Hedwiga Wood is a curious individual, so much so she ended up singing solos in choirs, walking the runway, drawing fashion illustrations, and in the past two years, modeling in 3d. In Hedwiga’s mid twenties, a goal arose in her colorful noggin. "Hey, I’d like to make a living doing what I love." The canvases are closing in, her computer is too dumb to render all the vertices she models. It is time to make it work.

Hedwiga creates a wide range of things from canvas art, graphic design, 3d renders, and prints. She creates using the values of curiosity, beauty, fun, and peace.

Q: Can you briefly describe your work and who you are as an artist?

HW: Feminine, free spirited, groovy, and bold, I’d use these words to describe my work. I’m a 2d/3d multimedia artist with a ravenously curious mind.

Q: How were you introduced to your craft?

HW: From a very early age, I knew I wanted to create art. This was possibly due to my mother being artistically inclined but also because I always had pencil and paper. In later years I upped my medium with acrylics partly because I was mesmerised by the act of creating shapes with color but also because of the longevity of the medium. Fast forward two years and I wanted to expand my possibilities. I discovered 3d art and its versatility (3d printing, concepting, packaging mockups) but also that I could take my fine art and turn it into models for print!

Q. Who/what are your long-standing influences?

HW: I’m fairly omnivorous with my influences but I always loved women’s fashion, animals, flowers, and geometric, complex shapes. I found a lot of inspiration from life, good and terrible. I was bullied by adults a lot from eleven into my early twenties so my future seemed a bit bleak. I never gave up though, art was my way of carving out a better life and reassuring myself that everything would be ok, I would make a prosperous future despite everything bob darn it! You can see both sides of the coin in my art, the peaceful, colorful, dreamlike side, and bold black lines and shapes that give it an edge.

Q: What does your process for generating new ideas look like?

HW: It depends on the project, for my personal acrylics that no one commissioned I often start by doing and figure it out from there. Oddly enough, a lot of the time it organically works out and ideas I never would have dreamed of occur. When it comes to commissioned or more commercial work (think package design, infographics, illustrations.) I use the professional framing of research, moodboarding, maybe a proposal, brainstorming, and sketching.

Q: What is your idea of artistic or creative success?

HW: My success would be to support myself with art but very important, I have to be happy doing it. Being a well paid artist and being miserable sounds like a terrible fate. I’m a dreamer so my idea of success is multifaceted, I want to accomplish so much. I want to be in museums! I want to create a fashion line! I want to make giant cement 3d prints outside for people to enjoy for decades if not centuries to come! Obviously success is an ongoing thing, accomplishing one thing means it’s onward to the next step, it never ends.

Q: From your perspective, how do you feel your work affects your audience/viewers? What would you like viewers to take away from your work?

HW: I’m of the opinion that good art is like a book, you can interpret it anyway you want. And because of the broadness of my design, I’ll want different reactions. When I make fine art, I want to overwhelm the viewer, keep them a little confused but curious. I don’t make wall hangings to go with the decor, I make experiences and treasures. When it comes to my graphic design work I want it to be the opposite, easy to understand, crisp, and very well balanced.

Q. Why do you create?

HW: I’m not very religious but if I had a soul, the act of creating would feed it. It’s not really a choice, it’s a lifestyle, I’m making almost all the time even outside of art. I don’t question it, it’s a fact of my life.

Q. Is that what still drives you?

HW: I gave up once, in a way. When I went to college for graphic design, we were warned frequently about how toxic and stressful the field was. It broke me but I never gave up on making new things. In fact, it only meant I doubled down on fashion illustration and fine art. Now I want to do the same thing but misery doesn’t have to be my fate. I’m not really the type to give up forever, I just evaluate, figure out the outcome I want, and everything needed to accomplish it. I’m driven by my desire to plan and produce desired outcomes.