Collection: Loosahatchie

Artist statement

Under the name Loosahatchie, I create figurative paintings that explore femininity, memory, homecoming, and the quiet cycles that shape women across generations. My work blends layered color, botanical forms, symbolism, ornamentation, textile patterns, and expressive portraiture to create emotionally driven paintings that feel both intimate and dreamlike.

After years of living across the country, I returned home to Memphis following the very unexpected loss of my grandmother. During that period before moving and after her death, I drove the 750 miles from Pittsburgh to Memphis alone nearly once a month in an effort to stay connected to my family and the place that shaped me. The name Loosahatchie comes from the final river crossing before reaching home in Tennessee. The green rivercrossing sign glowing in my headlights each trip became a personal symbol of return, repetition, grief, longing, and belonging. That rhythm of leaving and returning continues to influence my work.

Repetition and pattern play a central role throughout my paintings. I am deeply inspired by heirloom textiles, decorative motifs, embroidery, wallpaper, and ornamental details - forms of visual storytelling historically tied to women’s labor, domesticity, and creative expression. My great grandmother taught me how to sew, and that early exposure to fabric, pattern, texture, and handmade ornamentation continues to shape the way I approach painting today. I’m drawn to the emotional weight these often-overlooked feminine traditions carry across generations and the ways decoration itself can become both language and memory.

My paintings often feature women emerging through florals, ornament, and layered environments, reflecting the ways identity becomes intertwined with landscape, lineage, and inherited emotion. Through color, repetition, and symbolic forms, I aim to create paintings that feel emotionally lived in - soft yet powerful works that bring warmth, narrative, and atmosphere into interior spaces.

__________

Artist bio

Loosahatchie is a Memphis-based painter whose work explores femininity, memory, symbolism, and Southern identity through layered color and expressive portraiture.

Working primarily in acrylic, oils, and mixed media, her paintings combine botanical forms, ornamental details, and dreamlike figures to create emotionally resonant work that feels both contemporary and deeply rooted in personal narrative. Themes of homecoming, inheritance, softness, repetition, and feminine storytelling appear throughout her practice.

After spending years living outside the South, she returned to Memphis where reconnecting with family, place, and creative intuition became central influences in her work. The name Loosahatchie references the final river crossed on the drive home to Tennessee - a recurring symbol of return, longing, and belonging.

Her work is inspired by collected interiors, Southern storytelling, vintage textiles, heirlooms, gardens, memory, ornamentation, and the emotional landscapes women carry across generations.