Calla Lily Rainwater

Calla Lily Rainwater (June 27, 1996 — present), is an American graphic designer and digital-to-physical production artist out of Seattle, Washington. After getting their start in print design and digital signage at Washington State University in 2017, they have worked as a graphic designer and visual media artist throughout Washington State, primarily in contracted and commissioned roles. In 2021, they founded Rainwater Graphics, LLC, a design company with the goal to create opportunities for the designers of the future.

Early Life

Calla Rainwater was born on June 27, 1996, in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in the Seattle and Federal Way areas.

They were raised in a household that was religious, namely: Jehovah's Witnesses. Calla attended several high schools, but graduated from Ballard High School in 2014, and went on study Computer Science at Washington State University. In 2016, they changed majors to Digital Technology and Culture, a program within Washington State's English department that covered themes of graphic design and visual communication.

They returned back to Seattle in the summer of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, where they reside currently. The following year, they started Rainwater Graphics, LLC.

Career

Calla Lily's career as a designer began in 2016, when they changed majors, however, the first complete pieces they got to produce wouldn't come until 2018, when they changed from the IT department to the Design department at their job at Washington State University.

They were working under the Carson College of Business brand, and produced many digital signs, print flyers and other digital and physical assets as needed by the college and its faculty and staff. This created their desire to continue to work in design, more specifically designs that come with their own exposure by default. They stated that this opportunity to produce something that everyone would see was what really set in stone the graphic design focus. It was here that they learned and began to develop a passion for accessibility in design.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Calla returned to Seattle with a new view to how art and technology could be combined to create entirely new concepts and revitalize old ones. After working full time in car rentals, they decided it was time for a change. They began working for Redhook Brewlab as a bartender, and through this job was able to create some connections to get a foot in the door for designing for Anheuser-Busch. in 2021, Calla started Rainwater Graphics, LLC. both to organize their contract work, but also to build the basis for a firm that would provide opportunities to the designers of the future. Although the project with AB was relatively small, Calla was able to produce some beer can wraps (Crowler Club cans), digital signage, physical/directional signage, menus, and a few icons and logo redesigns for some of their products under their Redhook Brewlab brand.

After parting ways with AB/Redhook Brewlab, they went on to work primarily in commissioned production art. This is when they discovered and defined their style of taking digital art and vector graphics, die-cutting them out of adhesive acrylic vinyl, and affixing them to non-standard canvases. They developed a penchant for using glass and mirrors as their standard form of canvas or backdrop. The reason given for the mirrors vs a traditional canvas was that "mirrors turn the negative space within my art into the world around YOU, the viewer; it joins you in your reality, and you become just as much a part of the piece just by standing in front of it". During this time period between 2021 and late 2022, Calla produced primarily erotic art or imagery that connected renaissance artistic ideas to the current time (primarily ideas surrounding nudity and the human form in art).

in 2023, Calla Lily began to explore more of the realm of 'digital production art' and continues to create new and unique pieces by upcycling thrift store finds into new artistic explorations.