This story was originally published in Vol. 33, Issue 7 (March 2023)
Designer, photographer and muralist Ana Honsowetz is brightening up the downtown Vancouver community with her lively art style and community-building abilities.
Born and raised in Vancouver, Honsowetz grew up creating art. Honsowetz described practicing drawing since the age of three and enrolling in a hyperrealism drawing trade school. It was during this time Honsowetz decided to take up photography, needing references for her hyperrealistic drawings.
“When you’re doing hyper-realistic portraiture, you’re drawing the picture the same [as the photos]. You want it to look as identical as possible, so I had to start taking my own photos,” said Honsowetz.
Starting in 2016, Honsowetz created her own small business, taking her classmate’s senior photos and creating stickers and designs. From 2018 through 2020, Honsowetz traveled to Queenstown, New Zealand with a Christian non-profit organization. During this time, she worked for the non-profit organization as their photographer and invested a lot of time into helping develop businesses, manage their social media and assist with their design work.
“They teach the bible to students from all around the world. And then they would go to places like Thailand and Guinea, Indonesia and just kind of do whatever people needed for help,” said Honsowetz.
Once Honsowetz returned, she relaunched her business in October 2020. Focusing primarily on photography – capturing weddings, headshots, couples, families and much more.
In March of 2022, Honsowetz began taking commissions for murals. She completed 13 murals over the course of a year for downtown Vancouver businesses such as from the Valiant Ballroom and Kindred Homestead Supply.
“That’s always what I wanted to do. I just started telling all of my people downtown, all the business owners, ‘Hey, do you know anyone that wants a mural? I want to do it,’” said Honsowetz.
Honsowetz’s murals take anywhere from a few days to multiple weeks to complete. She recalled one mural taking her 10 days to finish, as it was 100 by 20 feet large.
Honsowetz’s creative process is a little different than usual, considering some of her murals are multiple stories in the sky. By utilizing tools like projectors to display the image, she copies the line work and then paints the rest freehand.
“If you really want it, it’s worth it and you can make it happen. You just have to be scrappy, willing to work really long hours, and maybe work two or three jobs,” said Honsowetz.
Honsowetz said that she will never put her artwork on the sideline even if it stops making her money. She supports other artists by hosting art galleries and lending a helping hand to those who are getting started in the industry.
“Let’s get people in the community together because the art community is pretty scattered … it’s not about competition. You know there are so many walls, and I’d happily give walls to other people if it’s better for them,” said Honsowetz.
Aaron is a freshman studying earth and environmental science at WSU Vancouver.