“This is my assistant, Bronwyn.”

“What was that again?”

“Bronwyn.”

“Wow thats a cool name, I’ve never heard it before. What is it?”

“Welsh.”

“Are you two mother and daughter?”

“Ha! No, but maybe long lost sisters. She’s like my mini-me.”

Our First Meeting nearly 7 years ago

I remember the first time Bronwyn came into my studio, it was sometime in 2014. She had long silver grey hair and a denim jacket that was too big for her. She had a fairy-like grace to her and was positive and attentive, quite the opposite of the typical teenager I encountered while teaching art.

I was hosting a meeting for the Ellicott City Arts Coalition; a group that I had founded when my art studio was located at the west end of Main Street in Ellicott City. Bronwyn was interning for a gallery owner and had come to take notes. She was a student at Centennial High School and had planned to go to the Maryland Institute, College of Art (MICA) to study.

You probably remember the ordeal that I went through between March of 2014 and July of 2016. Coming out of those experiences I wanted to rebuild my business, but I recognized that I now wanted someone to assist me, someone I could teach decorative painting, business, and up until January of 2018 I really didn’t know what that person looked like.

I am a perfectionist & I come by it honestly

I am a perfectionist when it comes to my work, something I struggled with since I was young. I think I inherited that spirit from my Grandma Lenehan who passed it through my dad to me. Initially I was very hesitant to give up any control with my work, concerned that nobody could do it the way I wanted it.

Coming through my ordeal made me realize (put things in perspective for me) that there are bigger things in this world and that I needed to let go a little if I was going to make any progress professionally.

I had the idea of an art student or intern in my brain for a while. I did have one woman work with me as an intern for a while but I just couldn’t seem to let go of control, nor did I have the work in place to keep her busy. It was right after my mom passed away and I think I drove too hard to jump back in before I was ready. This was January of 2018.

Fate intervenes

I was waiting to meet a friend for coffee at the Bun Shop in Baltimore and I looked up to see Bronwyn standing in line. I hadn’t seen her in a while and said hello. We caught up for a second and exchanged phone numbers to stay in touch.

When I initially met Bronwyn, I was impressed with her maturity and drive and ran into her on several occasions during her time at the gallery and during ArtWalk. The chance encounter made me realize that she would be the perfect addition to Lenehan Studios.

A few days later I texted her asking what she thought about working with me. Immediately she said yes, she’d be thrilled. She had always admired my work and loved coming to my studio for meetings.

She told me that she had just taken the semester off at MICA and was working at Creative Alliance doing kids classes but that she would be able to start once summer hit.

Handing over the tape

Bronwyn joined me in late May 2018 and helped me organize our open house in June at my new studio. I introduced Bronwyn to my colleagues, interior designers, and friends.

Our first project together was a small entryway where I had to redo a finish that had been damaged due to some remodeling work. I hesitantly let Bronwyn tape and then try her hand at applying the finish to the wall in areas.

She was definitely nervous (and I may have been hovering too close) but she was hooked…

She quickly learned that the tape needs to be burnished down, that ladders and scaffolding, (and 5 gallon buckets of paint) are heavy, that clients can be ridiculous sometimes, but she was learning so much working as a decorative artist, more than she had at her year at MICA, and loved it.

What 20 year old owns their own business??

Bronwyn decided that she wasn’t going back to MICA and so I was able to bring her on more and more. I coached her on how to set up her own LLC so that she could be my subcontractor and also be able to sell her work professionally. What other 20 year old do you know that owns their own business!?

She has been an asset to me both professionally and personally. At first I was nervous about bringing someone in to my world and letting go of control, but I have learned so much in mentoring her, and she has taught me a few things too, like how to do a story on instagram!

getting to know youuu…

We are very similar in that we both are self starters and she thinks ahead to the next step, taking the initiative to do a task without being asked.

We are also eerily similar in that we are both obsessed with organization, we have similar tastes in music, and are very open with each other and can talk like sisters about our lives.

In the last two years, I got to know her more. I found out she is a twin, her sister is graduating this year from American University. She also had scoliosis as a child and had to wear a brace most of her youth.

Her art is very personal and focuses on relationships between herself and others. Her art is unique in that she uses embroidery in her paintings and drawings.

Bronwyn’s Personal Journey

Last spring, Bronwyn began noticing small bald patches on her scalp and was concerned about it. She went to doctors to figure out what was happening but none could halt the progression of her hair loss.

Small patches became larger, her hair was falling out in clumps despite steroid injections and other treatments. Waking up in the morning with hair on her pillow and fistfuls in the shower became a living nightmare.

She was diagnosed with Alopecia, an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks the hair follicles. Eventually most of her hair fell out and what was left she shaved off to regain some control over the situation.

In the last year she has embraced her diagnosis, and even has modeled for a wig artisan. Her artwork and social media now centers mainly on her Alopecia.

As a young woman I envy Bronwyn’s strength in facing this diagnosis. At 21 I couldn’t fathom having to deal with this, it was enough to worry about art, school, dating; life in general.

But she has embraced it, with the resilience of a woman wise beyond her years. Part of me also wishes I could rock a pink wig one day and a gorgeous hair wrap the next.

I’ll let her talk more about it.

Bronwyn speaking, I can confirm that when Dee introduces me, that is the exact conversation every time (I still wear that denim jacket). People often assume we’re mother and daughter, but I see us as sisters. I have a half-sister Dee’s age, who is also an artist, and someone I looked up to as a child.

Once I was in high school and decided to go for an art career, I began looking into different local galleries and managed to land on one where I began interning.

I was eventually invited to one of the Arts Coalition meetings, which had 17 year old me fangirling over being in a room with a group of talented artists, it felt like a table discussion with role models.

That was the first time I met Dee. Walking into her old studio, I couldn’t fathom a career as an independent artist. And here was this woman who was young, incredibly talented, and owned her own business.

Seeing her in-progress murals and stacks of canvases and paint buckets, I mentally began memorizing her layout and organizational storage for my own studio one day.

I didn’t see Dee for a couple years after that. I moved to Baltimore for school at MICA, and as many know, the flood came. So many of the artists in the area were losing studios and galleries, it became hard to stay in contact with any of them.

Flash forward to the beginning of 2018. I was going to the Bun Shop to catch up with an old friend, and honestly, I almost didn’t go. But my gut told me to get out of my apartment and almost as soon as I arrived I saw Dee. It was a little surreal, she was an artist I looked up to and she remembered me! After chatting and parting ways I didn’t think much of it.

This occurrence happened at a strange part in my life, a part that felt very unstable. I had dropped out of MICA, a decision I’m still glad I made, and wasn’t sure where to go or what to do. I was working with kids through a program at Creative Alliance, an organization I still have the pleasure of working with, but I knew teaching was not something I could or wanted to do forever.

When Dee reached out and offered a position, I had no hesitation in accepting. Decorative painting wasn’t a field I considered or even knew much about, but having seen Dee’s work over the years, I knew I had to be a part of it.

By working with her for almost 2 years, I have learned more from her than I ever did in school. Not only does she teach me decorative work, but I get to observe her personal paintings as well. She gives me advice on materials, guides me through design choices, and shows me just how important prepping can be. She doesn’t say it, but my first ever tape job was… not ideal.

Dee is the perfect example of a strong female, someone who doesn’t need the help of male construction workers on sites while she set sup her giant scaffolding and carried materials.

I have learned how to work with clients, even the tricky ones, and she encouraged me to register my own LLC. While working with her, my painting skills have improved, I have gained upper-body strength for the first time, and I started a business at age 20.

My favorite part about Dee is that she doesn’t always feel like an “adult”. In the beginning, I never felt like an annoying teenager around her, and despite what she says, she is quite hip. This definitely translated as we began working together.

When we talk, it doesn’t feel like I’m talking to a boss, but more like a sister or a friend. Dee is someone I can say anything to. She is someone that I can open up to and cry out my frustration with. This became an important dynamic when I began losing my hair.

In March of 2019 I found a bald spot on my head and was diagnosed with alopecia, an auto-immune disease that causes your immune system to attack your hair follicles, resulting in hair loss of varying degrees. As one spot led to my whole head, and eventually, my entire body, Dee was there for me. She was someone who brought up the positives, and when I was with her, I wouldn’t even think about it.

Lifting buckets and carrying ladders on the job, I felt physically powerful and strong, and that translated to my mental health. Dee is someone who showed me her own vulnerability early on in our relationship, and that made her someone I could open up to about anything. She’s lighthearted, but knows when to be serious, and always has the exact advice I’m looking for.

Meeting Dee changed my life, and I’m still amazed at how a chance occurrence led to such an incredible relationship. I’m so proud of the work we do and I’m proud of myself for jumping into a field I knew nothing about.

She’s shown me the strong female I can be, hair or no hair, and has given me the confidence to truly not give a fuck. Thank you, Dee, for putting your trust in me and finding potential I couldn’t even see myself.

When this quarantine is over, let’s get a drink. xoxo

We out! Yet another successful project completed- Ronald McDonald House of MD.

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