Gina Sian is a locally-based artist who will be participating in the Mountain Brook Art Association's Art in the Village event on May 6. In this interview, Sian discusses the artists that inspire her work as well as the various career paths she taken throughout her life.
Q: What medium do you work in?
A: My favorite medium to work with is soft pastels. I just love the feel of it in my hands, but I also enjoy working with acrylic and oil paint.
Q: What or who influences your art?
A: I enjoy getting lost in artworks that take us someplace else and allow us to stay there and renew ourselves in what we're looking at, which is why I'm very much inspired by the work of American Impressionists and the Hudson River School type of painting because they can capture the romance and beauty of light and landscape and trees and forests and bring it to our homes, and that's what I tried to do with my artwork.

Photo courtesy of Gina Sian
Gina Sian is a locally-based artist who will participating in MBAA's Art in the Village event.
Q: When did you first discover you had a talent for this?
A: I've enjoyed art making on the side as a hobby for many years, but I didn't really start taking it seriously until a couple of years ago, and the journey of going from a blank canvas to something you've created with your hands is just exhilarating and I'm hooked and excited to have launched my business, G Sian Art, in 2023.
Q: Where can people see your work?
A: You can watch me record my artmaking and Instagram, @gsianart, and on my website, gsianart.com.
Q: What’s something interesting about you that people might not know?
A: I'm a career adventurer and enjoy learning. My very first career after college was computer science and programming, went into nonprofit and workforce development, into higher ed and career mentoring, and into community engagement strategy and volunteer programming, where I currently work right now.