Allow me if you will, to ramble on for some time about a topic inseparable from the human condition. Art.
Art is amorphous at times, cutting, warm, truly an infinite list of adjectives applies to it and that makes it all the more intriguing to us all. Whether or not you’re conscious of your involvement with art, we are. We tend to reference a visage of the artists of the renaissance-like waves that cyclically occur in society. Where people with special talents are holed up in a space for undefined periods of time, toiling through the synaptic firings, most would chalk up to daydreaming and distilling them into our tangible, perceivable world. Not often, if ever, have I gotten the privilege of speaking with someone emblematic of this seemingly unattainable energy, but that is exactly what the artist Gina Dodge radiates.
As the artist behind Gina Dodge Studio and owner of Drawn To Flowers, Gina’s multidisciplinary art is apt to take on any and all forms at any given time. Across freelancing and all endeavors, her main modalities of focus are two-dimensional visual arts, displays in all dimensions, and flowers. She has managed to hybridize her various passions into an art style that bears a unique signature. “I always look at my work like why is this all over the place, and then my friends see it and say ‘I can tell this has your touch to it,’” she says. A sentiment I couldn’t agree with more. Being the sociable, young (arguable) lad I am, I’ve been around many creatives in the Denver area for the past few years. That being said, this is far from the first conversation I’ve had with Gina, and I can honestly attest that she has an innately unique focus toward creation that is palpable in all of her art and in her mere presence.
“Wedding season is over, and in my soul, I just want to paint for months and get my thoughts and ideas out, and that’s not necessarily for anyone; I just need to create things that live in me,” says Gina. Truly, the type of person she is so powerfully drawn to create exists in every era. I told her this sentiment, to which she replies, “If my job does not exist, I will create the job, and I have had the same job over and over and over again in every world”. Spoken like a true creative.
From her high school “Theater Gina” days of sewing costumes, being fully satisfied with playing the part of the “tree” and having quick solos, knowing that she was a vital part of the production, to getting her degree in painting and minor in museum studies, there have been some throughline principles for her. “I’m just a production girly," she says. My whole life is I’m just curious, and I want to learn how to do something, and then I do it; that’s the goal”. Finagling and cultivating the positions she wants out of situations seemingly set against innovative ways, she’s managed to take positions in museums that were slated to be desk jobs and made them art-focused. “Sales jobs into creative jobs.” Production girly strikes again. Currently partnering with Realm Photography Studio and event space in Denver, she collaborates in their new “styled set” studio space to create in-house installations. She's an expert at carving her own place wherever it is that she finds herself.
Especially in a time that urges the generation of capital at all costs, Gina is able to bring her art to life in various mediums and survive in a landscape that loves but doesn’t always value art. “My goal is always to leave making art. It doesn’t matter who I work for as long as I leave proud…I don’t want to just do flowers, so the people I work for are always art-forward.”
When people end up bringing things to life, the hurdles to the art that had to be navigated are almost as impressive as the art itself and are a further testament to the dedication necessary to persist as an artist. “I’ve always been putting in the work," Gina says. "There hasn’t been a moment where I wasn’t following the curiosity and wanting to learn something new”. In recanting her time before Denver, “I walked around Seattle with a crowbar, trying to pry open doors. It was a whole year of me being like, ‘I’m an artist, I’m a florist,’ and it was like, ‘Ok, join the club, us too,’ and no one cared until I got offered an opportunity at the very end.” Some moves, from Seattle to Vegas and then to Denver allotted her some portfolio development and the momentum that’s blossomed into her current creative endeavors, most notably through years of design work through Anthropology. “You do one project, and it leads to another, and they all get bigger.” From storefronts to weddings, her capability to meet a client’s creative needs is truly adaptable.
I ask her how she views herself as an artist, to which she replies “I understand how I got here, and I’m really excited to be here. I studied painting so there's this part of me that’s always guilty that I’m not known as being a painter but ‘Gina the florist’. Which is more of a supply-and-demand thing. While I love flowers, I always wanna make sure I'm doing the other things as well”.
“I love being in flow state, so I'm tired of running with scissors,” Gina says in reference to the push and pull of being an artist with the responsibilities of work life. She gets a lot of commissions which is an amazing blessing and alongside that she strives to “save time for me” while keeping the business flowing.
From “paintings to flowers and every power tool you can dream”, Gina’s eagerness to engage and create is boundless. “I love to make things and I'll make it in whatever medium makes sense. My art does have consistency, it’s always kind of nature inspired and colors I'm drawn to are more natural so no matter what medium I work in, my art is drawn to a similar palette.”
When I ask where she wants to go with her art, she replies with what I consider a near-perfect, if not perfect, answer. “I always ask people, ‘if you won a billion dollars, what would you do with your time,’ and I would be doing the exact same thing. I love people that love what they do. I like changing mediums because I never get bored. I love that I’ve bridged display and flowers. This is the sweet spot.”
This is the exploratory journey of somebody who is creating art and truly is in the flow of doing what they want to do.
To learn more, visit GinaDodge.com
From “paintings to flowers and every power tool you can dream”, Gina’s eagerness to engage and create is boundless.