Artist Cana Brumfield creates sustainable works and apparel inspired by nature
Cana Brumfield
Hometown: Baton Rouge
Age: 22
Artistry: Upcycled apparel, jewelry and art
Online: lunaleafstudio.com, @luna.leaf.studio on Instagram
A sincere compliment from a tirelessly caring teacher. A little-known piece forgotten in a quiet corner of a museum. A love letter lost but unexpectedly found. Artistic muses arrive in an endless number of ways, but for some creatives, inspiration strikes closer to home. Or in Cana Brumfield’s case, the backyard.
It was there the artist would follow her father, a physical therapist and avid gardener, after school to pick herbs and vegetables they chose for dinner each night. Inside, her mother, a painter and art therapist, was often at her canvas, a constant encouragement for Brumfield’s own artistic path.
At 22, Brumfield’s muse bloomed with Luna Leaf Studio, a brand-defining combination of her parents’ two passions. The new venture shares her own hand-made, reclaimed nature-themed art, accessories and one-of-one upcycled clothing.
“I’m so passionate about being sustainable, giving pieces a second life,” says Brumfield, who goes thrifting so often her friends know to check with her before they get rid of any unwanted shirts. “Reusing things, hunting for vintage objects, was a big part of growing up for me. It was weekends outside and on trails with Dad and garage and estate sales with Mom.”
Using bleach for paint, Brumfield spends mornings on her screened-in porch, listening to Fleetwood Mac or Bob Dylan and reviving vintage cotton and linen tops with boho-chic dragonflies, snails, mushrooms and palmettos. Inspired by artist Charley Harper, her images are surprisingly intricate, evocative of long summer days and sun-dappled golden-hour walks. But there’s a catch. Bleach doesn’t erase, and T-shirts don’t allow do-overs like canvases.
For Luna Leaf to thrive, the Baton Rouge native who studied art but graduated in anthropology from LSU had to embrace a childlike sense of exploration.
“There’s a lot of pressure in art classes to not mess up, to be good quickly and have amazing, beautiful work,” she explains. “As much as I learned in school, it kind of shrunk my creative mindset. So, I started experimenting more and realized you can mess up, and it’s OK because it’s the process that matters.”
Brumfield’s art and clothing retail at Baton Rouge Succulent Co. and Rouge House thrift shop. She is also intent on doing more markets to spread her passion for thrifting and her appreciation of the outdoors.
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It all points back to her roots, her family and her childhood spent studying the veins of leaves and riding horses through the wooded landscapes of St. Francisville. She wants Luna Leaf to offer beautiful reminders of her buyers’ roots, too, and a recognition of the wild that is around and inside of us.
“There’s a lot of disconnection from nature through technology and the way we live,” Brumfield says. “We are losing our natural instincts and connection to nature. I hope my art reminds people that we are a part of a natural world.”
