Learn About Artist Patricia Larsen
Anuschka’s passion has always been for all things beauty. She expresses this through her flower arrangements, her jewelry designs, and through the careful curating of Bloom. Through this passion of hers and her travels around the world she has met a lot of like-minded artists that share the same passion for creating.
On a trip to Mexico in January 2024, with her designer friend Irene Salas from ASIS clothing, she was introduced to artist Patricia Larsen. The two quickly grew a strong bond and since then have spent a lot of time together. Patricia has become a mentor figure to Anuschka through her generosity in sharing of her knowledge and extremely honest opinions. Anuschka shared that what she likes about Patricia is, ”she teaches me to follow my instincts and is confirming that I don’t have to question what I do. It’s about authenticity.”
On Anuschka’s visits to Mexico to see Patricia, she spends a lot of time observing and following along with her day-to-day tasks. Sometimes this means watching her paint on the roof of her house and other times it means carrying Patricia’s bags while they go button shopping. “I am happy to carry her bags because I am so thankful to just get to witness her in action and to take in everything she shares with me. I learn from everything she does,” Anuschka shared.
Originally from Canada and raised by a single mother, Patricia was born to create. “I think I realized I was an artist when I was 4 years old and I traded my new Christmas doll for the neighbors kids watercolors and just painted snow all day. That’s what I’ve always been interested in. I’ve always preferred being in the creative process of things rather than receiving a final product,” Patricia shared.
She also always knew she wasn’t meant to live in Canada, the cold temperatures being one main reason for her move to Baja California Mexico, where she spent 5 years quite literally building her home from sticks and stones. Since her arrival in Mexico many years ago she has owned a gallery, sold a gallery, lived in Oaxaca, moved to San Miguel De Allende, and moved again to Mineral De Pozos. Mineral De Pozos is where she now resides and spends her days creating. When asked about her decision to make this particular town her home she said, “Mexico is so diverse. It has mountains, desert, gardens… Mineral de Pozos has it all except the ocean which doesn’t interest me as much as dirt.“
Her love for dirt, clay, and mud is not an exaggeration; she finds dirt to be a medium, a tool, and a form of timeless expression that people have participated in for centuries. Patricia looks at pottery as “Magic. It’s a hunk of dirt and to be able to spin that into something functional and beautiful makes it full of possibilities.” The possibilities dirt offers from growing a potato to making a beautiful pot, is what Patricia loves most about this medium.
While she has used clay in its traditional manner of creating pottery, it has not limited her to only using it in that form. She is an artist in every sense of the word. Expanding her work to paintings, clothing, jewelry, even interior design, you can often find dirt dug into her canvases. To Patricia the possibilities are endless in the world of creating. She often says her artist mantra is “What if? What if I scratch it up, what if I spill some coffee on it, what if I let it sit out in the rain?“
As one can imagine from her love of dirt, Patricia’s inspiration often comes from nature. When asked about her process she shared, “It depends on what kind of materials appear. Quite often it depends on if I’m walking down the street and I find a rock or a branch or piece of metal and I bring it back to the studio and it will say ‘make me into something’.” One of the reasons she loves Mineral de Pozos so much is because it inspires her. “A lot of the color in this town is created by nature, wind, sun, rain, and erosion from the elements” and she takes the same approach with a lot of her art.
Anuschka kindly shared a story from the first time she met Patricia that perfectly encapsulates Patricia as an artist, “The first time I met her I was drawing something at Irene’s shop and I asked Patricia for paint. She looked at me and said she doesn’t have paint. I said what do you mean? What do you use? She said, ‘Shoe polish, dirt, coffee, bleach…”
While Patricia started her journey as an artist primarily through pottery and paintings, her work has expanded and evolved throughout the years. She is a woman who has done it all through the practice of simply saying yes. Patricia believes that being open and learning to say yes to different opportunities is how you open up your world to become full of possibilities. She has done gallery shows in New York and sold paintings to Hollywood stars but will also provide artwork for her local coffee shop. Her belief in staying generous in spirit and never thinking you’re “too good” is what has helped her achieve so many milestones throughout her career.
It is this optimistic point of view that has lead her to her latest endeavor of wearable art. She carefully curates pieces of clothing that speak to her and uses her unconventional artistic methods to create something completely new and unique to her. Patricia’s clothing designs can best be described as “Art on Cloth.” As a fashion enthusiast herself, Anuschka grew a quick fascination for her custom clothing designs and has now made space to display her favorite pieces in her store, but don’t worry, there is no dirt involved!
Today you can find Patricia’s paintings in Blackman Cruz art gallery in Los Angeles, California. Her latest one of a kind clothing creations are now available in store at Bloom by Anuschka. Come in and try some of her wearable art on or check them out in the “Wear” tab here on our website!