We asked some of the most talented folks in the community to talk to us about projects they’ve worked on that they still think about, projects that really meant something. Have you had such an experience? Are you looking for inspiration for your next project? Check out the stories below, they are exciting, entertaining, and most importantly – inspiring.

Andrew Isbell

I’ve had the privilege of working on lots of different projects with lots of different artists. I thrive on collaboration, so I spend lots of time finding new people and making things that we can all get excited about. These projects have varied from concerts series and festivals, to recorded music for myself and other artists, and lots of unique ideas in between. For an example, one friend of mine in Nashville spent a lot of 2022 traveling around in a camper van and working remotely. I told him that we should work on some music in a new place during his trip. We ended up going to Zion National Park in Utah and stayed for a few days hiking and writing. Read more>>

Nana Razaia

My last ep “NANA” was the hardest project I ever worked on. It took hours of being in and out of studio sessions, rewriting lyrics, searching for the right musicians (which took months), scrapping songs, etc. The list goes on of all the challenges I faced and how long it took to complete the project. A year went by and I finally had the project that showed my growth not only as a songwriter, but as a composer. It was truly empowering and I’m proud of the effort I put in. “NANA” taught me resilience and was the reminder that if I don’t show up for myself, no one will. Meaningful is an understatement. Read more>>

Levi Smith

Lately the most meaningful project I have been working on are new singles for my band Malibu Nights. We recently dropped our new single ‘High Time’ and are in the studio working out another single. The perspective shift away from albums into single release has been double edged, as you can focus resources and time on quick releases, but lose the meaning and impact of a full length. Weaving a tapestry of meaning through multiple songs is a difficult and beautiful art. Read more>>

Tere Schwartzbart

In 2020, I undertook the most ambitious project of my career, painting a vast collection of relatively unknown tropical fruits from my native El Salvador. Titled “Tropical Roots”, the project is rich with cultural and educational implications. Unexpectedly, collectors from many walks of life have repeatedly expressed fascination with my unfamiliar and very colorful masterworks “Pseudocarpo Uno” and “Pseudocarpo Dos”. Wherever these massive pieces are exhibited, it brings a curious crowd to gather. Invariably. the resulting conversation sheds light on the complex and mutually-beneficial relationship between humble Salvadoran marañon growers and the multi-national corporations selling $7B per year worth of cashews harvested from the marañones. Read more>>

Michelle Ramos

The art I make will never win major awards, be seen by hundreds of thousands of people, or bring me incredible amounts of money. It will, however, make it easier to be me. It allows me to flush out the crazy images and ideas I have in my head. To give them a place to exist on their own in the world. And possibly, as they exist, they can be enjoyed by others. Read more>>

Diane Gelman

I’ve been lucky enough to have had multiple meaningful projects. My favorite though was creating the feel of an entire Pastry Shop on 3 walls of a client’s Butler’s Pantry in 2019-2020. This client had spoken about buying a painting of mine that she had seen on display hanging in the corridor of The Silos, where my studio is located. The client was so taken with the painting that she decided instead to commission me to recreate an entire customized Patisserie for her home. The day after I first toured the home and met the client, I went off on a planned trip to Alsace, France. On this trip I decided to augment my usual dessert photos with images of the shelves, the windows, and the other products on display there, so that I could create an authentic looking French design. Read more>>

Shelby Merten

Market 18 is a program of Dream Makers, a nonprofit that is on a mission to change the lives of youth who have aged out of foster care. Market 18 was created with the heart to financially support youth who are aging out of the foster care system at 18 – and to raise awareness. All items and designs are handmade by former foster youth! Read more>>

Meina Zhang

In my visual thesis, “Stitches of Time’, I further explored the practicality of mixed media. I created six embroidered artworks based on my family’s story, incorporating materials such as clay and wool felt. The artworks depict my parents leaving the countryside to seek a better life in the city, followed by the passing of my father. Despite that, my mother continued to raise my three sisters and me with great care. For the main characters in the artworks, I mainly used clay, while wool felt was used to create trees and flowers. I aimed to convey a rustic and warm atmosphere through my artwork. Read more>>

Jennifer Jill Araya

In my work as an audiobook narrator, I’m lucky enough to get to narrate in a wide variety of genres, and I’ve narrated over 350 audiobooks to this point. Some of those books have really stuck with me, and one of those titles is “The Fight of Our Lives” by Iuliia Mendel, who was Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s press secretary. I lived in Ukraine briefly in 2013 and 2014, and my daughter was born there. I have a lot of friends and family who have been directly impacted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, many of whom are now refugees in Canada, America, and throughout Europe. When I got the email asking me if I was interested in narrating “The Fight of Our Lives,” I cried. I am so honored and gratified that I had the chance to give voice to the experience of my friends and family by narrating Mendel’s work. Read more>>

Michael Jakucs

For me, every project should have meaning and intent behind it. Whether it’s a song I’m making for release under my Sunwarper moniker, or a commissioned work that is for media, it all has to come from the heart and have a reason for its existence. When it comes to commissioned works, they are typically a collaborative process between the creators and myself, but I always want the song to have soul and be written from a personal place. For example, for my latest media composition for The Eagle and the Snake web comic by Angel Tovar, “A Moment, A Lifetime”, my prompt was to create a track that would soundtrack two folks finally expressing their love for each other and all of the anxiety and emotions that come in moments like that. Read more>>

Constanze Arenz-Kulkarni

The most meaningful project I worked on so far was a collaboration for poetry month organized by the Firehouse Art Center in Longmont. For the exhibition artists were paired with poets to work together on a project. I was paired with Valerie A Szarek (Poet Val), who describes herself as a poet, healer and artisan. Her background is deeply rooted in spirituality and her indigenous roots, while I am very much a product of my upbringing in Germany with a professional background in architecture and urban design. On the surface it seemed that we would have very little in common, but we hit it off right from the start. Read more>>

Jose Quinones

While each film project comes with its own set of rewards, the project I’ve been most proud of has been the opening (and re-opening) of The Artists Playground. In the 11 years since it first opened its doors, it has welcomed many artists that have come to play and have fun doing what they love. Getting to watch our players feed their creative souls week after week is simply inspiring and one of my biggest joys. Read more>>

Tysen Knight

The Tysen Knight Scholarship Fund stands as a testament to my dedication and compassion. This unique scholarship program, financed by myself and with collaborations with sponsors and donors, seeks out deserving high school students who demonstrate exceptional artistic talent, passion, and drive. By providing much-needed financial support, the fund strives to lift the burden of educational expenses, allowing these budding talents to focus on honing their craft and unlocking their full creative potential. Read more>>

Noriko Nomari

The third level lesson of Usui Reiki, including Traditional Japan Reiki has been the most meaningful project I have worked on. After I had the lesson, about 1 month (autumn in 2017), I fortunately found handmade works. I was hooked on making resin jewelry. I was so happy to make them and gave them to my family and friends. A friend of mine invited me and I started to open a pop-up shop in the Kansai area, Japan from 2019. Many customers have been delighted to get my jewelry. Now I make jewelry made-to-order for clients. Read more>>

Raven Jiang

It was not very far from the time I graduated as an electrical engineering student, had studied art for one year and graduation is only one year afar. Everything was very intriguing but also very anxiety-provoking to me, for I have not found my own way to express myself as a visual artist. So I keep many small sketchbooks just constantly recording every idea that comes to my mind. I gradually find the hint of who I really was and what I was really interested in and want to express at that time. The book ”a year and a half mumbling:” was finished in a relatively short time, but actually it was the result of all my emotions and thoughts over the past year and a half. Read more>>

A’Kaila Willis

From the start I’ve felt connected to every piece I’ve created, both personally and professionally. However this newest collection, gardening season is a bit closer to my heart. Gardening season is a physical representation of the seeds God asks us to plant as we share the truth of the gospel. From its inception to its fruition, this collection has connected me with so many likeminded and beautiful souls. I’m excited to keep expanding this collection to wall pieces, coasters, rugs and more. Read more>>

Jie-Hung Connie Shiau

The most meaningful project I have worked on is a my first solo project “108” that I choreographed on myself in 2018 with the support of the Greenhouse Artist Grant from Chicago Dancemaker Forum. With this opportunity, I work alongside with my best friend Rena Butler, who is an international acclaimed choreographer, as my sounding board and my mentor throughout the creation process. It was quite a special experience as I was just starting to cultivate my own movement aesthetic and choreographic voice, and as Rena just starting to explore being a choreographic mentor. Read more>>

Anastacia Sadeh

I was invited to donate one of my paintings to Art for Advocacy 2023, a charity event that recognizes the restorative power of art and raises money and awareness for Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center. This wonderful charity serves over 8,000 children and their non-offending family members each year! Knowing that my work can, in some way, help provide sanctuary and continiued therapy to our community’s most vulnerable is something I hold very close to my heart. I created “Gowns and Shadows” for this auction. This work leans into the connection I find between our spirtual and emotional minds as we move towards mental wellness. Read more>>

Gaby Lagarda

I’ve been working on creating a musical outlet for myself for many years now. I started a long time ago but a few years back I released my first single and have continued until recently. My focus has been primarily in creating music from concepts that empower listeners. Messages that are positive and can uplift more than just entertain. From overcoming fears, to feminism, taking charge of our own destiny, etc. Lately, I’ve been wanting to take more time to reflect on my creations and stay still for a moment. Something in me wanted to search for inspiration from the stillness and I’m happy to share that I have found it. Read more>>

Loose Voltage

This year, March 20th, 2023 (First Day of Spring) I released my project, “Monarch”. This album was meaningful to me because it captured a moment in my life where I didn’t know what will happen next and allowed me to open up and be vulnerable which was like a form of therapy. 2 years prior my wife was diagnosed with a rare cancer, Rhabdomyosarcoma, while being 7 months pregnant with my son, Saint. Monarch, represents getting 2nd chance at life, like how a caterpillar goes through the process of becoming a butterfly. And honestly we all can relate to being uncomfortable and having to transform to survive or reach our full potential. Read more>>

Nic Burnette

I was an Artist chosen to participate in the Downtown Stockton Music to our Ears Project from 2016 to 2018. This was a program where Pianos were donated and paired up with local Artists to be decorated and placed in various locations around the Downtown area under the Stewardship of local business and property owners to revitalize the community with Art & music. Read more>>

Stephen Robert Johns

Working professionally as an artist has all sorts of pathways to go down. I am a fine art artist, working on paper and canvas, focused on elaborating upon artistic themes of color relationships, geometry and patterns. I am an abstract painter and a reductive minimalist. Geometry has always been my painting theme, until I began traveling by air to meetings, appointments and exhibitions in 1998. It was then while flying that I discovered incredible vistas as viewed from 30,000 feet-rivers carving out gravity-driven directions through mountains and valleys. Read more>>

Federico Laboureau

As human living in circle where we are expose to high prices to maintain our lifestyle.. its difficult sometimes to say no to some projects because everyone has bills.. but… in the middle of the rush of work it is important to find those project that means something and bring love to the soul. Read more>>

Lauren Coll

Art is a visual language. There is an unspoken conversation between the artist and the audience. It becomes a shared experience when the artist creates a work that resonates with the viewer. By evoking emotion, art can transcend the experience of being human for the viewer. It makes us feel less alone. A while ago, I began a series of realistic paintings and drawings called Traveller. The pieces I did for that project spoke in ways that were meaningful to me. Read more>>

John McCabe

Over the last ten years or so, I have written, recorded, produced and released original music; either 3-6 song EP’s or Singles. One of the most challenging elements, following the physical release across all of the various digital platforms is achieving some level of exposure – and enticing magazines, blogs, music / art review sites and radio stations to listen, comment and promote the music. The process can be very discouraging and difficult to break through – or ‘move the needle’. Read more>>

Clayton Singleton

One of the most meaningful projects I have worked on, was an art show titled Look Beyond. The show was meaningful because it attempted to give voice where voice was not always heard. My middle son is on the autism spectrum. As a result, we were consistently looking for events and avenues for his form of expression. As you may figure, parents of children on the spectrum shared, events, social times, educational opportunities, health information, and opportunities for celebrating our kids’ desires. Too often, when people hear autism, they don’t consider that members of the community have dreams, desires, and abilities just like anyone else. Read more>>

Amber Royer

My novels usually start out pretty light. There’s a fun premise, and a few jokes, and something at stake that might seem a bit silly. But once I delve into the writing, I find myself starting to see the characters as real people, and giving them backstories that account for the way they relate to others. In my most recent series (the Bean to Bar Mysteries), my protagonist Felicity is processing grief. I’d dealt with a different kind of loss than her, but I was using my emotions and what I know about psychology to make the character feel real. When one of my friends who had lost a spouse wrote to tell me how the book helped her to encapsulate where she had been, a bit stuck but trying to move forward, looking at a second chance at romance — I realized the book was even more meaningful than I had realized. Read more>>

James Jared Taylor

There were two meaningful projects I have had. The first one was a public sculpture project for the city of Palm Springs. In the summer of 1999, I created a series sculptures for a park with nine apprentices from local high schools. I am still in touch with many of those student apprentices. They are now, artists, doctors, and business people. The second meaningful project was when I walked the entire 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago across Spain. About halfway through the journey, I was in this little village where I was working in my sketchbook. Read more>>

Chris Klapper & Patrick Gallagher

Finding inspiration in the impossible. Our most recent artist residency was an incredible and unpredictable deep dive into the world of quantum physics at the renowned Fermilab, America’s particle physics and accelerator laboratory. Our multidisciplinary installation, DATAATADATA: Everything and Nothing centered on a 30 day performance where we created a 20 ft x 16 ft mandala. Using the raw data of a subatomic particle collision, we painstakingly laid out the image with powdered marble dust. This project connected us with Fermilab and gave us the opportunity of a lifetime. Fermilab gave us special access to the projects and scientists working on the bleeding edge of scientific discovery. Read more>>

Mike Voss

My latest album “Ain’t Nobody’s Hero” is most meaningful to me. It’s not just because it’s my newest work, and I always like my newest work the most. But more so, writing and creating the album was therapeutic. It helped me to make it through a very dark period. From the more upbeat songs to the more dramatic ones, it was all what I needed to write. I’m also extremely proud of the sequencing, artwork, and just the way it came together since I had the idea for this album years ago. Read more>>

Sheila Del Bosque

Regarding meaningful projects, one of my favorites is the launch of my new merchandise: a collection of T-shirts titled “Cuban Music Reimagined.” I aimed to create a slogan that encapsulated the music I perform – music informed by my Cuban roots and global experiences. With this project, my goal was not only to offer something tangible to the audience but also to allocate a portion of the profits from sales to purchase musical instruments and other resources for children in Cuban music schools. Read more>>

Luis E. Alexander

I have multiple projects I tend to work on. I usually do two long term projects a year that take 6-8 months. These are my most meaningful to me because I give them most of my time and thoughts,I usually will have multiple reference images that I use to create a new composition unique to me, I take my time with layout, color composition, and general eye appeal. I like to create something new that has never been represented and viewed before. These long projects are my babies, which is why they are the most meaningful to me. In between these projects I will fill the time with 3- 5, one month projects and a bunch of sketches and concept drawings for the next big project. Read more>>

Cornelius Boeder

I think the most meaningful project that I’ve worked on would have to be Fog Around August, a short film I got to write and star in early last year. It’s meaningful to me on two accounts. Firstly because it’s the first film I ever wrote that got produced. And not only that; it got produced in the way I had envisioned it, which is quite rare for a first time project. I had a very clear idea of what I wanted the film to feel like and thanks to my awesome collaborators Luísa Galatti and Ryan Cairns we were actually able to pull that off. And secondly the feedback it received gave me the confidence to go out and make more of my own things. Read more>>

Christina Renee

One of my most meaningful projects is my short film called Through The Modern Looking Glass which is currently in post production. Through the Modern Looking Glass showcases the different forms and causes of depression. The characters interact primarily through social media, which makes their depression worse as they compare their real lives to the posts of those they follow. Online those characters look like they have it all, but in reality are also struggling with issues of their own. Read more>>

Patrik Kabongo

In 2022, X10 Entertainment received a Music Creation grant through Ontario Creates. During this time, I released my debut Alternative/R&B project, “I TRIED TO SING A SONG” and hosted a songwriting camp known as KREATIVE HAUS. Through the project, I ventured into singing for the first time, leading me to explore new artistic avenues and experience personal growth as both a musician and a songwriter. This creative journey also transformed my perspective on life in a meaningful way. I dedicated considerable effort to shaping the project’s themes to resonate with those around me, offering a relatable narrative perspective rather than a prescriptive one. Read more>>

Jah Mulley

I have a project called IM AINT DEAD This project is meaningful to me because it was at a time when I first started getting noticed by actual people in the industry Gucci mane /kodak black /boomman/ zaytoven/Sean Paine /mixed by Gabriel / kash doll/and Boosie just to name a few . I started going hard recording day in and day out with a very minimal budget but people were reaching out and helping.I was recording non stop wanting to put out 3 projects at 1 time. One day I got tagged for the next artist to be sniper gang Kodak reached out to me and a bunch of people that I use to work with became jealous. Few weeks later I was shot I died twice in the hospital and was in a coma for about 2weeks . I woke up in handcuffs and went straight to jail. Read more>>

Chantae Reynolds

Meaningful projects for JK Woodworked Creations? Well, let me share an inspiring experience we had this summer. I was teaching a woodworking class for kids, and there was this remarkable moment. A 4th-grade girl, at the very beginning, told us she despised math. But as the class unfolded, her grandmother and I could hardly contain our excitement as we watched her confidently measure the wood, deftly add and subtract fractions – all essential aspects of woodworking. Read more>>

Messiah Butler

As a artist in this industry I feel like I’ve had a very selective experience. You won’t see me on every job and my phone isn’t ringing off the hook with opportunities, but I believe God always puts me in the right rooms at the right time. I can say almost all my jobs have been extremely impactful and contributed to the dancer I have become. If I had to pick one job that was the most meaningful it would have to be the Khalid “Free spirit Tour”. That tour brought out indescribable feelings I never knew I had behind my craft and in my personal life. I really felt my artistry take flight, I got to see the world while doing what I love, and I built life long friendships that I never knew I needed. Read more>>

Denise Weyhrich

This current period of life had resulted in a body of artworks that are working through cancer, yet honestly speaking of commemorations, struggles, thanksgiving. Hopefully I am relatable, and speaking with compassion and hope for healing. Surviving stage 4 ovarian cancer (2016 I was given a month to live) I have found great joy in living, creating and being with others rejoicing in each moment. The life that has been granted to me is only by a truckload of miracles of God with the greatest of medical developments and the support of our incredible friends. My artwork “time to tear out, time to mend” is where I find life, a walk of trust yet keep willing to attack the invader of cancer despite the cost, fight on and rejoice in the life that we have. Read more>>