Our in-studio gallery recently featured the vibrant work of Mayer/Reed Senior Designer and Associate Mike Hawks. The three paintings, from his Engaging the Body, Quieting the Mind series, are a colorful expression of the body’s innate creative language. 

These bold, abstract compositions stand in contrast to the precision and logic of Mike’s professional design work. In his paintings, instinct and improvisation take the lead. “In my personal artistic pursuits,” he shares, “I’m free from rules and rational thought, allowing pure expression to flow.”  

That flow, however, didn’t come easy this time. After a hiatus from painting, Mike faced the blank canvas without the spark that had once driven him. What followed was a period of creative struggle — a reckoning that ultimately forced him to let go of artistic habits and expectations. As Mike began to embrace the discomfort and push beyond familiar techniques, things started to change. A new color combination, a different brush, small things built up to big discoveries, and finally a breakthrough. 

Outside of Mayer/Reed, Mike has shown his art in two Portland exhibits and he’s currently working on new paintings for a third. With lessons learned from his previous creative challenge, Mike is now approaching the blank canvas without expectations. “I feel creatively liberated, like the guardrails have been removed from my mind.” 

Our in-studio gallery recently exhibited a work by Willow Scott, lifelong artist and Mayer/Reed project accountant. Willow put aside her usual paintbrushes for this piece and instead painted with only her hands. Titled “Resilience,” the painting represents the healing process of creating art.

“I began with finger-painted words representing negativity,” she shares. “Then I made the negativity go away — layering and blending primary colors over the words with my hands.” The cathartic piece is the first time the artist has used this process.

Willow embodies that rare combination of “accounting brain” (as she calls it) and artistic soul and finds that the creative process of making something balances her analytical, mathematical side. She moves between painting, fiber arts and small ceramics — always chasing new forms of expression.