We recently connected with Whitney Futrell and have shared our conversation below.

Whitney, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Women Figure Commissions

Whitney, 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?

Throughout my career as an educator, the theme of women seemed to always be a driving force. However, a career shift focusing on empowering women through art was a surprise to even me. For the majority of my career as a teacher I was happy to have my little art business on the side. But in 2021 I felt a shift, a pull toward my creative journey that I could not ignore. Up until this point, the content of my art was simple. I had always enjoyed painting abstract scenes, coastal art that reminded me of my home, beautiful florals. But if I was honest with myself, the lack of purpose or meaning behind these pieces, up until this point, had made it easy to keep this hobby at a safe distance. It was October of 2021 a personal loss broke open something that had been creatively locked for me. With our 2 year old son starting to get excited about being a big brother, my husband and I found out that we had lost our baby girl to miscarriage. It is difficult to explain the waves of grief and loss that comes from losing a soul that has only known your body as their home. Pregnancy loss comes with a unique grief of mourning so much that you will never know, a future that will never be. It was through this loss I found myself with a brush in my hand and canvas feeling like the welcome venue for my emotions that couldn’t fit anywhere else. Almost instantly I felt drawn to paint women, womens’ bodies. In a season where I felt almost betrayed by my own body, mourning a lossed child, feeling the physical results of pregnancy and not having the joyful end, I allowed myself to be drawn into the very real details of womens’ bodies. I leaned into the curvatures, the scars, the history that we each carry within us. I embraced my abstract roots and painted these women without facial detail. To me, it connected me to all the other women who might be feeling what I was. This was how I began to heal.
Those first women figures were like the sweetest gift. It unlocked something within me that I didn’t even know to look for. In the years since, this process of championing real women through art has been so rewarding. Through my collections of women figures the opportunity to complete commissioned pieces for women came about. I began meeting women who were navigating loving their bodies after children, women who were recovering after traumatic divorces, who were battling cancer, who had been on lifelong journeys to undue body shaming and self hatred. These women connected with my art in a way that was so powerful. They began to see themselves through someone else’s eyes and for many, felt beautiful for the first time. I began to develop a process to get to know each of my clients, understand part of their story, and create a piece of artwork they could have and be reminded of their own strength and beauty.
This work became my full time job after the birth of my daughter in 2022. As a woman who has also had a long journey to love my body, and all it has been through, this work is life giving. It is an honor to paint women in a way that champions seemingly imperfections, tells our stories, and reminds of our a own beauty.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having someone have an emotional response to something you have created. It has been the moments where a woman comes up to me and just asks if they can give me a hug because a painting made her feel something so powerful. Those have been the most validating moments for me as an artist. I paint women with the goal that any woman can see herself in her or be able to understand someone else more clearly though it. It is the most amazing feeling to have women connect with one of my pieces. It is an honor to hear how someone has experienced your work and now feels validated or seen. It is amazing to hear the different points in someones life that a painting can help recall a memory and produce true emotion. What an honor it is to help someone feel.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

One of my main goals and missions that drives my creative journey is for women to feel seen. When a woman is looking at artwork, specifically figurative work, I want each woman to be able to see a piece of work that feels like her, looks like her, is beautiful, like her. Representation matters and it is so important for me to represents women of all sizes and backgrounds. I want each woman to see their own beauty through my work and to feel valued by my choice to paint someone like them. It is so easy for art to reflect the unrealistic beauty expectations that have dominated our culture for all of time. It is freeing to see yourself in art, to feel your worth in a new way. That goal of making women feel this way, drives me in so many ways.

Contact Info:

• Website: WhitneyFutrell.com
• Instagram: Instragram.com/whitneyfutrellart
• Facebook: Facebook.com/whitneyfutrellart