Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Eisenbart Macias.
Hi Sophia, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have always been someone who makes things. Art became my way of documenting my life… preserving memories, emotions, ordinary objects, and experiences that might otherwise disappear. I earned my BFA from Austin Peay State University and eventually became an art teacher, which allowed me to help young artists discover their own creative voices while continuing to develop mine. Over time, my work evolved from traditional drawing and painting into a mixture of collage, painting, and digital processes. I’m especially interested in memory, impermanence, personal mythology, and the overlooked pieces of everyday life. Much of my work feels like visual evidence that a particular person, feeling, or moment existed. Alongside teaching, I began building ArtOfTheBart Studio as a home for all the different things I create. I’ve exhibited my artwork, had pieces accepted into juried shows and publications, created merchandise and educational resources, and experimented with ways to make an independent creative life sustainable. Becoming a mother made that goal feel even more important. I want to build a life in which I can be present for my daughter while continuing to make meaningful work
. I’m still very much in the middle of this story. Where I am today comes from continuing to create even when I am tired, uncertain, or unsure. I’ve learned that an artistic life is not built through one perfect opportunity… it is built through hundreds of small decisions to keep making, sharing, and believing that the things you create are worth putting into the world because Its mine.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. One of my biggest struggles has been balancing the need for financial stability with the desire to build a meaningful creative life. I work full-time as an art teacher while maintaining my own studio practice, running a small creative business, and raising my daughter. Finding enough time and energy for everything can be difficult, especially when most of my personal work has to happen at night or on weekends.
There have also been financial obstacles. Pursuing graduate school, buying materials, paying exhibition fees, and building a business all require resources that are not always readily available. I have had to pause certain goals, adjust my plans, and find alternative ways to keep moving forward. There are periods when sales are slow, opportunities do not work out, or I question whether I am making the right choices. Social media can make it seem as though everyone else’s success happened quickly and effortlessly, when the reality is usually much more complicated. The challenge has been learning to see progress differently. Sometimes progress is an exhibition or a sale, but sometimes it is simply making one small piece after a long day, submitting an application despite the possibility of rejection…The road has been uneven, but every struggle has made me more resourceful, persistent, and certain that creating is something I need to keep doing.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My work is primarily autobiographical and diaristic. I create paintings, collages, drawings, and digital pieces centered on memory, identity, impermanence, and personal mythology. I am drawn to ordinary, overlooked things…scraps of paper, handwritten notes, familiar objects, domestic spaces, passing thoughts, and small moments that might not seem important until they are gone. My work often functions as proof that a particular person, emotion, or experience existed.
Visually, my work is colorful, layered, expressive, and sometimes intentionally imperfect. I combine traditional artmaking with collage and digital processes, allowing images to move between physical and digital forms. I am less interested in creating something polished for the sake of perfection and more interested in making something emotionally honest, visually alive, and unmistakably human.
ArtOfTheBart Studio reflects the full range of my creative life. In addition to exhibiting my fine art, I create merchandise, handmade objects, educational resources, and other accessible ways for people to experience my work. I am also an art teacher, so encouraging creativity in others is an important extension of my practice.
What sets me apart is that I do not draw a hard line between art and everyday life. Teaching, motherhood, collecting, writing, making products, and creating studio work all feed into the same larger story. I want my body of work to feel like a living archive. Its human, its… messy, tender, humorous, anxious, colorful, and honest. I believe ordinary life is worthy of attention, and that the things we are tempted to dismiss can become the most meaningful material we have.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
What I like most about Nashville is its creative energy. Although the city is best known for music, there are so many different kinds of artists, makers, small-business owners, and wonderfully unconventional people building communities here. I love that you can find everything from polished galleries and major events to small markets, independent shops, murals, and intimate creative spaces. There is always something new to discover, and the city’s mixture of Southern history and constantly evolving culture gives it a distinctive personality.
What I like least is how rapid growth has made Nashville increasingly expensive and difficult to navigate. Traffic can be exhausting, but the larger concern is seeing longtime residents, and small businesses struggle to afford space in the city they help make interesting. I would love to see Nashville continue growing while doing more to protect its local character and create genuinely accessible opportunities for the people who live and create here and not just for tourists or large developers. Also, just as a side note- I love a drink as much as the next person but I hate those cancerous pedal taverns.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artofthebart.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seisenbart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artofthebart
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@artofthebart
- Other: https://linktr.ee/seisenbart
