Chelsea Granger
Chelsea Granger
Chelsea Granger makes paintings of people and the cosmos as well as sewn procession flags and bell masks for her work as a member of The Royal Frog Ballet performance collective. She also collaborates with Community Herbalist, Brittany Nickerson of Thyme Herbal making posters and zines.
Chelsea was born in 1982 and raised by a sweet family in a small Massachusetts farm town. After a few years in New York City at Parsons School of Design she finished school at U-Mass Amherst with a BFA in Painting. She has spent the past eleven years waiting tables and living in a very old house with ten roommates in Western Massachusetts.
a sneak peak of Chelsea’s work for The Radder
Favorite tools
My favorite tools are pretty basic and last me a long time: a very worn-out little watercolor brush, a beautiful old ceramic plate used as a paint palate, a big wooden table a friend gave me that I use as a desk, a mechanical pencil, paints and paper.
Canson Moulin du Roy Watercolor Paper
Pentel Mechanical Drafting Pencil
For paints I use a combination of Gouache, watercolor and craft acrylics.
Americana Craft Acrylics (matte finish acrylics “at a budget price”)
My worktable usually has a cup of coffee, a jar of flowers and a bunch of tinctures and herbal potions, (I regard these as tools as well) from the following lovely folks:
Where do you find inspiration?
I was raised with the idea that “the woods were our church,” so I find so much inspiration in the land – especially walking in fields or forests – the sacredness of the seasons, the glittering night sky (especially up north in Vermont.) The “magic spaces” found in the natural world but also at old carnivals and fairs that have a long tradition in New England.
I am also greatly inspired by picking through free piles, flea markets and yard sales. I find myself sincerely moved by old things: fabric, yarn, embroidery, books and illustrations; As well as fashion magazines, time at the library, Folk Art, Bread and Puppet Theatre, Joseph Campbell, processions, parades and radio programs (I especially love the show ‘On Being.’) And SO much of my inspiration comes from time spent with my sweetheart and lovely friends!
Who do you recommend we check out?
Dori Midnight Tinctures & Potions
Lily Gold Choreography
Watercolor Paper
snapshots of Chelsea’s studio in Western Mass
