We recently connected with Brandi Hofer and have shared our conversation below.

Brandi, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Why is creativity the most essential and applicable skill required in modern society today? Take in the room around you: look at the book you hold in your hand; that was made by a creative person, art licensing; take your phone open up Netflix that was made by a team of creatives working together combining, video, music, performance writing, and so much more; the chair you sit in, the food you eat at a restaurant, the home you reside in, the shoes you walk in and so on. You see and hear, and taste that creativity envelops our very being, I ask now why it is devalued in our society?

I aim to bring it to the forefront and empower others to not only find themselves but know that there is value in their creative voice!

Brandi, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Brandi Hofer is an artist, muralist, author, and educator. Hofer is most well known for being a successful collected Canadian Artist, exhibiting internationally and across North America. In 2021 she was featured by Create Magazine in their article 28 Contemporary Artists You Need To Know About. Her podcast Colour Me Happy! Has garnered attention as one of the best art podcasts to binge this season by Create Magazine! She will head to New York September 2022 with PXP Contemporary Gallery to the Affordable Art Fair.

Hofer has just announced her largest project to date a 130x25ft mural to be installed July 2023, titled “Choose Love and Join Hands in Truth and Reconciliation”. In partnership with Lloydminster Region Health Foundation and Yellow Finch Images.

Hofer’s first book Colour Me Happy! See your everyday ordinary as extraordinary has been released!

She recently founded an Art Academy partnering with LPSD Lloydminster for students in her local public school district. Aiding in the creative learning in her community.

Her artwork has been featured on national television and can be found in international publications and Saatchi Gallery numerous times. She has experience in creating custom artworks for designers and translates her artwork into large-scale murals. Some of her collectors include Jillian Harris, Sarah Baeumler, Andrew Salgado, Jann Arden, and Sarah Nicole Landry (thebbirdspapaya).

Hofer has attended creative residencies at Red Deer College, Toronto Island, the Marnay Art Centre outside of Paris France, and in Montreal, Quebec. Her work has appeared in HGTV’s House of Bryan as well as Island of Brian, and featured in a General Motors commercial. Most recently herself and her family at their in-home art studio for an international commercial for Walmart.

She continues to inspire and share in her journey with the world through many creative mediums.

Brandi Hofer’s studio where she works and creates with her children is located in the quiet Canadian prairies.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Mom of three young boys eight and under—to say my day is filled with energy is a massive understatement. I get a little naked butt plopped on my face, or even sometimes, to my surprise, a cold glass of water in my face at the early hours of 6 a.m. for my wake-up call. My days are unpredictable, overwhelming, and filled with fun!

During the highest of highs in mine and my partner’s lives we also experienced the lowest of lows. We lost my mother while I was six months pregnant with our first son. To say my mother was my everything would be a gross understatement to her legacy. She was my home. With losing her, I lost my safe haven. It felt like the loss of a limb.
And tragically, three months after the birth of my second son, my husband lost his father suddenly. Two parents were stripped away from us in what felt like a blink of an eye. But we had these precious new babies that were so full of life. Like I said, the highest of highs and lowest of lows.

Those moments are the big moments of impact. They can shift one’s life perspective in massive tidal wave–like ways. You can either drift down into the depths of the sorrow in the darkest part of the ocean and drown or you can swim toward the light and gasp for breath. The breath that makes you hyperaware of the fact that you need to keep on breathing in and out in order to keep on going. It strips life down to one of its most naked truths: that time is our most precious commodity.

I remember the moment I realized that being a mother and an artist was my strength and not my weakness. This is what my life was, and my art an outcome of my environment.

My empathy and love for my children, that is power. That is a beautiful power that can impact the world.

For years I struggled to find where I fit in society and even my own community. Realizing that my journey was clear; I did not need to find where I fit, I discovered that I needed to create something new and I made it my mission to empower others to do the same.

The more you believe you were brought into this world for a purpose, the more you will realize you are in charge of your own destiny. I didn’t get it then, but my mom kept saying that phrase over and over in the month before she passed: “You are in charge of your own destiny.” I finally feel it. I finally see it.

What I have shared with you here is, in my experience, the way to move forward in the life you see for yourself, the life that YOU CHOOSE. It took me a while to get here, not that we ever arrive anywhere. However, I have arrived at a point where I can share with gratitude and pride parts of my life that have gotten me here. There is no greater joy than to know that you can empower others to find that magic within themselves, to see their days as truly extraordinary.

You may not look around and see what you want to see or be present in what is happening to you right now. If that is so, through appreciation for where you are, who you are, where you came from, what you’ve already done, through appreciation and acceptance of all those life lessons, the building blocks and foundations of what you are to become, know they were all for a reason.

Know that every moment you live is a worthy moment, just as you are; your everyday life is extraordinary, just as you are equally extraordinary. I see you, and you are abundantly beautiful. I cannot wait for you to share every part of yourself with the world.

Thank you for your time. I sure appreciate you giving me just a little bit of it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Nothing can prepare you for parenthood, being a parent is one of the most difficult and challenging endeavors in one’s life, however, I have no doubt it is the most meaningful. As an artist, I am influenced and inspired by my everyday environment. In this new series of artworks, I aim to highlight, and capture the beauty of being a parent, (from what I’ve experienced) as the richest time in my life. This series aims to speak about my triumphs and struggles as a mother. It deals with the ideals of motherhood, its morals, and its priorities. It is an exciting series that revels in a mother’s time with her child.
I would like to begin by establishing that I rarely like to bring up, or to discuss the subject matter of losing my mother in 2014, being that it is emotionally painful. I lost my mother, my beacon of wisdom and love, my sense of home. After a brief fight with lung cancer, my mom passed, I was six months pregnant at the time with my first child. I found her death to be beyond life shattering. Devastatingly I lost my “home”, the constant in my life. Though her values and way of life are entrenched in my every day, I still long for the sound of her voice, and cling to the dream of her meeting her grandchildren. Her meeting them for even a minute, to see how amazing, beautiful, and smart they are, those thoughts are the most heart wrenching for me. There is no doubt in my mind that my son Gus and my husband Carly saved my sanity in those trying months following her death. Gus was my focus, and Carly was my strength. I learned in that trying time that a mother’s love for a child is an insurmountable love, and I now know how much my mother loved me.
That experience and shock of death awoke something in me. I had a new thirst for life. Nothing scared me anymore. Nothing could be more painful than losing my mother. You will not get the things you want in this life by not taking a chance in the first place.
Since the passing of my mother, each moment seems to pause, moments fracture and join into the larger grand pieces of our larger life puzzle. Time is our most precious commodity and should be spent on the things that matter most: Family, love and one’s passions. Moments are fickle and fleeting; I have endeavored to make the most of mine. I refuse to lock myself away in my studio alone and not include my children in my passion for the arts. I want to show them the beauty of mark making, dancing, and expressing yourself with a brush stroke or a splash of paint. I want to teach them that it’s ok to make a mess, “YES Gus you can step in the paint, squish it between your hands, and no Finn, you can’t eat it”! My 2-year-old son Gus and I had the most amazing time together painting this series; I hope the unique artwork can even scratch the surface of the significance of our time together.

Contact Info:

• Website: brandihofer.ca
• Instagram: @brandihoferstudios
• Facebook: Colour Me Happy Community, and Brandi Leah Hofer
• Linkedin: Brandi Hofer Studios
• Youtube: Colour Me Happy! Podcast Channel
• Other: Podcast: Colour Me Happy! Book: Colour Me Happy See your everyday ordinary as extraordinary