Every once in a while we have the good fortune of working on a project that we feel truly matters, a project that we’ll still be thinking about years from now. Maybe even something we can imagine telling our grandkids about – surely you’ve had moments like that where something you did in your professional life really mattered?

Victoria Machado

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my debut album CASIS WORLD and creating an immersive album listening event for it. My album was a sonic representation of all the emotions myself and others felt during the pandemic. It was so rewarding to see people connect with the music and really connect with the ups and downs during that time. Creating an immersive album listening event with my fellow creative colleagues was amazing. Read more>>

Holly Olmos

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on has to be “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Cosplay Cinematic Film) that I created alongside cosplayers and filmmakers while getting to premiere the full film at Anime Expo 2022! The cosplay film is a montage-style film that brings to life and summarizes important and iconic scenes of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood through the art of cosplay and film while set to the series soundtrack. Read more>>

Ilana T. recently

I consider the process of creating to be meaningful on both an individual and a collective level. I make art with purpose, emotion, and meaning that is either personal to myself or others. I can safely say that I’ve never produced a piece I’m proud of that doesn’t have a story behind it. These stories often remain hidden in the work, which I believe brings great value and depth to it. For example, some of my works contain tiny and almost illegible writing within them, alluding to concepts or ideas that the piece is about. Read more>>

Courtney Gayle

We are currently in the process of recording the first EP for our duo, Gritty Sunset and we’re planning a Spring release. This project is near and dear to my heart because I began my journey in the music industry at the tender age of 16 and I’m now 38 and FINALLY releasing original music for the first time. For almost 20 years, I’ve endured so much internal resistance in the sense that I believed the false narrative that I wasn’t good enough, skilled enough, skinny enough, beautiful enough…you get the jist. Read more>>

Matt Boone

I’ve been playing in multiple bands with my best friends in the world for the past decade. It means a lot to me to be able to create music with the best people I know and I never take it for granted. Read more>>

Joanna Barbera

My journey has been a bit of a wild one! I was raised in the Hudson Valley area of New York with a strict Italian Roman Catholic upbringing (lots of rules and guilt), which eventually led me on a journey of asking bigger questions and seeking of deeper meaning and purpose in spirituality. At 19, I left New York and headed West, where my journey back to my True Self began. Read more>>

Ann Rosen

Being Seen, Parts I and II As a portrait photographer, I focus on capturing images that reveal the vitality and dignity of my subjects. Being Seen, Parts I and II grew out of a concern for the homeless crisis of women and its relationship to mental illness and drug abuse. As a professional photographer and experienced teacher, I began teaching workshops and photographing women living in shelters, as well as working with several non-profits dedicated to assisting women and their families. Read more>>

Katherine Adkins

When I work on a series of paintings, I enter the process with unnamable convictions, which will unravel and reveal in the years after completion. If I wait to have the true meaning solidified before making, the passion and urgency will fade and transition into a different message. Read more>>

Sima Naseem

As a recent graduate in animation, my most significant project is undoubtedly my thesis film titled “My Friend in the Jingle Truck.” This project not only marked the culmination of my four years dedicated to becoming an animation filmmaker but also encapsulated my identity as an artist. The film is set in Karachi Pakistan, where a young girl meets a magical bird in a traditionally painted truck. Read more>>

Brooke Thivierge

With every collection of work I create, I strive to bring certain flora and fauna of the world to life through functional works of art. Many of the animals I paint are threatened or endangered species. In multiple ways, my work helps others acknowledge their connection to nature. Even if it’s a memory or deep love for the animal depicted. Read more>>

Lovie Johnson

I’m all about entertainment but even more so when it comes to meaningful film projects. The word “ENTERTAIN” means to detain some one so SOMETHING may enter into them. When you have the ability to capture an audience…that’s a GOD-given gift and what you do with that gift is entirely up to you. We all have free will to do as we please (within the confines of the law of course) so with that type of influence comes a certain type of responsibility in my personal opinion. Read more>>

Nesrine Brikci

The most meaningful project I’ve ever undertaken is my daily commitment to L’escale Voyage. Almost two years ago, I launched this website with a primary focus on curated independent stays worldwide and unique travel experiences. Personally experiencing and capturing each space, I document them to showcase on L’escale. Read more>>

Lady Beaver

Screwdale! The most hilarious project I am working on right now is a sketch comedy series on YouTube called Screwdale. Screwdale is the name of a fictional town where everybody is a little bit screwy. We are inspired by Portlandia, with sketches about quirky people, unusual beliefs and human behavior. Because we are a small town, there are recurring characters that appear throughout several sketches and we continue week by week to build a world for these characters to flourish. Read more>>

Aaron Rosen

In the middle of the pandemic, my wife and I decided to move back to my home state of Maine, and buy an old Federalist estate from 1831, overlooking the ocean. We never saw it in person, and only had some photos of it from my parents and a Blair-Witch style swerving, blurry video taken by my mother. But we had a good feeling about the place–somehow! Read more>>

Soul Food Music

One of the first meaningful projects we’ve completed is “Furnace.” This project embodies everything that Soul Food Music represents and captured a level of our complexity that other songs prior (which we had released) had not. Read more>>

Madison McGhee

My most meaningful project is my current one – Ice Cold Case. It’s a true crime podcast, but it’s more than that. Even the word “meaningful” feels like an understatement. It doesn’t get more personal than this. I’m investigating my dad’s murder. In 2002, my dad, John Cornelius McGhee was shot and killed in the doorway of his home. Read more>>

Emily Tucker

In 2014, I formed a fine art consulting firm called Resource:Art with two other female independent gallerists. Together we were involved in lots of projects. We organized a variety of creative events designed to take art out of the traditional white box gallery and engage new and diverse audiences. We have popped up in countless homes and offices with contemporary art exhibitions and opened galleries in development projects across the city of Buffalo. Read more>>

Jodi Colella

ONCE WAS is a memorial for all those lost to the opioid epidemic in the prime of their lives. A 12-foot, 2-sided panel is covered with 3600 poppies that are stitched and then sewn onto a plush black velvet foundation. Each poppy represents 200 people lost to the epidemic from 1999 to 2019. They are made from repurposed clothing donated by those I spent time with talking about the opioid crisis. Read more>>

Jenna Hammond

One of the most meaningful projects was writing an educational grant for overstressed students to receive a mindfulness education, and then leading the programming. Part of the grant writing involved creating a curriculum that fused meditation and movement with standard school learning appropriate for an elementary setting. Read more>>

Julie Reneé Benda

One of my favorite works is a piece called “It Was Never Mine”. I harvested a downed sugar maple tree on the 20 acres I grew up on, just after my parents sold it. I carved into them a narrative reflecting on illusion of property ownership and responsibility we should all innately feel to the earth. Read more>>

Jessica Lagunas

Creating the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Mural for the Portland Art Museum in 2022 was a profound and transformative experience. The journey began with an email invitation that carried the weight of grace, marking the moment I, as the Latino Artist Collective IDEAL PDX representative, stepped into the Portland Art Museum for the first time. Read more>>

Ryan & Matthew Murray

Though we’ve had so many meaningful projects with so many incredible clients & friends that we love and have had the honor of working with, there have been a few life altering moments that we hold very dear to our hearts. We have had opportunities to help some clients and friends of ours with covering scars after medical procedures or accidents, which has helped them gain back self confidence through expressing art. Read more>>

Aravind Aanand

During my master’s program at ArtCenter, I worked on a project titled “LA Mobility Vision 2050” with three classmates. Our objective was to envision the future of transportation systems in Los Angeles by the year 2050. To achieve this, we embarked on an extensive journey that involved visiting multiple cities within Los Angeles, conducting thorough research, and engaging in in-depth discussions. Read more>>

Justin McClain

Is it a totally narcissistic red flag if I think the meaningful project I’ve worked on is actually still ongoing? That being my life long endeavor to survive as a working artist and live a life paid for by making stuff? Cause I truly mean that less in the “look at me I’m doing it” way and more in the every project (even the nasty ones with upsetting collaborators) is meaningful in it’s own way to living my life as a paid creative artist. Read more>>

Lauren Connolly

Welcome to Wild Developments, a unique podcast inviting you on a profound journey connecting nature, art, and storytelling. Inspired by transformative experiences and a deep appreciation for the outdoors, our founder shares a personal story that led to a departure from a corporate career and a rekindled passion for visual arts. Amid the challenges of the pandemic, nature became a sanctuary, fostering connections through routine nature journaling, photography, and watercolor paintings. Read more>>