We’re looking forward to introducing you to Mardell Rampton. Check out our conversation below.
Mardell, a huge thanks to you for investing the time to share your wisdom with those who are seeking it. We think it’s so important for us to share stories with our neighbors, friends and community because knowledge multiples when we share with each other. Let’s jump in: What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
I have a big dream, and my big dream is for my art and my words to bring tranquility and serenity in to people’s lives, if I were to stop creating work to support that I’d feel like I wasn’t living up to my mission.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I make artwork to help people feel serene, tranquil and peaceful. Artwork that makes room for people to let go of tension, to take a deep breath and return to their bodies.
I work in two different mediums: hand painted and marked cloth, and watercolours. My work is profoundly influenced by the colours and textures found in the seas and the skies of the west coast of Canada.
I write a weekly “quiet little conversation” for my followers on substack (https://mardellramptonart.substack.com/) where I share thoughts on life and what I’m up to in the studio.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
It’s only in the last several years that I’ve begun to feel powerful. Thru my life I had very negative connotations of what holding power looked like.
For me feeling powerful is a very internal experience, one of feeling connected to my own inner light. It’s a commitment to practices and actions that directly support and nurture that light and how it feeds my creative life
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
One of my main defining wounds has been a lack of self esteem and confidence in myself. I’m not sure we ever completely heal these defining wounds but each step taken to recognize our own inherent worth, to step away from chronically harmful situations, and for me, to find ways to connect with a higher power are all journeys I continue to follow.
The other defining wounds are physical. For most of my life I’ve experienced high levels of chronic pain and for the last two decades a balance disorder which severely limits my ability to move in the world. I’ve learned to manage the pain with meditation, physical practices like yoga and qi gong and attention to nutrition.
The balance disorder is experienced as not knowing where I am physically in the space around me. Over the years I’ve learned to use external cues and to limit visual, movement and auditory input my brain is receiving so it doesn’t go in to chaos overload. I’m very fortunate to work with three very gifted alternative medicine healers who support me on many different levels to have the resilience and the courage to keep moving forward.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What truths are so foundational in your life that you rarely articulate them?
I think it begins with knowing what your values are, and then living them in practice. For me that looks like: what are the words you speak, what are the thoughts you think, whose energy do you allow in to your spaces, what personal work are you doing to release patterns that don’t serve you, what learning are you doing to make your energy more clear, more aligned with your personal relationship to the Divine
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
For much of my life I was doing what I thought I was expected to do. Over the last fifteen years I’ve been working to untangle myself from that external matrix and over the last five years I’ve gotten much better at doing what I’m here to do. Learning to value my art despite not having a degree in art has been a big step in helping me to understand and place value on what my contribution can be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mardellrampton.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mardellramptonart/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mardellrampton
Image Credits
gallery images: Byron Dauncey
other images: Mardell Rampton
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
