Welcome to Art and Cake!

At 51, Maryam Rohani Vakili is exploring the symbolism of Iranian doors and knockers in increasingly abstract ways. They've been experimenting with layering, texture, and color, especially red and turquoise, to express the tension between memory, silence, and identity. The studio feels vibrant and alive with this dialogue between tradition and contemporary abstraction. They're also deeply engaged with a smaller ongoing project, Care & Share, where they create tiny traditional

At 72, Elaine Carr is painting with gratitude. They lean towards more positive themes now. Their paintings tend to be a composition of beautiful colors that most times seem animated. Known for their bold colors and sometimes playful themes, Elaine's paintings are colorful compositions of still life, landscapes, and portraiture. They're primarily self-taught, having painted since childhood, but now in their retirement years they paint with a goal of creating works that evoke g

Lately in the studio, Jalila Bell is fired up clearing space for new work and diving into their steampunk series—where imagination, invention, and rebellion collide. At 50, hitting that milestone has powered them up and made them bolder. They're being pushier with mixed-media materials, mashing together effigy and new worlds. With their new steampunk series, they're breaking rules about what "their art" looks like, bending reality, and letting their imagination lead the charg

At 54, Nancy Popp is visioning for their long-term project 'under°veloped'. They're thinking more deeply about long term histories, legacies and larger structural fundamentals. If their work didn't change it wouldn't be authentic to the changes in their self and life. They don't see much change after turning 50 to what they were doing in their late 40s, but there is a difference to what they were doing in their 30s physically. What's actually hard about being an artist at thi

At 55, Marni Myers is fired up about cyanotype multi-layering. They're investigating the expressive possibilities of alternative photographic processes through cyanotype, layered imagery, hand-applied toners, and embroidered details. Their approach resists precision in favor of painterly textures, imperfect edges, and tactile presence, revealing their hands-on approach within a process historically tied to replication and science. Since they reached 50, their dedication to th

At 52, Heather Powers is exploring mud and clay resist pattern texts on fabrics combined with natural dyes. They're working with indigo, captivated by the shades of blue it yields. There is a process of alchemy that transforms humble plants' leaves into royal shades of indigo. There's been a continuous thread—they're a weaver and fiber artist—throughout their creative career. For the early part, they were focused on developing technical skills and a personal language through

At 50, Nicole Gammie has the chance to experiment and play. They're combining textile art techniques—bobbin lace and passementerie—creating work at the intersection of tradition and innovation. Learning and experimenting with lace and stitching began at an early age with numerous informal opportunities at school and in the community through classes and attending craft groups. Living around much of south-eastern Australia provided chances to investigate a range of lace and emb

Minna Väisänen is making animations with Grok. At 56, they're exploring what happens when digital tools tear down old gatekeeping. You don't need to beg a production house for gear anymore—you just open a laptop and build your own world. The speed and access are wild. And yes, for women especially, that shift mattered. The old art structures were rigged—"genius" was a word reserved for men with handlers and mistresses. Digital tools let women skip the permission stage. You ca

Carmen Dominguez is working with gift tissue as transparencies. At 56, they're doing more woven paper art, experimenting with combining traditional home crafts with abstract imagery. They're exploring the themes of reconciling historical alienation with contemporary reality. They're influenced by absurdist humor—DADA, found art, art brut, home crafting, and graffiti. They must call themselves "entry-level" but they have 20 years of creating art at home. Self-taught. Southern