The Layered Onion--Peeling Back the Layers

In a very personal conversation, Ruth shares how her sparse younger years led to immense creativity as she used whatever she could find to foster her art. Look closely at the backgrounds of her pieces and see that each color and texture is made from thousands of small circles that provide a meditative essence showing the healing capabilities of art.

TradeRoots is a Madison-based group of farmers and chefs with roots in Wisconsin and West Africa. Beginning in 2021, they began growing and cooking with crops of cultural relevance to the African diaspora in the Madison area. Their goal is to develop viable approaches to urban farming, cooking, food preservation, and value-added processing that are accessible to everyday people and help mitigate t...

Noah Bloedorn, Executive Director of the Dane County Food Collective and part of the REAP team, talks about his work in mental and physical wellness in the food system community. The Layered Onion and the Dane County Food Collective found many synergies in their efforts and have been coordinating on some projects. Growing up in a politically active family, Noah developed an enthusiasm for learning...

Last year, we talked with Amin about fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban took over. Amin and his family were awaiting their P2 visa. After two years, they received news their visa was approved; but, that was just the beginning of a perilous trip. First, they had to go back to Afghanistan. Amin shares the details of the journey and their reactions to their new home.

Lauren shared how "celebrating mental health awareness and radical self-acceptance" led to embracing her art full-time. Lauren shares the origin story of their business name, Manic Pixie Dream Squirrel. Lauren uses glass and letterpress as her primary mediums, embracing these dichotomies—light and dark, high and low, joy and pain—to celebrate the full spectrum of what it means to be huma...

Erin Smith Glenn, an Associate Professor of Art, talks about her lifelong creative nature and how she channels it into her portraiture and multi-media creations. She shares how challenging life experiences have allowed for prolific creations which she used to channel her emotions.

Kat Gibbons is a self-taught artist and Educational Therapist working with exceptional and at-risk youth through the arts. Kat Gibbons talks about how art has saved her life from depression, anxiety, and trauma. We also discuss how her sabbatical in Ireland with a community of artists helped her process her grief.

Chef and artist, Yusuf Bin-Rella, set out to learn more about his ancestorial roots and as a result founded, TradeRoots. TradeRoots mission is to connect people with the land, each other, and their roots. Yusuf's discusses how his trip profoundly changed his relationship with the foods he creates and eats and now shares with all.

For National Poetry Month, The Layered Onion hosted a poetry event with our poets from all over the world. Our event was Zoom bombed by those that had an agenda of hate speech to injure others. Avesha M was a poet that participated in the event and was targeted with horrific, vile comments. After much thought, Avesha and The Layered Onion want to take a stand against those with hate in their heart...

Dee Rovetta is an artist currently residing in Raleigh, NC. She finds comfort and relief in experimentation with several mediums and bright, loud colors. Topics like existing with stress, anxiety, and internal pressure to feel happy are discussed regularly through her use of organic drips of paint, haphazard but intentional lines, fingerpainted bursts of color, and unruly marks with markers. A lon...

Avesha Michael is a ceramic artist, writer, storyteller, and healer. Avesha uses art to heal and connect with herself and others. We discuss the evolution of her ceramics and get an opportunity to listen and discuss her poetry.

Dejaneria “Deja” Hartsfield (she/her/hers) resides in the Chicagoland area. She identifies as an artist, a poet, a radical behavior specialist, and an opportunist. She centers her gifts on spreading positive energy, love, and kindness wherever she goes. Deja discusses how her passions and struggles have helped her creativity and telling her story. In return, she helps others translate their storie...

Lauren’s work focuses on translating and reconstructing memories of their experiences as a neurodivergent person. She utilizes abstracted photographic imagery and fiber structures, and viewers are forced to confront ideas of weakness, fragility, and disposability while experiencing familiarity. Lauren talks about using antique and toy cameras that make every piece of film a surprise. From these su...

Clara's favorite part about art is being able to visually share her ideas and concepts that she would have otherwise struggled to explain in words. In this way, here art is like a window into her mind and creative ideas. Clara discusses her digital art and being a part of The Layered Onion as a graphic artist intern.

Anum Farooq is an award-winning autodidactic artist and an alumna of Imperial College London. An internationally published artist, global educator, and mentor, Anum is fond of the creative links between the Sciences and the Arts. Anum’s art relates to exploring, dreaming, and discovering the world around us, educating ourselves with inner insights enlightened with natural perspectives, to enable a...

Brittany Josie is a poet and author of  Weatherveins: powers for every season. She writes openly about her mental health and the challenges of living with trauma. She expresses those big emotions in her writing. Her concise way of directly approaching taboo topics creates poetry with power. Brittany shares her pain without hesitation. Brittany shares the inspiration of the outdoors, poetry, and wi...

Mert Jones, from North Carolina, was twenty-two when she picked up a manual camera for the first time as part of an introduction to photography class at Central Piedmont Community College. Mert talks about alternative photography methods, particularly experimenting with wet cyanotypes and mental wellness.

Savannah is an image-based artist residing in Indiana. Her work playfully addresses image culture given the circumstances of the internet from a queer and feminist perspective. Savannah discusses their art and how they combine photography, installation, new media, and digital collage into colorful, multi-layered creations.

Margaret shares how art helped during a critical time in their life, handling mental illness symptoms and focus, creating a calm that continues to provide solace today. Margaret also shares how butterflies play a special role in each of their creations.

Loulou is a documentary filmmaker and poet from France. We discussed how living in England has brought them growth as a poet. Loulou recently released a book of poetry called Pink Goo and shares how the poetry came together.

Julie shares the evolution of her art from creating as a child to how illness brought her back to pursue art seriously. Julie, whose art graced the first cover of The Shallot, has created a popular adult coloring book, Cats Being Dicks.

Devon talks about everything from Climax, NC to her abstract art to their vivid color and texture. Devon shares the process behind their pieces and their marvelous sense of humor. 

Yas is a self-taught artist based in southeast London who also splits time in Spain. Yas is proud of her Spanish heritage. She works with ink, clay, and charcoal, using her lived experience as a key theme within the art. Yas shares why cobalt blue is a feature in many of her creations.

Anam Tariq is a poet, writer, and book reviewer from India. Anam shares her path to poetry and one of her poems from her recently published book of poetry, A Leaf upon a Book.

Sergey (no pronouns) is an artist living through the devastation of the war in Ukraine. Due to extremely challenging conditions, a normal interview was not possible. Sergey shares through a recording the difficulties mentally and physically of living and creating your art while living in a war zone.