I am an emerging artist based in Austin, Texas, working with textiles, paint, paper, and mixed media to explore the relationship between nature and domesticity. Through collage and the use of vibrant colors and rich textures, I examine the tension between the natural world and the objects we create to contain it. I am drawn to the human desire to both celebrate nature’s wildness and attempt to capture and contain it—placing it on a shelf, a wall, or within a vessel.

My work incorporates man-made, recycled materials to blur the boundaries between the artificial and the organic, reflecting the fragility of our attempts to recreate the natural world. The ginger jar, a recurring symbol in my pieces, embodies this idea—containing nature in a way that celebrates it but also limits it. I invite viewers to reflect on how we both preserve and constrain nature in our desire to replicate and control it, while also exploring the interplay between bringing nature indoors and extending the comforts of the indoors outward.

www.zeldaspeightjohnart.com
@zelda_speightjohnart
Austin, Texas • [zeldaspeightjohn@gmail.com]

Education

M.P.A., Public Administration
University of Georgia, 2016

B.A., Anthropology
University of Georgia, 2012

Exhibitions

Design Supply, Birmingham, AL, 2025 (Featured alongside gallery artists) Affordable Art Fair (represented by SAB Gallery), 2025
Bayou City Art Festival, Spring 2025
Group Show, T.H. Brennen Fine Art, 2024
Bayou City Art Festival, Fall 2024

Upcoming Exhibitions & Features

Bayou City Art Festival, Fall 2025
Travis Heights Art Trail (THAT) Show, Fall 2025