We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hadley Rampton a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hadley, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve wanted to be a professional artist from the time I was quite young. My only period of doubt came when I entered college. I feared that I would not be able to make a living if I pursued visual art and so I decided to double major in Painting and Drawing, and Architecture. While I enjoyed my architecture classes, as graduation neared my gut seemed to tell me I needed to give Fine Art a shot. Studying for spring semester in Florence, Italy during my junior year cemented this feeling. And so, in 1999 I graduation with my Honors BFA and jumped full steam ahead into my career as a Visual Artist.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Having drawn and painted for as long as I can remember, I graduated from the University of Utah with an Honors BFA in Painting and Drawing in 1999. During my course of university study, I spent a semester in Florence, Italy taking classes in studio art, Renaissance Art History and History of Renaissance Architecture. I began painting professionally immediately after graduation.

Born and raised in Utah, I developed a great love for the outdoors. Not surprisingly, painting en plein air in the mountain and desert landscapes of the Rocky Mountain West and Colorado Plateau became my motus operandi, with aspen trees becoming my favorite subject matter. My time spent studying abroad ignited a love of exploration and immersion in other cultures, catapulting my practice of traveling to capture my impressions of foreign cities and street scenes in watercolor & ink. Countries in which I have painted include Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, England, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Check Republic, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Cuba, Morocco, Palestine (West Bank) and Malta. My travel painting has led to collaboration with various humanitarian projects and organizations overseas. These include Project Wezesha in Western Tanzania, University of Utah Neighborhood Partners and their work with Karen and Karenni refugee camps in northern Thailand, and Choice Humanitarian in the Altiplano of Bolivia.

Over the course of my over 26 year professional career I have participated in numerous Juried Exhibitions, Invitationals and Solo shows held at such venues as Springville Museum of Art, The High Desert Museum, Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Eccles Art Center, Salt Lake Community College, Sedona Art Center, Idaho Falls Art Center, Phillips Gallery and Art Access.

I have been featured in several publications including Plein Air Magazine, Western Art & Architecture, Judsons Plein Air Journal, Artists of Utah’s 15 Bytes Online Publication and Southwest Art Magazine. My work can be found in the collections of the Delta Sky Lounge, Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building, SLC, UT, Raymond James Financial, the Yellowstone Club, Questar Gas, Aspen Traditional Rehab, and the Law Firms of Preg, O’Donnell & Gillett; Rooker Mohrman, Rawlings & Bailey; Ballard Spahr; and Hutchinson & Steffen.

I am currently represented by Phillips Gallery in Salt Lake City, UT, The Torrey Gallery in Torrey, UT, Abend Gallery in Denver, CO, Sorrel Sky Gallery in Durango, CO, Sedona Arts Center and Mountain Trails Gallery in Sedona, AZ and Saatchiart.com, an online gallery.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I believe the best thing a society can do to support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem is to contribute financially. Buy art, purchase tickets to performing arts events, donate to arts organizations, etc. Artists and creatives will continue creating and enhancing their communities. It’s just what they do. Generally, it is meeting financial responsibilities that create the greatest difficulty for artists and creatives.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me is being able to spend time creating work that fills my soul and then see that work enjoyed by others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hadleyrampton.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hadleyrampton/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hadley.rampton/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hadleyrampton3226