Meet Chelsea Boxwell

We recently connected with Chelsea Boxwell and have shared our conversation below.

Chelsea, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. We’re excited to dive into your story and your work, but first let’s start with a broader topic that might be stopping many of our readers from pursuing their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. How have you managed to persist despite haters and nay-sayers that inevitably follow folks who are doing something unique, special or off the beaten path?

I have a story for that one – In grad school, as I was truly finding my place as an artist—a wild, colorful, abstract painter, there was another student, a male who worked in a similar abstract style, although mostly monochrome. We’d talk long into the night about our work sometimes, as many of us did, and I thought we were riffing off each other’s ideas in a supportive way. I’d shared how much I loved color but I couldn’t ‘make green or orange work’ in my paintings; every time I tried, I felt like the piece fell flat. That was just one of many things I talked about to multiple other students.

One morning, I walked into my studio to find an entire gallon of green house paint dumped across my canvases, along with splatters of green and orange thrown over everything in my space—my walls, furniture, even the pillows. The paint was still wet. This man, whom I’d seen as a colleague, even a friend, had shown his true colors in a drunken rage; he actually saw me as more of a threat. Maybe he viewed me as competition, or maybe he couldn’t handle the idea of a female artist making work that rivaled his own. After a lot of tears, official reports, long conversations with the school, and he was expelled, I figured out what I was going to do. I had to keep going, I was 2/3 of the way through my 2nd semester.

It was a hard moment, but I took my power back. I decided to transform that ruined canvas into something new. I covered the entire large splash of green with a layer of matching green glitter, turning his aggression into an undeniable, even beautiful, statement. I added glitter to some other tainted areas and layered my own colors back into the other side of the piece. Then, I displayed it as a site-specific installation across two adjoining rooms, draping the canvas over the shared wall so that viewers could only see one half at a time. One side showed my vibrant, intentional colors, titled “She Said,” and the other was the glittered-over, unwanted mess titled “He Said.”

“She said…, He said…”, became a feminist statement on the resilience of women and the ways we reclaim what’s ours. By reversing the common-phrase “He said, she said” in my work, I took back the power of my own story, asserting that my voice and my vision matter. It was a way of saying, “I’m here, I’m not backing down, and no one gets to define my art or my worth but me.”

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My story in the arts has been a journey of exploration and resilience, starting with a childhood rooted in creativity and encouragement, evolving through academic training, and growing into a multi-faceted career. I pursued both a BFA and an MFA, experiences that honed my skills and pushed me to understand my artistic voice. Through years of experimentation, both personally and professionally, I’ve embraced the role of a colorful, optimistic, and rebellious abstract artist who channels expression, emotion, femininity, and purpose into my work.

In my art practice, I create multidimensional paintings that aim to reinvent the medium itself. I embark on a journey to highlight the beauty of the unfinished and embrace the uncontrolled by laying out various fabrics and canvas across my studio, pouring and splattering paint and glitter across the multiple surfaces. My process spills beyond a single surface, creating a final site-specific form that doesn’t adhere to a single surface as well; often suspended, hanging, or draped over a structure I’ve created or a wall. I believe in art’s power to impact not just individuals but entire communities, and I hope to continue exploring how my work can do that with large-scale, public, and/or site-specific works.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, three things were especially impactful in my journey: adaptability, perseverance, and technical experimentation.

Adaptability
In art and in my personal life, adaptability has been essential. I’ve moved frequently, started over in new places, and made new friends each time. Being flexible and open to change has helped me grow in unexpected ways. Each new environment or challenge has been a chance to learn and expand my perspective and I’ve learned to love change and not be afraid of it.

Perseverance/Passion
I found that by pursuing my passion, I could build a career I genuinely loved. This drive has kept me going, even when I’ve faced setbacks or criticism.

Technical Experimentation
Developing my technical skills through years of practical education and hands-on experimentation has been key to my growth. The hard technical skills I learned in school gave me the foundational “rules” I needed to learn before I could break them in my own work and fully understand how my work sits in the historical and modern context of art, my surroundings, and our culture.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Absolutely—I love collaborating and am always eager to connect with others who are passionate about creating something unique. I dream of developing installations for music videos, films, and concert stages—essentially anything that brings art into unexpected spaces and amplifies the experience for audiences. There’s something incredibly powerful about merging different creative visions to make something that neither artist could achieve alone.

I’m especially interested in partnerships where we can explore new ways to integrate visual art with other art forms, from performance to digital media. Whether it’s working with musicians, filmmakers, set designers, or anyone with a bold vision, I’d love to connect and brainstorm ideas to bring new artistic projects to life. If you’re reading this and would like to collaborate, please find me on Instagram @chelseabox_art and let’s create something unforgettable together!

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.chelseaboxwell.com/
• Instagram: Chelseabox_art
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-boxwell/