Bigfork artist Mya Bessette wins award
Bigfork acrylic artist Mya Bessette’s abstract painting “Infusion” earned third place in an international painting contest hosted by crowd-sourced design company Minted.com. Her entry, a contemporary abstract piece bursting with color, was one of more than 6,000 submitted to the Minted/West Elm Challenge. Prints of winning art pieces, such as Bessette’s, will be sold through West Elm as well as on Minted.com.
Minted.com often partners with giants in the home décor industry, collaborating with brands like West Elm, Domino, Pottery Barn and more. These partnerships provide a platform for independent artists around the world to share their work on a much larger scale. Contest winners find themselves launched into the world of art licensing overnight as these celebrated brands offer their prints for sale to a broad audience of home décor enthusiasts. Although Bessette is fairly new to the art licensing industry, she’s off to a strong start, winning awards in three of the three Minted.com contests she’s entered. Her first winning piece, “Move Me,” was discovered on Minted.com by HGTV and will appear on the hit show “Love It or List It” later this fall.
Originally from Homer, Alaska, Bessette now lives in Bigfork with her husband Cody, kids, Nevi and Lex, and their golden lab, Zuma. Bessette broke onto the art scene in 2009 when she launched her Etsy shop and began selling original paintings in acrylic and mixed media online. Since then, her work has appeared in several retail venues around the Flathead Valley and Bozeman, and can currently be found in Persimmon Gallery in Bigfork. Bessette’s work is also licensed through Toronto-based Northwood Collections as well as Minted.com. Her body of work is best described as a blend of vibrant, contemporary abstracts and soothing, impressionist landscapes infused with joy and striking color. Bessette plans to participate in the 2016 Arts in the Park in Kalispell, hosted by the Hockaday Museum of Art from July 15 through 17, and farmers markets around the valley this summer. For more information or to view additional works, visit www.myabessette.com.