost: my identity had been so shaped from being a survivor that I didn’t know who I was anymore outside of that.
So, I started to create more vast surrealist pieces as a way to truly get to know who I was and what kind of person I wanted to be. I realized that for me, the most liberating feeling was making art that feels like it honors my inner child. Surrealism is important to me because it introduces this idea of adult play and imagination. I feel as though I get to experience true childlike innocence for the first time in my life. Through this exploration, I have also discovered and embraced my Autism and ADHD diagnoses.
My process of creating art is how I advocate for the neurodivergent community. As a prolific creator, this happens because I have a lot of hyperactivity. My brain is always going a million miles a minute and my body is always moving. So when I create art, this allows me to focus and hold still. I use geometric shapes and patterns as a way to elicit a sense of control in the chaos of ideas. Bright colors allow me to communicate intense emotions and connect to my queer identity.
For my mediums, I use a mixture of watercolor pencils, ink, and acrylic paint depending on my sensory load at the time. I use watercolor pencils and ink when I need to feel more control over my environment. Watercolor affords me the freedom of being able to work anywhere with the control and intentionality of sharpness. Watercolors help me embrace everyday life. I paint with acrylics when I am feeling more emotional and fluid. Typically, when I paint with acrylics, I am utilizing the experience as a form of therapy to deconstruct deep rooted pain. Because acrylic painting takes more time and effort, the length of creating the piece helps to encourage long periods of reflection.
My artworks create sacred spaces to heal from a chaotic world.
Heal your heart, look at art!
In the Fall of 2013 during a rugby match, I sustained a pretty nasty head an neck injury. I developed seizure-like episodes, constant migraines, and my hands shook constantly. My vision also started to deteriorate: I had pressure on my optic nerve and had to get glasses for the first time. I felt like a stranger in my own body and was terrified that it would impact my ability to make art.
I struggled for a long time in coming to terms with my injury. Then, in the Spring of 2016, everything changed. I was enrolled in a course called “The Artist Naturalist” in which we studied environmentalist artists and created art as a reflection of our observations of nature. Early on in the course, our professor was teaching us about how to use Micron Pens, specifically on Denril paper (Denril paper is opaque and slick). Our homework assignment was to draw straight lines on the paper without making them smudge. The assignment was difficult for your average bear but throw in shaky hands and it was nearly impossible.
This is how I learned how to meditate: I spent hours upon hours sitting with that Denril paper trying to make straight lines. Hours. And then, as if I was full of magic (which I am!) I was finally able to draw straight lines. Through this constant and repetitive motion, I was able to teach my hands to no longer shake. At first, it required ALL my focus. Then, it became second nature. From this process, I became obsessed with what my brain could do if I just trusted her. Thus, my illustrations were born.
My artwork transformed from intrusive perfectionist obsession to meditative flow. I call these my “brain dumps” where I allow myself to create and then analyze the symbolism afterwards. For me, this became a healing process for more than just my head injury: it became a healing process for things that I didn’t yet fully understand about myself and the world around me. For the first time in my life, I felt like I could trust myself.
Through this process of healing and acceptance, I felt like I was able to taste true freedom. My ultimate goal as an artist is to share that freedom with others so no one ever has to feel alone.
I am now utilizing these skillsets to help myself process repressed memories and traumas that have resurfaced post Pandemic. Painting and drawing has been an immense comfort for me as I try to make sense of a post traumatic world. It has been a journey and will continue to be one but every day, I get a little closer to healing.
Artists who I love right now:
Leanora Carrington
Frida Kahlo
Remedios Varo Uranga
Hilma af Klint
Edward Gorey
Meet Brett
My fire behind all that I do and my digitization expert. My husband, my muse, my everything. Thank you for being a part of this journey with me. I owe it all to you. Forever.
Also, isn’t he handsome?!