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

Hannah, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

My brand is called Catdroool, and it encompasses everything I do as a creative – I’m an artist, designer, and community organizer. I began my art practice when I was working a full time corporate job in need of a creative outlet. I’ve always loved cats, and I learned at some point that my cat drools when he’s happy. This was a surprise to me, I’ve never heard of cats doing this. I needed a cheeky name to embody the playful, expressive spirit of a practice that doesn’t take itself too seriously. At the time it felt silly, but the name has stood the test of time. It reminds me to always find joy in unexpected places.

Hannah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a multidisciplinary artist and designer through and through. I find it difficult to distill what I do into a concise narrative, and I’m working on embracing my many interests as a positive thing. I do think about my work in three categories: art, design, and community.

As an artist, I make work about what’s close to my heart: trauma, joy, grief, community, identity, and cats. If you love your therapist and love your cat, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy my work. It’s playful, colorful, honest, and weird. I make prints, apparel, zines, and I’ve recently started painting. My art practice is the place where I set down the rules and constraints I learned to love about design and instead make from an open, vulnerable place.

As a designer, I work with musicians to visualize their music into posters, album artwork, merch, and more. It’s what I dreamed of doing when I became a designer. I’ve had a love for music for as long as I’ve had a love for art, and weaving them together in my work is extremely rewarding.

As a community organizer, I host a neighborhood art fair in Palmer Square Park. It’s a really wholesome and vibrant day where artists of all kinds gather to share their art with the community. I bring together very experienced artists, and those who have never sold their art, and everyone in between. Watching them all connect with each other, share ideas and support brings me a joy that’s hard to put into words. Since then I have opened a community art space with some friends called Lot’sa. At Lot’sa, you can shop local art, gather at an art meetup, and make art with us at a workshop. We have been open since October, and are still finding our way, but the journey so far has been incredible. I can’t wait to see how our work at Lot’sa will evolve.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is getting to wake up every day and tap into myself to do something creative. Every day I get to connect with myself in in authentic ways and make art about it. Even when I’m slammed with work or stressed about making money, I’m still grateful for the chance to make art every day.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Since opening a community art space, called Lot’sa – it’s become a large goal of mine to spread the joy of art making of all kinds. Our space represents experienced artists, emerging artists, people who do art for fun, and sometimes people who never make art. We want everyone who walks in our space to walk away feeling like they can be an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.catdroool.com
• Instagram: @catdroool

Image Credits
All photos are credited to Hannah Sellers