Inside the Studio: The Women Behind the Art at Creator Collective

By: Creator Collective

Published March 07, 2025

In celebration of International Women’s Day, we're passing the mic to three of the many incredible women creators who make our shop truly shine.

This month, Creator Collective had the privilege of hearing from Cecilia Ramos, Cynthia Grow, and Taylor Smith firsthand as they share their stories, creative processes, and what drives them to keep challenging barriers in the contemporary art world.

From visual dances with language to dreamy, meditative interiors and bold public space murals, these creatives are proof that there's no one way for a woman to be an artist.

Cecilia Ramos

Ramos merges architectural design with a profound sensitivity to color and emotion, creating works that transform canvas into immersive spaces.

Creator Collective: Let's start with your practice. How would you describe the way you work?

Cecilia Ramos: As an artist and jewelry designer based in the vibrant tapestry of New York City, my work is an exploration of the intricate relationship between space, color, and emotion.

Trained as an architect, I bring a unique perspective to my creative practice, which encompasses both detailed interior paintings and expansive abstract landscapes: The canvas becomes a space to inhabit.

Living with synesthesia allows me to perceive colors in harmony with music, crafting a unique dialogue between sound and hue that informs my creative process. The interplay of light, shadow, and color in my work invites viewers to engage in these immersive spaces, encouraging them to explore the often-overlooked details that shape our environments.

My art reflects my belief that color is a powerful language – one that can communicate emotions, memories, and connections. It is an invitation to pause, observe, and immerse oneself in a fantastical alternate world.

CC: What are the themes or emotions you explore most in your work?

CR: In my current work I’ve been exploring the intricacies and depth of the built environment often in conjunction or tension with nature. In my abstract landscape series, architectural ghostlike forms slice through landscape. While in my interiors, nature in the form of whimsical wallpapers or animals dance through enclosed space in unexpected ways. Emotional pairings that I explore throughout are the joy of the unexpected, elation of color, and strength through whimsy.

CC: Are there ways that being a woman has influenced how you show up, creatively?

CR: I always joke that I love being a woman because I get to wear makeup! While this might sound like a frivolous statement, the driving sentiment behind it is that every day I get to experiment, sculpt, paint, color on the canvas that is my body and shape perception and presence as a result. Back in design school, I had a male teacher who tried to frame makeup as a tool women used to conceal insecurity. And I remember telling him emphatically that it was the opposite, it’s an artistic medium that celebrates creativity and confidence!

Applying makeup, free from societal judgement or gender norms, is a gift and an art practice. Through the many years of repetition, I have gotten to know myself better and experimented with color mixing and rendering techniques that translate to my paintings. This simple daily ritual and exploration of self reminds me that art, like beauty, is an ever-evolving expression of who we are.

CC: How would you like online platforms to better support women in the art world?

CR: In architecture and design school, our class was 50/50 men and women. The creative and professional possibilities were limitless and it never occurred to me that twenty years later, I would look at my peers in the professional arena and be outnumbered by men. We need more online platforms that facilitate making art and design a career that can be pursued from anywhere at any time. So that women can have equal visibility and voice regardless of lifestyle choices they may make.

Cynthia Grow

Grow is a visual artist blending art and language. Influenced by literature, she creates abstract paintings and text-based works that evoke mood and atmosphere. With training at Accademia d’Arte and residencies in Italy, Spain, and the U.S., her work has been exhibited internationally. Grow is represented by Monat Gallery and Galeria Azur and is featured on platforms like Saatchi Art and Singulart Paris.

CC: Your work is heavily guided by text and language. Can you walk us through your artistic process?

Cynthia Grow: My work is informed by poetry, philosophy, film, and of course, my own experiences. I explore the interstices between art and language, engaging themes of memory, desire, and complex interpersonal relationships. I prefer to play on the idea of ambiguity – the liminal, the spaces in between.

In both art and in life, I find what is hidden or obscured more compelling than the overt. I believe that hiding part of the world is inherent to the act of showing the world. For this reason, I prefer to leave ambiguity in my work, regardless of the medium.

Similar to the poet’s sense of reduced language to communicate, I'm drawn to creating mood and meaning where there may be no obvious story. It allows viewers the space to experience their own feeling – to arrive at their own conclusion.

In the end, ambiguity is always the theme I seem to return to: searching for something imperceptible. For something haunting in the work, perhaps in a place, maybe in the other, but mostly, I imagine, in myself.

CC: Being a woman who is also an artist – what does that mean to you?

CG: As a woman, I believe we’re just wired differently than men, generally speaking. We are – whether by societal influence or nature or both – born to be nurturers. A bit more empathetic. We’re more verbal. Pick up on emotions more quickly than men. Whether that is being a wife, a mother, a strong, single independent woman - or all three or any combination thereof – we just tend to absorb emotions around us a bit more. And feel deeply. At times, I think: "Why am I absorbing all of this? Taking this on? It shouldn’t be my burden." But it can also be a gift.

But the gift of being able to sense things, understand what’s happening whether it is in my immediate environment or in the world around me – that's fuel for my art.

I find that the times I use all of that, instead of trying to paint for some imaginary audience or what might be “marketable” – those are the most successful pieces and what resonates most with people. Sometimes I think, “what is this madness? No one will understand this.” And you know what? Those are the pieces, the bodies of work that sometimes cause people to cry. To feel. In a cathartic, good way.

CG: Who are the women that have inspired your creative journey thus far?

CG: There are many. But I tend to gravitate to women who create cryptic, conceptual pieces. For example, Louise Bourgeois, who explored themes of domesticity, sexuality and the body, as well as the unconscious.

Tracey Emin, too, for her autobiographical and confessional works – especially her language pieces. Now that’s someone who really isn’t afraid to put it all out there, something I wrestle back and forth with.

The language in my text paper pieces is a way to do that in a mysterious, more cryptic way. It also acts as a mirror for the ideas, needs, and desires of the viewer, thereby subverting and transforming language, creating a new form.

CC: As a member of Creator Collective, how do you want to see online art platforms evolve in the future?

CG: In the past few years, there has been a growing and tremendous amount of support out there on many platforms for women in the art world, whether that’s creating campaigns featuring solely women artists or themes involving our identity and experience. So, continue and grow that.

Price our work fairly and on par with male artists, whether that is from a curatorial or gallery standpoint.

And for independent women artists who price their own work? Know your worth. Know the value of your work. We deserve to earn as much as male artists. It’s not a little hobby or craft for most of the women artists I have met. We’re professionals who work equally as hard at our art, our careers. And deserve to be valued and compensated fairly for the work we do.

Taylor Smith

Smith, also known as Dreamweaver, is an urban artist and muralist based in Tampa Bay. With a background in fine art, graphic design, and public art, Smith is known for her vibrant street art that dotting communities across Florida and beyond. Her evolving style blends expressive abstraction and realism, using light and color to capture the beauty of life. Currently, her studio practice is based in Tampa Bay through the American Landmark Artist Residency program.

CC: With growth, transformation, and the marvels of divine creation as central motifs in your work, are there any specific themes you’re currently exploring?

Taylor Smith: Currently, I find myself exploring themes of growth, integration, and change. I am constantly seeking ways to fuse various elements and images into a new composition. My work is vibrant and bold with feminine floral touches and intentional color schemes. My work is celebratory and hopefully awe-inspiring to the beauty of nature, life, light and creation. The act of painting is so parallel to many life experiences – I am constantly discovering new lessons and reshaping my perceptions. Creativity is a beautiful gift that I forever intend to nurture, share, and cherish.

CC: Where do you draw your inspiration from?

TS: Frida Kahlo, of course. Her outlook on life and quotes about love, introspection, and self respect resonate with me. I'm also inspired by the German graffiti and fine artist MADC for her bold use of color, work ethic. Her evolution as an artist has been a joy to witness over the years. Rosie Woods, Sophie Mess, and Irene / Eneri are a few others!

These stories don't end here. Want to witness these amazing artists' latest projects, creative journeys, and behind-the-scenes moments? Keep up with them on Instagram at @ceramos.design, @cynthiagrow_, and @dream.weavin.