Just a Happy Accident

Hi, I’m A. Renee—the artist behind NasLia Studio, a Cincinnati-based mixed media art studio.

I’m a self-taught artist, enthusiastic collector of art supplies, and firm believer that “I might use that someday” is a perfectly reasonable justification for keeping an alarming amount of paper, canvases, paint, yarn, thread, clay, and assorted creative odds and ends. I also seem to be constitutionally incapable of making art without ending up with paint or glue somewhere on my body. Sometimes both. (If you see me out with paint on me, no need to point it out—I don’t own any clothes I haven’t ruined because I refuse to wear a smock.)

I paint. I collage. I sculpt. I doodle. I cut things up and glue them back together. Occasionally, I sew things to paintings. Basically, if an idea gets into my head, I’m going to figure out what it wants to become.

My work is bold, colorful, textured, and unapologetically centered on people I want to see more of in art—Black women, Black girls, and LGBTQ women of color. I make portraits full of color and personality, abstracts that give me permission to play, and mixed-media work that frequently begins with, “What happens if I try this?”

I believe art is everywhere—and it’s for EVERYONE. You don’t need an art degree, the right vocabulary, or permission from somebody standing in a gallery to have a relationship with it. Art can change the way we see something by letting us borrow another perspective for a while.

And art can hold a lot. Empathy. Pride. Fear. Sadness. Joy. Playfulness. Cynicism. Exhaustion. Sometimes all at once. It gives the artist a way to speak, but the conversation doesn’t end there. The viewer gets to bring their own history, feelings, questions, and point of view to the work too. That participation is part of what makes art so good for the heart—yeah, you’re right...I’ll see myself out.

But seriously, I love that art can have something to say without telling you what you’re supposed to think. It can also be joyful, weird, beautiful, funny, messy, or simply something you love looking at. Not everything needs a dissertation attached to it—even though I try really hard to bore people with my artist statements.

Mostly, I make art about taking up space, being seen, finding joy, and existing as yourself without asking anybody’s permission.

Welcome to NasLia Studio. Look around. Stay awhile. Fall in love with something.

Art for the heart.
Handle both with CARE.