Member Spotlight: Romana Sena

Photo by Hannah Bernabe

On the occasion of her 3rd anniversary as a studio member, I sat down for a chat with Romana Sena.

Our conversation has been edited for length & clarity.

B: Were you always artistic as a kid? When did art come into your life?

R: My grandmother told me that when I was three years old, she knew. I was actually in preschool, and I had this piece of art that I found that I had made when I was like three or four. And it says, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And I wrote “art teacher.” And I didn't even know what an art teacher was, so that was like a premonition. 

B: Did you always do art when you were little? 

R: Yeah, so one cool thing about my mom is that she was a single mom, always working, but the one thing she always made sure to do was show up for every dance performance, every concert, and every art show, and she highly encouraged both of her children to be creative. 

I realized my love for art in middle school. I guess I would say I was trying to take it seriously in middle school. So I was in seventh grade, and my art teacher, Mrs. Donnelly, saw a drawing I did—I think it was a jar of peanut butter in like a disco setting. And then I drew Sailor Moon with it. And she just loved it. She said, “I'm calling your high school right now to see if you can skip intro to art.”

B: So you got to go right into more advanced classes? What did they have? 

R: The first thing that I chose was printing. I had a lot of support from my middle school art teachers, as well as my high school art teachers. I still talk to one of them.  

I would paint. I would work with fabric as well. I also did a lot of performance art, made a lot of videos. I was also in a couple of bands. I took a theater class. I liked that, but I just didn't really stick with one thing. I think that's kind of what led me to my artistry now.

Part of Romana’s face painting set up

BP: When you come to the studio, what do you get up to when you're in here? 

RS: So, recently, I've reformed my ways. I'm trying to get into better habits. I decided in March that I was going to try to do 30 days in a row coming to the studio. I'm working on condensing within myself and in my current life, there are some projects that I have not finished. And so I've been kind of reflecting (on them)—what was I thinking at this time? Am I still going to do this? Can I move on from this? So, like, letting things go. So right now, I am only finishing old things that I have not finished. Not making anything new. It's a good challenge, and it takes a lot of discipline. 

I decided that one of the saddest things to find at the thrift store is someone's unfinished embroidery. Because it tells it kind of tells a story. I think about those unfinished embroidery projects and whether the person didn't finish it because they couldn't or maybe they did the same exact thing as me and like, just got rid of it. 

BP: Do you feel like coming in regularly (to the studio) has been a good thing or has it been hard to sustain?

RS: Ever since I told myself (to come every day for 30 days), it's been a lot easier for me. Now I'm in the position where I don't have to have any art stuff at home. I'm still getting rid of things, condensing, or taking things to school and letting the kids use whatever. I find myself in my room is the only place where I can hide from myself, but being here is the only place where I can't. 

BP: Oh, that's interesting. Why do you think that is? 

RS: Because I think here I have that sense of freedom, I've been at Paisley Studios for three years. I've never had an art studio before this. I need to remind myself that this is the freedom I've always wanted. Yeah, I have ink stains on some of my bedding, and that's a reminder of where I came from, which was honestly, on my bed doing art.

Drawing by Romana

BP: It seems like you're a person who's always thinking creatively and making art, regardless of whether it's on a piece of paper or in some other medium. Is art something you're just always kind of doing?

RS: I really can't shut it off. There's no shutting it off. Yeah. Whenever anyone, like, says, "Oh, man, I wish I was an artist, or I wish I were good at art." I say to them, every time, it's never too late to start. You can also reform your words by saying, “I'm working on becoming better at art.” Yeah.

That's a huge one, I feel like I have to say that to adults more than I do kids.

Mural Collaboration with Stumptown Otaku

BP: You also seem active in the Asian Communities here, do you want to talk a little bit about that? 

RS: Well, I guess in May it was AANHPI month, but I have not done anything out of the ordinary this month. But this month's been a bit different for me because I've been rerouting and condensing my life in all forms, including time for rest and balancing productivity, because summer tends to be the busiest.

BP: Tell me about your experiences selling art…

RS: Yeah, when I was 18, I started making, like, headbands and hair clips and, like, decorated lighters. And I would sell them at music festivals, out of my fanny pack to people. 

BP: So that’s kind of where you started with selling…

RS: Yeah, I’ve sold original art. I went to Arizona one year, and my friend made juice to sell at the farmer's market. We sold all of the juice within an hour. From that moment, I was like, wow. I have not sold as much art as I have sold juice. So the next art market that I did, which I was able to play around with, because my friends were running it, I sold juice. Then that inspired this series I made called Juice (sold at Meet Your Maker Market on 64th & Foster). 

So what I've been doing in this last term of school is I've been teaching the kids how to make art for art markets. Because I want art to be the new juice. The new lemonade.. That's what I'm going to tell them. So they're going to have all this stuff they can take out on their lawns. And that's what I'm going to say—this summer, sell your art. 

BP: Nice. I bet some of them will do it, too. 

Romana’s Art Juice project made for Meet Your Maker Market at 64th & Foster

BP: Can we talk about your collective, Jelly Cup?

RS: So, Jelly Cup Collective was a retail space in North Portland. There were about 30 other Asian artists selling things like jewelry, stickers, and cards. It had a different name at the end of 2023, which is when I met Jenna and Connie, the cofounders of Jelly Cup. They're like, we're changing our name, we're looking for other Asian artists to join our collective. We're going to have a little shop.

I had three stickers for sale. I wanted to keep a low stock of things, so I only had one birthday card for sale. It took me two years to sell a very small, very small stock of things… 

But anyway, we decided to close Jelly Cup, it just wasn't sustainable. With the economy and stuff, we still don't know what that really looks like. It's smart to just be an online support Discord now. So we're able to chat, bring up opportunities, any new restaurants that open up, volunteer calls, those kinds of things. 

BP: What else are you up to this summer?

RS: I'll be face painting, just a renegade setup at Pickles Games this summer.

I've done one so far. It was really nice. Really, actually looking forward to that. Meeting more of my neighborhood as well. I won't face paint forever. But it's it'd be nice to be like the neighborhood face painter.

You can find Romana via her website, Romonsta, and working with kids at Faubion Elementary.

Photo by Hannah Bernabe