Glenyse Thompson makes beautiful paintings with wild, organic color and intricate lines, hand-drawn in white or gold – representations, she says, of the complex ways in which communities connect. After beginning her career in her hometown of Chicago and coming into her own as an artist in Florida, she now works in multiple disciplines, ranging from her paintings, her work for corporate clients and interior designers, and a new collection of wallpaper, made in collaboration with A-Street Collection.
As you’d expect, she’s a busy woman – and so in this week’s Milkshake, we asked her how she manages to divide her time between her creative work and tending the community relationships that power her work.
“Compartmentalizing is a big part of my practice,” she says. “And that means that I can’t always make art. I can’t always be ready to talk to people. I kind of segment when I’m going to do each thing – so for instance, Tuesday is my admin day. On Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, I try to be in the studios at least two to three hours. On certain Saturdays of the month, I have to be in the studio with my studiomates. I compartmentalize, so that each thing feeds another part of the practice.” She also works to establish firm boundaries between work time and leisure. “I won’t be on social media [all the time] – I don’t have the energy for that,” she says. “I’ll turn my phone off. I’ll turn off the iPads. I’ll read, I’ll research, and I’ll just go veg out on TV and rejuvenate that way.”
Circles of Life
Black Is A Color
Also in this week’s Milkshake, we asked her how she’s dealt with rejection over the course of her career: “I will say I’m still processing how to deal with rejections,” she says. “I get up quicker now than I used to in the beginning. It was really rough, but I give it a day and then get back to it, because something bigger and greater is coming.”
For more from Glenyse, tune in!
Gleynse Thompson x AStreet
Gleynse Thompson x AStreet
Diana Ostrom, who has written for Wallpaper, Interior Design, ID, The Wall Street Journal, and other outlets, is also the author of Faraway Places, a newsletter about travel.
Milkshake, DMTV (Design Milk TV)’s first regular series, shakes up the traditional interview format by asking designers, creatives, educators and industry professionals to select interview questions at random from their favorite bowl or vessel. During their candid discussions, you’ll not only gain a peek into their personal homeware collections, but also valuable insights into their work, life and passions.
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