Artist spotlight: Nori Rinaldo
Nori loves seeking out new adventures and spending time outside and is obsessed with biking, skiing, doing yoga, and surfing. These activities are important components in her creative practice.
She is based in Portland, Oregon, where she is surrounded by endless inspiration from fellow creatives, the natural beauty of the region, and of course, the many coffee shops. Her art practice has been an exciting journey and has helped foster a deeper connection with herself, others, and the earth. Nori answered some questions about the designs she did for Outpatch’s Environmental Line.
What was your inspiration behind each patch?
The inspiration behind the "Protect, Respect" patch was to include many different types of landscapes, together. They are all connected and even though sometimes they can feel worlds apart, what happens in one ecosystem can easily affect another. For example, even if you are in the middle of the desert, trash left out there will end up in the ocean eventually. I hope that this patch can be a reminder to folks to remember to always respect the land they are recreating on, and to advocate for the protection of these beautiful places.
Earth day is an important day for advocacy and its creation in the 70's was a critical moment in environmentalist history, but we are at a point where one day a year is not enough. Our society needs to undergo huge changes to slow the effects of climate change, and the inspiration behind the "Earth Day Everyday" patch was to communicate that we need to consider the environment as a part of our decisions everyday.
How would you describe your work?
I would describe my work as bold and eye catching. To me, it is where I can escape and get lost in the creative process.
What influences your work?
My biggest influence of my work is the outdoors of course! I love to spend time outside and it is an important part of my creative practice. I also am very influenced by architecture, I studied it in school for a short time. While I ended up changing my major to environmental studies, I still am very interested in architecture and I think that comes through in the geometric nature of my work.
What is your favorite charity/grassroots org to support?
I am a big fan of the work the Sunrise Movement is doing, as well as the Surfrider Foundation.
Anything else you may want folks to know about you, your work, and these patches?
Hmm...even though I live in the rainy PNW, you can almost always find the sun in my work.