the ART of PLAY

EAST COAST ARTIST RILEY SHEEHEY REMINDS US THAT WHIMSY CAN BE FOUND AND FORMED ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE WE’RE WILLING TO LET A PLAYFUL HEART TAKE THE LEAD.

- CHARIS DIETZ,LISA MULLER

Ask the magazine team and they’ll tell you, I’m partial to miniature things. I can’t help but be mesmerized by life’s little darlings, whether it’s something tiny that Crew stumbled upon on his morning walk or work by an artist that captures the most stunning, intricate details. Riley is one of those artists. The small worlds she creates—on a deck of cards, tiles, or even acorns—are truly beautiful and have a way of waking up our imaginations and helping us notice the simple wonders right in front of us. Riley’s work also expands in bigger ways (not just on tiny surfaces). I think it’s her childlike awe and love for others that make her art shine. —Jo

It's a rare thing to find Riley Sheehey, a multimedia artist based out of Falls Church, Virginia, without her sketchbook in tow.

A plain pink cover offers little hint of the expanse inside.

Part art project idea book, part family journal, part "baby book" for 4-year-old daughter Bryn, the notebook is an ongoing catalog of Riley's inner and outer world. One page holds her husband's made-up ditty about the family dog while the next features sketches of hats and caps, a nod to Bryn's phase of wearing hats all day, every day (even to bed).

The sketchbook is Riley's way, even when life is at its busiest, to notice and hold the little scenes that spark imagination and fill her days with color-a practice she's been honing since childhood.

Before Riley turned 7, her family had relocated several times, moving around the Midwest and East Coast for her father's work.