Finding Flow in Art, Life and the Wild
words :: Kara-Leah Grant
In a world saturated with suffocating signals and sensory overload, Sea-to-Sky artist Eileen Kiyonaga seeks to open a portal of stillness, spaciousness and ease with her artwork.
“My art reflects my desire to quiet the world,” Eileen says. “We’re constantly bombarded by information and imagery—a constant feed that pressures us to put things out instantaneously. What drives me is ignoring that and trusting my instincts to go quieter, go simpler and take my time. I find my happy space in making art, getting into my flow state.”
Take a moment—or ten—to contemplate E M E R G E (pictured below). Even its name evokes spaciousness and ease. Eileen’s magic is how her artwork allows her intention to seep into your bones.
“This piece feels like January to me. We quietly emerge into our routines, ready to wrap up the past year and step into the new one with clarity and focus,” says Eileen. “When I’m in nature, I notice the little things first: pinecones, weathered stumps, the texture of moss. My work captures that meditative wonder, where we’re fully immersed and in tune with our surroundings.”
Eileen’s creative process mirrors her practice outdoors. She takes time, contemplates, meditates and considers. She works mindfully with her materials, whether wood, metal or canvas.
“I need to feel connected to what I’m making to get the right emotion across. If I paint or create when I’m antsy or angry, it shows,” she says. “I want the art I make to be an escape—a place of tranquility.”
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Eileen grew up in a creative household where she and her siblings were encouraged to explore, tinker and build. There was a workshop to play in, forts to construct and every Halloween the family created a walk-through experience for the neighborhood. But, as a child, Eileen saw her sister as “the more creative one,” which at first held her back from pursuing art.
“I took the practical route because I was decent at math,” she says. “So I studied industrial design in university. Eventually, I went back to school for furniture making and got into woodworking. I was happiest when I could go off-script and let the art flow.”
After graduation, Eileen apprenticed with a furniture maker in Vancouver and worked on installation art pieces. She fell in love with woodworking and eventually asked herself, “Why am I not making art?”
That question became the beginning of a commitment to art as her occupation, although Eileen notes, “It took a long time to feel okay saying, ‘I’m an artist.’”
By then Eileen had married, moved to Squamish and become a mother of two daughters. “They love to put their own stamp on everything I make,” she says with a laugh. “They’re super-creative, and it’s fun to let that fly. We’re not hung up on a clean house. Right now, they want to attach a hammock to the ceiling, and we’re like, Okay, let’s do it. They haven’t spent much time in the shop yet, but that will come.”
Eileen’s workshop, attached to the family home, is where lines take shape and flow finds form. “I’ve always been home-based because I need as little barrier to starting work as possible. I spill into the house a lot, and my family puts up with it.”
“My art reflects my desire to quiet the world.”
For a Squamish-based artist, it’s fitting that the flow state Eileen cultivates in her art mirrors what she strives for in her sports. “Picking our lines is the same, whether you’re mountain biking, snowboarding or surfing,” she says. “You work with what’s available in the environment. I’m always looking for that line, that zone. It’s such an important part of life—finding flow.”
Much like the lines she follows in the mountains and waves, Eileen’s art invites us to step out of the chaos and into a rhythm that feels natural, intuitive and free—where stillness and movement merge, and where we can simply emerge.
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