About Artful Transformations

 Welcome to Artful Transformations.

I’m Natalee Wright—artist, educator, and the founder of Artful Transformations. 

My work, both in the studio and in the world, has been shaped by years of walking alongside people through moments of profound change.

I’ve sat with individuals and families navigating grief, loss, illness, and life-altering transitions. I’ve witnessed what happens when life no longer looks the way it once did—and how disorienting, painful, and tender those moments can be. Through supporting others, and through my own experiences of loss, health challenges, and personal transformation, I learned something essential: healing doesn’t come from avoiding what hurts—it comes from learning how to hold it.

Art became the place where I learned to do that.

Through making, we can process emotion, reclaim our voices, and create meaning from experiences that feel overwhelming or unfinished. Art allows space for both vulnerability and strength. It gives form to what’s hard to name. It meets us exactly where we are—and invites us forward.

That belief is at the heart of Artful Transformations.

This studio exists as a welcoming, grounded space for creativity at every stage—whether you’re learning a new skill, reconnecting with creativity, growing as an artist, or simply needing time and space to create. Here, you are encouraged to show up as you are, without pressure or expectation, and to let the process unfold naturally.

Artful Transformations is more than a studio. It’s a place to slow down, explore, and create meaning—together.

We meet you where you are.
And from there, we create something beautiful.

 The Old Wash Shed Art Studio, home to Artful Transformations in Columbia City, Indiana, carries a long history of change, creativity, and care. This small building has been shaped by many hands and many seasons, evolving alongside the people who have passed through it.

Originally located beside my childhood home, the wash shed was moved to its current place on the property in the early 1990s when my parents expanded the house. My dad transformed the simple two-room structure—once used for washing and hanging meat—into a clubhouse for my sister and me. We called it The Playhouse, and it quickly became a place for imagination, messes, and making.

Years later, in 2017, after my husband and I moved to the farm my family lovingly has called Gradyville, the building took on another life. I cleaned away the remnants of our teenage creativity—layers of paint, graffiti, and blacklight messages—and turned the space into Black Willow Soaps, where I worked and created until 2023.

When that chapter came to a close, the building was ready once again to become something new. In 2023, the Old Wash Shed Studio has been reimagined as a creative home for Artful Transformations—a space for classes, workshops, and guided creative experiences of all kinds.

Like the art created inside it, this studio is rooted in transformation. It stands as a quiet reminder that spaces, like people, can be reshaped again and again—each time with more intention, meaning, and heart.