bio
Natalie Straton is a mixed media artist focused primarily in painting, printmaking, and ceramics. Through her work, she explores humans’ relationships to themselves, each other, and nature, inspiring introspection and whimsy in the viewer. She is inspired by music, literature, and art history, often incorporating elements of each into her pieces.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Natalie’s family took advantage of living in the culturally rich city by taking her to museums, galleries, ballets, and Broadway shows from a young age, cultivating the creativity she was teeming with. By age seven, she joined IDEA– an after-school center thanks to which she got to experiment with drawing, painting, and sculpture, travel to Europe on immersive art history based trips, and participate in theatrical productions at summer camp, all of which now greatly help to inform her work.
IDEA, combined with attending LaGuardia High School as a Fine Arts major, led to Natalie’s acceptance into SVA as a Visual and Critical Studies major. There, she is combining her love of theory and history with her art practice, making work that leans into Symbolism, exploring her relationship with nature and the universe. She is expected to receive a BFA in 2026.
Since 2020, she has been running a small business called Nevermind Sunshine where she sells hand-printed apparel. 2025 also presented her with her first professional curation opportunity, where she was able to pitch, plan, curate, and install her first group show, Inner Echoes, at the SVA Flatiron Project Space. Natalie was also a Yale Norfolk School of Art 2025 Summer Residency Nominee. In July of 2025, she is set to attend New York Academy of Art’s Summer Undergraduate Residency Program.