We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rebekah Lowell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rebekah below.
Hi Rebekah, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
Growing up I was surrounded by a family of hard workers. My parents each ran their own businesses, my grandfather as well. My grandfather walked in the woods until he was 82 and lived until he was 90, still telling stories about his adventures in the woods. My grandmother is 86 and walks a mile a day. I see my family and the lives they lead— always moving forward, always working at something, always getting up again, even after life throws us hard things, and I’m inspired to keep going. In addition to my family, I see nature behaving in a way that doesn’t give up either. Caterpillars change into butterflies despite starting life as a speck, fledglings survive against all odds as they leave the nest before they can fly, plants grow in the cracks of cement, sometimes even pushing through it. When I look around, at both the small and big details of the natural world, I see examples of resilience and it can give me the strength to start over when I have to. I’m here no matter what, so I choose to spend my days trying.
I never knew how much I would need to draw on this resilience until I was faced with domestic abuse in my twenties. For ten years I was held captive and abused. I wasn’t allowed to leave the different dwellings we lived at, so from 2003 to 2013, I didn’t go in public alone. During those years, I couldn’t make art freely like I always had. I lost my own thoughts and opinions, I became numb to who I was, who I had been, and found a way to survive. I had two daughters during those years and in 2013 we escaped, thanks to family, friends, and the local community, and we were given a chance to start over. Looking to those inspirations for resilience, I’ve learned to take one day at a time and keep trying. Even ten years later I’m faced with PTSD and Anxiety, so every day is a work in progress, but I look around and think that if nature finds a way to survive, so can I.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
All my life I’ve been an artist. I’ve been someone who made stuff. I don’t think I will ever stop. I carried a crayon before I could talk and spent my childhood sketching outside to process the world. In my teens the only thing I ever wanted to be was an artist. It was art school or bust.
I’m an author/illustrator of books for kids with a passion for the natural world. I also design fabric, create products with my art on them, and teach nature journaling. I’ve been able to combine nature and art in a way that fulfills the need to be able to do what I love to do (make art and spend time outside) and share it with others. My inspiration comes from nature. I raise monarchs, rescue injured birds, garden, go birding, take walks outside, and I’m always learning. I’ll always be a student of nature.
After earning my BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, it was then that I fell into the abusive relationship. After leaving, I needed a way to process those ten years, so I started drawing, and writing, and it led to my debut— an illustrated middle grade novel in verse, THE ROAD TO AFTER, published with Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Random House in 2022. Soon after that, my debut picture book, CATCHING FLIGHT, published with Doubleday Books for Young Readers/Random House Children’s Books. My agent, Paige Terlip at The Andrea Brown Literary Agency submits my work to publishers for consideration. I’m usually working on several projects at once. An exciting new detail to my career as an author/illustrator is offering school and library visits. I love visiting readers, sharing about my process, and talking about books!
In addition to creating children’s books, I love to make patterns, and in the coming months my debut fabric collection, called Emerge, will release with PBS Fabrics, featuring my beloved monarchs. Over the past seven years, I’ve released over 1,000 monarchs that I’ve rescued (and now tag) from hayfields. I have new fabric collections in the works and hope to license my surface designs on journals, mugs, card decks, and more. In the meantime, I have an online shop through my website where I offer my art on products, such as notecards, stickers, pins, tea towels, prints, originals, and even commissions. My work is also available for wholesale on FAIRE and in local shops, such as New Morning Natural Foods and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Market.
It feels wonderful to be able to focus on what I love and turn it into a career. I also try to set aside time for personal projects too though, and sometimes make art that doesn’t get sold. This is where keeping a nature journal comes into play. I love nature journaling because it helps me stay present, become more observant, pay attention and notice the world around me. Staying present is hard for me to do when my mind is always onto the next thing running through my to-do list, so nature journaling is a way for me to slow down and take note. I enjoy teaching local workshops on this topic and hope to launch an online course in the future, so stay tuned!
My tendency is to stay productive and keep busy. I’m never working on just one thing, which I don’t know yet if this is a flaw or something to celebrate, it just is. Current projects in the works are my next middle grade novel, several picture books in various stages, a new pattern collection, new tea towels, pins, stickers, notecards, as well as client work.
If interested, I offer a monthly newsletter to keep up with my studio news and you can sign up through my website at www.rebekahlowell.com
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1) Curiosity: following your curiosity can help you stay open, playful, and creative. You never know where a passion or interest can lead you and I think it’s important to never lose that sense of wonder and curiosity we had as kids. I’m still learning, and because of this I’m earning my Certificate in Natural Science Illustration from The Rhode Island School of Design because I want to know more about illustrating the natural world in a realistic way. Stay curious.
2) Consistency: It’s making sure you are doing something small (or big) each day towards your goals. It’s okay to slow down, just don’t completely stop. Action cures fear. Whenever I’m daunted by a task or a goal, doing at least one thing towards it helps me see I will be able to keep moving forward.
3) Courage: this doesn’t mean you don’t feel afraid. It means doing the thing despite feeling afraid. You take that step out the door even though everything is pulling you back inside to the world you know. You send that pitch email even though you don’t think your portfolio is good enough. You submit the application even though you worry about the competition. You do the thing despite the fear because you know will always feel better after. You will feel brave after, but not before, so do it anyway, with courage.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
As a child, I was homeschooled. I spent time outside exploring, drawing, and wandering. My parents gave me the gift of being me. I had the time and space to follow my curiosity, and this grew into discovering a sense of self that, post-trauma, I’ve tried to tap back into, and it’s helping me feel like myself again. My parents supported my dream of becoming an artist. They arranged for my uncle to show me how he painted in oils when I was seven. My mom brought me to the frame shop to frame up some of my oil paintings. My father built me a display stand and drove me (and those framed paintings) downtown so I could exhibit in my first sidewalk art festival when I was fourteen. When I wanted to attend art workshops during school breaks, they brought me. My parents offered support and encouragement that I don’t take for granted. Combine that with a wild-Maine-outdoors childhood and you get an artist who loves to paint nature and doesn’t stop wondering (or wandering).
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rebekahlowell.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebekahlowell
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebekahlowellstudio/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekah-lowell-13120153/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebekahLowell
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpq1hhEe8VnwvyfYk_GvdqA
- Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/rebekahlowellart/
Image Credits
Headshot credit is Brooke Larrabee