I'm Abigail Engstrand
Welcome to my new website! For those who don’t already know me, I have retired from full-time childcare and am rebooting my art career. I am sprouting marketing abilities and branching out to various communities.
Getting down to my roots, I am a descendant of Dutch immigrants, born in a land formerly inhabited by the Potawatomi and Ottawa peoples, of West Michigan. It is important for me to mention this because family history, cultural exchange and environmental stewardship inspires my work. I pay attention to life's cycles and spirals.
I have memories of my great grandfather sharing stories of his youth in the Netherlands. My parents often took us outside, walks in the woods, to the library, and to the beach. My mother is a musician and got her bachelor’s degree in Home Economics. She provided her 5 children with many cultural activities from her home in a small, homogenous town. She read to us and made nutritious meals from a variety of cuisines. This rejection of monoculturalism, and zest for expanding cultural awareness has stayed with me. I ran with it. I magnify it. I zoom in and zoom out.
I earned My Bachelor's degree in Fine Art in the wild onion city; Chicago. There I met my life partner and traveled with him before we began our own family. Family relationships, genetic and philosophical comparisons and contrasts fascinate me. My love for my own children has fueled my desire to hold and record those feelings and observations in real tangible pictures.
I make art to express my adoration of colors and light. My love of color and representation is also with me when I dress. (I feel incomplete without earrings! I love being naked but would be bored without wearing clothes!) My work is as sensual as I am. That is why I use such a variety of mediums, from the flowy watercolors to the fluffy textures of fiber. I love people and pleasing people and telling stories about life on Earth which is one reason I enjoy creating a work of art specifically personalized, uniquely my style but telling your story, in a commission, using my ideas and observations, sketches, new photos and your list of favorites, snapshots, old family photos, mementos, scraps of fabric or pet hair.
My art business has been designated as a "Trusted Art Seller" with The Art Storefronts Organization, which means you can shop with confidence, and know that I stand behind the quality and value of my products.
