The Culture Palatte

My name is Vianey and I am an Ebru artist. The art is a water marbling technique from Turkey. The company that I work with is Culture Palette. I am the lead marbling artist, and I am also the CEO, marketing director, cash register—so that is what I do.

An early memory of my childhood that brings me back to Ebru, water marbling, I think when I was around maybe nine years old and I wanted to start my own business. Back then I wanted it to be through drawing coloring pages for other kids in school in Mexico City. So I think it's a blend of the entrepreneurial spirit plus the creative side—not so much directly through Ebru, but because it is doing something new through a creative space. Even at such a young age, I felt the excitement of a new creative discipline that I didn't even know that that's what it was called at the time.

The person that inspired me to do Ebru was my mother‑in‑law. She was my future mother‑in‑law at the time. I was engaged and we were going home for the holidays. Home for my husband is in California, and his family is from Indonesia. In Indonesia, there's an art form called batik, which is painting with wax on fabrics. It is very intricate and takes a long time. Each and every single design is hand drawn with either the wax or the dyes, and it takes a very long process to treat the fabric, lay the wax on there, lay the inks, let it dry, and then do that over and over again to achieve different colors and patterns.

Because I knew of this art and she educated me about the batik art, when I went home to see her in California with my husband, I was looking for something that was very unique to a creative art. I didn't want to do another paint‑and‑sip, paint on the canvas, they guide us. She’s an amazing artist by nature also, and she comes from a very rich culture. So when I was doing some research about activities in California, I found Ebru—the water marbling technique where you paint on silk or on the surface of water and then transfer your design onto silk.

I thought, wow, this is something that I think I can really connect with her through as an artist myself, as someone from Mexico with also a rich culture. And so we did the art together for the first time. I still have those pictures of me, my husband, and her water marbling together at this studio in Huntington Beach. After the experience, I felt like I was seven years old again. It felt brand new, exciting, and very unique to each person that water marbles.

I started asking questions as an artist. My husband started asking questions from his perspective—he works at a bank—so what's the overhead? How does it work? We both took a lingerie and small business course with this marbling studio. That is what led us, over the past five years, to become skilled water marbling artists, hone in on our technique, bring it home to Charlotte, and launch our small business. Now we've been in operation for the past two years.

The environment in which we create Ebru art for Culture Palette is an open studio, kind of like an open kitchen. You have floating islands that are made for a kitchen. It's an open studio where you can walk in—there are no doors. You can walk around the islands and see some of the different trays that we have available for Ebru. Some trays are square bandana size, 22 by 22 inches. Some are long, 14 by 72 inches, roughly six feet long for a silk scarf. On the third station, you might find a mini Ebru tray, about the size of a sheet of paper. Or you may find artwork in progress—right now we’re making fans for the hot season.

You may find trays, paints, artwork getting ready to be sealed, and artwork on the walls. You walk in and there's a market full of food at the 7th Street Market. You can get a drink, get food, and then there’s this open space where you can see all the artwork. I also like to have plants, so you’ll find nature in there as well as the artwork and natural lighting. It’s meant to be flowy, open, inviting, and creative.

When you water marble for the first time, you can expect to feel the need to let go—but it’s hard. That is how I felt when I first marbled. We are all so used to knowing the end result of anything we create. Even in paint‑and‑sip classes, they show you the end result and guide you to something similar. With Ebru, it is unpredictable from beginning to end. You can predict maybe the pattern—there are some traditional patterns we can guide you through—but the first time I water marbled, I wanted to freehand. As an artist, I struggled more. Many artists struggle more because they are used to knowing what the end product will look like.

Depending on the color placement, the pattern, or if you freehand, it will all look very different. You and I could choose the same colors and place our inks in similar places, but it is very hard to aim for the exact same spot. Each water marbling piece is like a fingerprint. Doing it then felt scary, unique, and like I needed to let go of my own expectations.

Now, five years later, I am able to guide others through that feeling of being lost or unsure. It shows intuitive color picking and intuitive creating through your intuition and letting go. I still feel that now, but it is nice to guide others through that unknown path because this art is so unique. I can connect with this art internally—spiritually, mentally, or emotionally—through the unknown or stepping into the unknown creatively and letting go. It is helping me evolve as a person.

One of my mottos has always been—since I was seven years old selling my first sketches—everyone’s an artist. It just looks different. It feels different. It sounds different. It tastes different. And that is okay. A lot of people think, “My art doesn’t look like yours. I can’t make my birds look like yours. I can’t make my suns or skies look like yours or like what’s shown in galleries or on social media.” Through this art, I have been able to show people the belief that everyone is an artist. You just have to listen to your inner voice.

With this art, you can be very spontaneous if you allow yourself to be. It allows me to look deeper and ask myself why I’m picking the color red versus blue today. There are seasons where all of my Ebru art—on silk scarves or prints—are shades of blue. It’s a way of expressing through the art and reaching deeper into myself when I create items for people to see or learn from me.

I practice a lot of mindfulness, acceptance, and grace with myself and others. In our space, that is something I always share. That is how I connect with my art on a deeper level and help others feel welcomed. We like to celebrate, express, and create through Ebru. Celebrate where you’re coming from, where you are now. No matter if it looks different than others, it’s totally fine. We want you creating and expressing in the way you feel safe and able to explore.

The way we share this unique art from Turkey is through walk‑in creative hours. We’re very new to the Charlotte area. We’ve done pop‑ups throughout Charlotte for the past couple of years. Now that we have our first brick‑and‑mortar at 7th Street, people can walk in and create at any time. Within 20 minutes, they’ve learned about the history of Ebru and are able to create their own item.

We also have special events curated around specific experiences. For example, I am launching an intuitive color‑picking Ebru experience where you pick colors using your intuition, emotions, and thoughts, blending that with the emotions wheel. The emotions wheel shows us the vast array of emotions we experience every day. I combine that with the color wheel to create an intuitive class.

People come to the studio all the time. I always encourage everyone to join us because the market at 7th Street has so much to experience—from original Ebru art to delicious foods from all over.

Passing your creative discipline—whether in the kitchen, a music studio, or anything you do—down to a younger generation is very important at Culture Palette. The art makes adults feel like kids and helps us connect with kids more. Kids are more forgiving of themselves and more spontaneous. They create Ebru quicker than adults. They’re not questioning where to place the paint or what to do next. They just be.

When I create with a kiddo, I nurture that. I show them this is an art they can learn. They can one day be a small business owner. They can be any type of artist they want. Their curiosity and spontaneous emotion to dive into anything—they already have it in them. They get excited and let go much quicker than we do.