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

Joanna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?

In middle and high school I used to cut out shapes, patterns, and colors out of any magazine I could get my hands on. The result was organized containers bursting with pieces of paper of every shape and size and a high school student sitting on the floor after homework. She sat late into the night and enjoyed creating landscapes out of the chaos. That was me – a student with tired eyes but with a will to create something new.

I made hundreds of collaged landscapes and decorated my young world with art. My landscapes were filled with colors and shades, sometimes complimentary and sometimes contradicting. Creating gave me life and a space to sit and work with my hands.

So, in college I had conversations about going into art, but through some twists and turns, I ended up pursuing another passion of mine and completed a Recreation Management degree. Fast forward more than a decade, and I’ve been in the world of fitness since then. I’ve planned road races, massive basketball tournaments played on city streets, led CrossFit workouts, done personal training, and managed two functional training gyms.

Two years ago I moved out of a large city into a quieter life. I went on a solo, marathon walk in the woods and couldn’t help starring at the moss colonies along the way. The moss inhabited the solo places nothing else seemed to want to grow. Rocks. Underneath tree limbs. On the forest floor. It was a small reminder of beauty, and my inspirational walk led me to create the preserved moss wall hangings I’m selling today.

Sometimes I think back to my youth and wish I had taken a different road. Would my life look the same as now? Maybe. Do I wish I would have started my creative career sooner? Maybe. But, for now, I’m giving creativity a chance, and am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with my hands.

Joanna, 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?

It all started with a long walk in the woods. The backstory: I was driving to work two hours each way, waking up at 4:15am, living in a camper in my driveway while renovating a house (doing everything ourselves), rehabbing from knee surgery and a high ankle sprain, and potty training a 4 month puppy. I was exhausted and tired. So I went on a solo adventure to take a break and make space.

I saw beauty all around.
Moss clinging to underbrush.
Moss beside streams.
Moss climbing on trees.

I was inspired by the green (I always have been), and asked the question, “What if I could make something with plants for people who didn’t have green thumbs? Something that you didn’t have to water and care for? Something that lasted forever? Something unique?”

Queue up Solid Moss Co.: I create preserved moss art on wood frames. The moss I use has been preserved through a color and heat process, so the moss stays the same forever, feels soft to the touch, and never needs any maintenance.

All of my frames are wood – natural or painted – filled with different types of mosses and lichens: feather moss (Ptilim crista-castrensis), peat moss (genus Sphagnum), forest moss, Spanish moss (technically a flowering plant), pincushion moss, royal pool moss, and reindeer moss.

Solid Moss Co. started after making a round moss frame to remember my walk in the woods, but took off after I sold out my first showing. Right now I’m creating, posting on instagram when I remember, and have weekend artist markets lined up for 2023 in Georgia. I am accepting commissions, but have limited them for now.

Working with moss is a messy business, so for now, my husband has been gracious enough to overlook our living room/kitchen/dining area being overrun by mosses of every color and shape, frames in every stage of finishing, drop cloths, painting supplies, bags, and boxes. We’re living in our newly self-renovated house and I’m enjoying this new adventure. Creating is life-giving, and I hope my art provides a little bit of nature for anyone to bring inside.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is the opportunity to do my own thing – be significant in something completely random to most people: moss art. The opportunity to push the bounds of what a career looks like, and to create pieces that speak to me and inspire others.

Not everyone understands, has the capacity for, or the desire to tend plants, and my art allows those people to bring nature inside. When I see moss art on other’s walls, I’m thrilled.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I’ve finished two books recently that are worth mentioning: Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Traction by Gino Wickman.

Gathering Moss is a natural and cultural history of mosses that describes a spectacularly different view of the world. Her scientific voice combined with her artful explanation of the biology of mosses led me to examine her thinking about the powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world. The book was suggested to me at an art show, and I’m thrilled someone recommended it. Even if you don’t craft with preserved mosses everyday, after reading, you’ll want to go outside with a microscope to look at the mosses along your driveway.

Traction is a book about getting a grip on your business using the Entrepreneurial Operating System. It outlines disciplines so you don’t feel like you’re operating your business by the seat of your pants, helps put systems in place for growth, and create discipline to take the business to the next level. I highly recommend because it outlines simple steps anyone can take to further their business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://solidmoss.co/
• Instagram: solidmoss.co
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannasolid