Morgan Piontek’s pensive yet spontaneous creative process
The Green Bay area artist and musician delves into her craft with an in-studio interview
By Rachel Sankey
Morgan Piontek was born to create.
The Green Bay area artist and musician said she’s been creating since she was able to hold a pencil.
“My great-grandma was an excellent artist,” Piontek said, “so when I would go to visit her and see all the cool stuff she was making. I always wanted to get on that train.”
Piontek said she was also drawn to music when she was young. She used to sing constantly and when she was six she continually begged for a guitar—until she got a little blue one from Walmart. Piontek said when she was 15 she started writing original music.
“I just got addicted to it because I had been writing poetry for a long time,” Piontek said. “I was like, well this is cool on paper but I want people to receive it and people are much more receptive to music than reading a poem.”
Piontek said that while it’s hard to put her music into a specific genre, she considers herself a singer-songwriter.
“For the most part, when I play out it’s with my acoustic,” she said.
She has also experimented with combining her two crafts together, such as creating sketches to go along with songs to dig deeper into the story. Piontek said she has also participated in open mic nights where she plays her guitar and reads her poetry.
“My biggest inspiration for my music is my life,” she said.
Piontek said she is currently working on a new, acoustic EP. In addition to music, she is building up a large stock of paintings, thrift-flipped clothes and other artistic endeavors, which can be found on her Instagram page.
Piontek said her creative process when it comes to art and music can be up and down, something every artist struggles with.
“I have this idea in my head that I need to have this big, solid, put-together thing before I can show it to the world,” Piontek said.
She also said her varied artistic approaches ebb and flow, something she shakes up with different mediums.
“Every once in a while I will plan something out, but then when I’m not thinking about it at all is when I can bust out three songs in a week,” Piontek said. “I dabble in a lot of different media, so usually it’s like a week or two focused on one thing and then I switch it up. It keeps it interesting.”
Recently, Piontek said she has been doing “thrift flips,” which were inspired by friends who thrift and resell vintage pieces and clothing. Piontek wanted to take this process to the next level.
She said she creates limited, one-of-kind pieces of clothing by sewing patches onto the thrifted items or using custom, printed rubber stamps—which she hand carves—on the clothing.
“It’s nice because you can reuse the same thing forever, it’s endless,” Piontek said about the rubber stamps.
Piontek has also ventured into painting within the last four years, specifically with watercolor and acrylic paint.
While she wrestles with a variety of mediums, Piontek said she’s grateful she’s had so much encouragement to do art and music throughout her entire life.
“The most special thing about it is being able to connect with other people and have other people connect with themselves just by telling my story,” Piontek said. “Whether it be through paint, or pencil, or clothes or music.”
Rachel Sankey is an Arts and Entertainment Reporter for Green Bay City Pages. She can be reached via email at [email protected]