Today we’d like to introduce you to Miriam Speyer.
Hi Miriam, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been active as a multi-medium creative my entire life. For the first part of my life, visual art was the primary outlet. I was always drawing and painting. Then, when I was 22 years old I started teaching myself how to play guitar and writing songs. Music quickly became the center of my entire life. In 2017, I moved to Nashville to try living in a music industry hub. I’ve maintained both visual and musical creative outlets in my life, but one or the other is usually taking priority.
During the pandemic, I turned my attention back towards painting. It started when someone I briefly dated requested a custom painting: A woman with red lips smoking a blunt. When I finished the painting, he didn’t have the money to pay for it and we had kind of drifted apart anyway. I was upset at the time, but now I keep that painting as my own guardian angel and wouldn’t dream of selling her!
In February of 2026, I lost my job as a furniture sales rep. One day after my job ended, my friend Ben Sturgell passed after a 5 year battle with ALS. Ben’s passing was like the final jolt of a slow awakening that had been happening inside me. I determined to re-center my creative path. Since February, I’ve been working hard to establish myself as a muralist. I’ve always been obsessed with murals and street art and It’s been so satisfying to expand into painting at larger scale. I’m very excited for this next chapter of my life!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My creative path has been anything but a smooth road!
As with many artists, I’ve struggled to find a way to balance my creative path with the need to make money. There have been compromises around every corner. When I was living as a musician in San Francisco in my 20’s, I used to joke that I had spent all my money to buy my time in an invisible transaction. Truly, my time is my most treasured asset. I’ve tried all different configurations to make things work including lots of part-time jobs, the pride and stress of doing nothing but music for my income for a couple years, and working a a full-time job that sort of part way utilized my creative gifts….The full time job was wonderfully stabilizing, but I found it impossible to nurture both the job AND my creative spirit. I get frustrated with the glorification of “doing it all” even though I know it’s necessary at times.
Being a multi-medium creative hasn’t always been easy to navigate either. Currently, as I pour into my painting, I find myself missing my music. I feel pangs of guilt and sadness when I neglect one outlet for too long.
I also want to take a moment to address mental health. For the majority of my life I was struggling with lots of depression and anxiety. I was in denial about it though, and would just mask it to the best of my ability. Eventually, I started having panic attacks. I also remember sitting at The View, a rooftop bar in San Francisco, with a sweet friend. I asked him if it was normal to fantasize about killing yourself and he looked at me with so much kindness and said no. I was beginning to understand that things were not great, but I still didn’t know how to ask for help. A couple years after moving to Nashville, my neglected mental health caught up to me. I had a breakdown and was launched into a period of about 4 years where I was managing severe chronic insomnia. I think it’s important to include these details in a profile about my creative path because a lot of highly creative people are also highly sensitive. It’s easy to get impatient with ourselves, but there is so much nuance when I comes to keeping your own spirit a float….Timelines can vary.
I’m thankful to be at a place where I can speak about some of these things as a part of my past. It’s not that I feel invincible now, but my self knowledge and self love are much higher. I treat my nervous system with care and I know that asking for help sometimes is a brave and beautiful thing.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As an artist, I’m known for my whimsical, colorful scenes and characters. I specialize in color selection and I just completed my certification as a color consultant through the International Association of Color Consultants. I’ve recently designed and painted the exteriors of two food trucks — Brave Idiot and All Or Nothing (RIP). I love the look of a hand-painted exterior and would be happy to turn this into a niche if there is more demand! I was also recently awarded a mural contract with Metro Nashville Public Schools. If anyone involved with the public schools needs mural work, please be in touch.
Additional creative offerings include:
Tie dye parties
Photo shoots
Background vocal arranging & recording
What’s next?
Right now, I’m very focused on expanding my portfolio as a muralist. I’m aware it may take many months/years of dedicated work before I can achieve the momentum I desire. I’m up for the challenge! My vision is to travel nationally and internationally doing residential and commercial murals. I already got my international start while I was in Central America this past winter with A small piece in Managua, Nicaragua and an impromptu collab piece with artist Miguel Flores in Amapala, Honduras. Learning Spanish is a life-long goal that I continue chipping away at and I want to get back to Central America in 2027 for a longer period of language immersion.
I am also very passionate about recording another full length album soon! I’m letting that simmer on the back burner right now, while I pour into my painting.
Pricing:
- Tie Dye Parties — Start at $125
- Dating app mini photo shoot — $45
- Murals — reach out for a quote
Contact Info:
- Website: https://miriamspeyer.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daydream.mimi/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@groove2miriam
