Flynn Luedtke
Medium/Art Form: Visual

When and how did you start making art?
I’ve been creating art for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest works were in elementary school, where I would draw portraits of myself or draw characters from cartoons. I typically don’t try to draw abstract or realistic. Instead, I strictly stick to drawing things that are fictional. To this day, I never want to focus on making art based on real life, but rather based on emotions and different realms of imagination.

What inspires your work?
I don’t have a concrete thing that inspires my work. I typically get ideas for projects from media. Media in itself is a pretty broad term, but for me that includes music, TV, the internet, books, etc. Most sketches in my sketchbook consist of drawings that boil down to, “Wow! That was a cool character design I saw in that show last night. I’m going to draw it and put my own spin on it!”

How would you describe Green Bay/NE Wisconsin’s arts community?
The Green Bay/NE Wisconsin arts community can be kind of an enigma for me. The hardest thing is finding others that I can relate with. Sometimes when I’m in these artist spaces, I feel like I can stick out like a sore thumb. I’m pretty young, openly transgender and create art that most would define as “uncomfortable” and “weird”. I’m hoping in the future I can find more people at galleries like myself.

What is the best advice you have for other artists?
Don’t be afraid to experiment, especially for older artists. I envy that time in my teens when I was more open to experimentation. Mostly it was because I didn’t care what others thought of my art. I drew what I wanted to draw. Even though I currently struggle to live by this motto, I hope that can change someday.

Where can people find your work?
My embroidery work can be found on my Instagram @mallowmelancholic. There, I strictly post artwork and nothing else.

Artist Angle is presented in partnership with The Art Garage, a Green Bay nonprofit arts organization whose mission is to encourage an appreciation for and participation in the visual, performing and literary arts. Learn more about The Art Garage at theartgarage.org.