Meet Rebekah Molander | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Rebekah Molander and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rebekah, as a parent, what do you feel is the most meaningful thing you’ve done for them?

I hope I’ve taught my son as much as he’s taught me. Spencer is easily the greatest thing I’ve ever done with my life, he has changed my whole world. He’s my heart, a piece of me just walking around out there in the world, on its own, although I hope not on his own.
He’s 19 now, and getting his basics out of the way at the local college and then he is wanting to transfer and go into engineering. As I’m watching this child of mine turn into a man, stand on his own two feet, I hope I’ve prepared him. I hope he knows how loved he is, I hope he knows Todd and I are always his home and he is never alone. He always has a place here with us.
It’s funny, you create this tiny person and all of the sudden you understand what love is in a totally different way, and all you want to do is protect them, to keep them safe, for them to always be happy, they become your whole world and as they get older, they become more and more independent and you watch them in wonder, looking at this human that was so tiny his whole body fit on my chest and look at all things he is doing, how incredible he is, and you want so badly to protect that, for them to never struggle and never be sad, but what kind of person are you if you never fall down, you never learn to pick yourself back up, so you have to let them fall down sometimes, as painful as it is, and then the way you know you did a good job for them, is by letting them go out into the world.

You loved them so completely that they leave.

What do I hope I’ve taught him, I hope I’ve taught him to always follow his heart.
I hope I taught him to have to be kind, whatever he does in life do it with kindness, you don’t need to step on people to get to the top, in fact, it’s a lot nice up there if you have friends by your side, so on your way up, lift as many people up with you as you can.
I hope I’ve taught him that questions are how we learn, and not only to always keep asking questions but to be patient with other peoples questions. We’re all learning, this is their first time at life too.
I hope I’ve taught him it’s ok when everyone around is going right, to go left. What’s right for them isn’t always what’s right for you, and that’s ok.
I hope I’ve taught him it’s ok to fail, no one gets everything right on the first try. Mistakes, if you can learn from them, aren’t failures, they’re lessons. It’s ok to get things wrong, take what you can from it and move forward knowing more. It’s ok to fail, it’s not ok to quit.
I hope I’ve taught him to never get too comfortable. We can’t grow inside our comfort zone. You won’t like everything you try, but most things are worth a try. Get a little uncomfortable, never stop growing.
I hope I’ve taught him, it’s never too late to change your mind, to change your career, to change your path. If you don’t love where you are, if you aren’t happy, don’t sit in it, don’t stay there.
And, I hope I’ve taught him to follow his heart, and always keep moving in the direction of happiness, whatever that means for him, whatever he does, whoever he is with, don’t settle for less than your complete happiness in life.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I am a Houston Contemporary Artist, in that I do a lot of abstract and figurative work. Really at the end of the day, all I’m doing is putting my thoughts on canvas. The joke around our house is I either use ALL of my words of none of them, because I have a hard time putting things in words, so I either don’t use them at all, and am very quiet or I over use them trying to explain, never really feeling like I got the point I wanted across. I have always just felt like, if I could just show someone my thoughts, if my thoughts could just be seen rather than heard, then people would understand.
Where Words Fail, Art Speaks. My art is just a collection of all my thoughts, my dreams, my feelings that I don’t know how to put into words, so I put them on canvas and draw a line around them.
I don’t really know that what I am doing is so special, I just know that I love it. I know that I have more ideas than I feel like I will ever have enough time to paint. I know I see styles and techniques and I think wow, how do they do that, and I’m not afraid to spend weeks and months practicing and trying things over and over until I figure it out and then as soon as I do all I can think is now that I understand how this works, how do I make it my own? How do I use this to say what I want to say? And then I work on that until I figure out how to get that out of me and onto the canvas.

Is it hard painting… yes and no. I have more thoughts and ideas than I know what to do with, but actually putting it on canvas, it’s hard in several ways. Sometimes it’s hard organizing them, sometimes I want to do something I don’t know how to do, so like everyone else with everything else, I practice, and I make messes and I fail, and then I just keep trying, I just keep working at until I figure it out how to make my thought seen.
But the hardest part is my paintings are me, they are who I am, they are my thoughts and feelings and emotions and showing them to the world, putting them on a wall and having people ask you questions about them, having people judge them, yes, that’s hard! It’s scary, because you feel like it’s not a painting that’s being rejected, it’s you, you are being rejected. When someone says tell me about this, it’s like a small panic attack, let me just say my most intimate thoughts out loud to a stranger, naked in public…. Um no thank you!
So why put them out there, because when you put it on a wall and have someone see it and it stops them and then you see that moment, that look of how did someone get me on canvas, how did they capture my feelings, that is the truest connection there is.
Why do artists get so excited every time we sell a painting, because we made a connection. Our thoughts were seen, and accepted and loved. It fills me up in a way I definitely don’t know how to describe.

As for how did I get here, the long way. I take the long way around a lot. It’s slower, but you end up with a lot more stories.
I got here by asking a lot of questions, I got here by making a lot of mistakes, I got her by getting up every time I fell down. I got here with a lot of practice, hundreds of hours of practicing. The more I practice, the more I improve, the more I improve the more questions I ask, where else can I go with this, what else can I say, what else can I do, which is followed by more mistakes, which leads to more practice.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I’d send them first to Sawyer Yards. I don’t know why Houston isn’t known for it’s incredible Art Scene. Houston has amazing artists, and I do think people around here are starting to get that, but on the rare occasion I leave Texas and I tell someone I’m an Artist, the first thing they say is you must live in, or you need to move to New York of California… NO!
Both are great I’m sure, BUT Houston, Texas has the Largest Working Artist Communities in the entire country! It’s right here!
Sawyer Yards is made up of six different warehouse buildings that have been converted into Artist Studios, and now has well over 300 Artists. Every Second Saturday we open our doors to the public and people can walk from studio to studio and see art and talk to the artist. Sometimes we have bands, there are food trucks and restaurants and breweries, but mostly what’s so incredible to me is there are so many artists, so many studios and walking up and down the halls and from one studio to the next you never see the same thing twice. No one is doing the same thing as anyone else. It’s hundreds of styles, techniques, thoughts, it’s incredible.
That’s where you can find my studio. In Sawyer Yards, the Winter Street Studios Building, Studio B110 ~ the 110 Art Den. I’m there with my very good friend and studio mate Michelle L. Huff
After that, Houston also has Hardy and Nance Studios and they put on their own events in their hallways and gallery area and their artists open their doors to the public as well. Two of my very good friends Robin and Wood have a studio there.

We also have a First Saturday Arts Market that is put together and run by my friend Mitchell Cohen, who is an extremely talented artist himself. He always has the best food trucks at his events!

Go to Sawyer Yards, walk around, look at art, talk to the artist, stop in the local breweries, get some food, get a drink, and then keep walking around. It’s incredible.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Absolutely! My husband Todd. I know I wouldn’t be here as an Artist without him. I know because this is all I ever wanted to do my entire life, and every time I had the opportunity I walked away from it, until he came a long.
It’s not that Todd has anything to do with my art, he doesn’t give me suggestions or direction, he isn’t an artist, he isn’t familiar with the art world, he doesn’t have Gallery connections. What Todd gets is me. He knows how I work, as a person I mean.
He knows where my head is, where my confidence is, he knows when to encourage me and when to just hold me.
It was Todd that saw a painting of mine and asked why I wasn’t doing this with my life. I told him I can’t afford to do this, not for real, we don’t always get to do what we love, we have real bills to pay, and who’s going to buy this? I’m just putting my thoughts on the canvas so they have somewhere to go, who would want that, who would pay for that, from me. But he told me to try it, and so I did.
I get to be this version of me, because of him.
When I’m unsure, when I’m concerned, there he is, to hold my hand, to encourage me, to stand by me, to support me. We’re a team. This doesn’t work without him.
I don’t work without him.

Website: https://www.followyourartbyreka.com/

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Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@followyourartbyreka?lang=en Email: FollowYourArtByReka@gmail.com Studio Physical Location: 2101 Winter St. Studios B110 Houston, TX 77007