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Article: Artist Spotlight: Andrea Slusarski

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Collage of sketches, trail maps, and notes illustrating Andrea Slusarski's creative process inspired by trail maps.

Artist Spotlight: Andrea Slusarski

Here at Wild Rye, we pride ourselves on working with and lifting up female freelancers and entrepreneurs both behind the lens and the sketchbook. We recently worked with Andrea Slusarski, a Denver-based artist, to put her creative twist on our shorts comparison tool. In our latest spotlight, learn more about her creative process and how her art is inspired by life on two wheels. 
 
About the Artist: Andrea Slusarski (she/her) / @DrawingFromNature
While I wear multiple hats, the thread between them & what I like to see myself as, is a Creativity Advocate. As an artist and art professor at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, I always want to promote the importance of creativity in our lives, however that looks to us individually.
Andrea Slusarski wearing Wild Rye shorts while mountain biking in a forested area
Mountain Biking is a relatively new sport for me! While I've been "flowing" on a snowboard for many years, I'm also becoming just as hooked on riding my bike.
 
What was your creative process for creating the comparison chart as a map?
Personally, I'm a huge fan of trail maps. I collect and keep them in my sketchbooks - they're works of art to me and I get my creative fuel from looking at the lines and remembering all of the fun I had on those trails. 
Collage of sketches, trail maps, and notes illustrating Andrea Slusarski's creative process, with the word 'PROCESS' prominently displayed.
Most of my "visual thinking" happens in my sketchbook, so when I was presented with the creative challenge of creating a shorts comparison chart, I was curious if I could visually interpret each short as a trail. I had a ton of fun thinking about what style of trail and features each short embodied. 
Illustrated trail map comparing shorts features with colorful lines and notes.
From there, I took my concept ideas to my iPad to start adding more details and finalizing the illustrated map. We got to the final version you see today through collaboration & bouncing different design idea off each other. 
 
How do you weave art into your two-wheeled adventures?
In every area of my life, I'm driven by what it means to experience and be in FLOW. If you're interested in learning more, here is a great TED Talk by the Psychologist who coined the term. 
A workspace with a laptop, sketchbook, colored pens, and a coffee cup, showing the creative process for a shorts comparison chart.
Mountain biking is one of the processes that helps me tap into that state. When I experience that flow state on my bike, I'm able to transfer that into my drawing flow when I get back to the studio. 
A hand holding a sketchbook open to a trail sketch, with a mountain biker in the background.
That's why I love bringing my sketchbook on bike rides! Taking a quick pause to draw some lines is all a part of my creative process the I hope to carry throughout all of my artwork. 
 
p.s. if you ride bikes with me (which I hope you do), I always stop to scribble some lines.
__________
Click here to check out our updated shorts comparison chart and find your new favorite trail companion! 

Written by Kami York-Feirn

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