Pioneer Stories: Kaitlin Ziesmer

Wholly and confidently, fine artist Kaitlin Ziesmer [zees-mur] has embraced her style, though sometimes she struggles to see it. The 34-year-old illustrator and muralist describes herself as “shy” and “selectively extroverted,” but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her artwork, which is poppy, brightly coloured, lighthearted, and simply fantastic. 

After spending ten years as a career artist, Ziesmer is pushing further to celebrate her style and allow it to branch out into new mediums, which is helping her grow both as an artist and as a self-assured pioneer. We asked Ziesmer to open up about her journey in the arts and how she sees her style changing and maturing.  

You can get more detail. There's something I really like about big paintings and, more recently, murals. It’s a very neurotic thing, wanting it to look just as perfect up close as it does far away. Sometimes I get very frustrated because it's a perfectionist thing, but I'm trying to let go a little bit because especially with big paintings, it looks fine when you don’t get lost in the weeds and take a step back; you don't need to be working on a mural with your face four inches away from the wall.

An artist friend who I admired said, “Hey, you should try painting your stuff really big sometimes, like a mural.” It sounded awesome and then another friend of mine invited me to an all-ladies [and non-binary] mural group called “Babe Walls.” I really couldn't have gotten into any mural events on my own, since the scene is super saturated and sort of cliquey, but in summer 2020, we threw a festival because an outdoor event was about the only thing you could do. I really enjoy murals, because it gets me out of the studio for a week here and there. Honestly, I don't think I could do it every week as some people can, but it’s really, really fun.

Don’t say “yes” to every single thing, which was my mindset for quite a while there, both out of necessity and fear that I would be irrelevant if it didn’t keep my momentum, but burnout is real. In the last five years, I burned myself out so badly, and now I feel like I'm kind of levelling out a little bit more, and only busting my butt when I absolutely need to. There are times when I should be able to live a real life. You can be a hustler, you can still work hard, but you can also enjoy a real life.

I’m kind of an anxious, nervous person, and art helps me feel comfortable in my own skin. It's like a little comfort box. In the grand scheme of life, I say to myself, “Okay, if all else fails, you got this.” You can just keep plugging along, just keep going at it.