Shill’s kindness and authenticity are captivating. She is brilliant without being pretentious, and she thoughtfully reflects on unfulfilled desire and loneliness in an age that is bombarded with media and perhaps its pseudo-interconnectedness.

Mattai has a humble, honest, and entirely captivating way about her, as she discusses her life and work. She is reflective and wonderfully articulate. We got to chat with her in the middle of one of the galleries, amidst an abundance of visually and emotionally powerful artwork. She seemed to blend right in, wearing a charming, ruffled yellow dress.

Since the art lives in your home, we want to connect you to the artists and the spaces the work was created in. To help do that, we are kicking off an artist blog series that gives you an “in the studio” look into the Octopus Initiative artists, their work, and their lives. We begin with Sierra Montoya Barela, one of the very first artists involved in the project.