Storytelling Art & Bold Colour Blocking: The Portfolio of Portia “Po” Chapman

Commissioning Custom Storytelling Art: From High-Impact Murals to Digital Narrative Logos

As a professional Kingston artist with Indigenous ancestry, Portia “Po” Chapman (BFAH, BEd) creates nature focused, storytelling art characterized by her signature, vibrant colour-blocking style inspired by ancient grapevine silhouettes cast by the rural noonday sun. Her style delivers sophisticated “eye candy” for educational institutions, municipalities, corporations, and private collectors across Canada and the United States. Her portfolio demonstrates a mastery of scale, ranging from large-format community placemaking mural installations to digital images and published print illustrations, as well as hand-painted rawhide frame drums.

Whether designing narrative logos for firms, icons for Universities, public art for municipalities, or murals for community organizations and business offices, Po combines creative intuition with the technical expertise required to ensure the final art work remains entirely faithful to the original vision. By valuing the unique direction and story of every client, she realizes their project goals into a vivid, attention grabbing work of art that is most commonly described as, “Beautiful.”

Large-Scale Public Murals and Creative Placemaking

“Building a Bright Future” | 6′ Diameter Mural | Base31, Picton

“Building a Bright Future” was built and painted as a commission piece for Base31, Picton. This 3D sculptural mural was custom ordered to be portable. Most murals are fixed to walls, but in this case, my client requested that it be able to be mounted in various locations. Additionally, they wanted the mural to simulate a frame drum, for which I am known. The mural is painted on top of a 6″ deep red cedar drum frame with large mounting hooks in the back. It is now mounted in the entry of the Base31 Exhibition Hall.

“Exploring the Senses” | 5’6″ Split Gate Mural | Base31, Picton

“Exploring the Senses” is the focal artwork in the Base31 Sensory Garden’s 8-piece installation that includes activity station signs and graphic borders for posted information documents. This mural highlights the technical expertise required to scale vibrant concepts to large, unconventional surfaces, such as the operational, split fence gate. I meticulously followed the theme of “Learning from the Land,” to ensure the creative narrative resulted in a cohesive installation that encourages children to explore.

“Strong and Growing Stronger” | 14′ x 6′ Landscape Mural | Strong Enterprises, Belleville
(Mural in Feature Image above)

“Strong and Growing Stronger” is a 14′ x 6′ seamless mural that I built and painted in my Kingston art studio. The wall-to-wall mural was mounted on the second floor mezzanine of the new Strong Enterprises HQ building in Belleville, ON. The entire mural was painted by applying multiple thin coats of paint using small round artist brushes. It tells the story of the business’ 4 stages of growth. The site-specific piece was designed to perfectly merge with the building’s modern International low rise architecture.

Hand-Painted Rawhide Art and Custom Frame Drum Commissions

“Sharing Wisdom: Tending to Nature’s Little Ones” – Gallery Rawhide Artworks

The two “Sharing Wisdom…” painted rawhide art drums were first created for gallery displays. I made the drums out of the same bison rawhide. TTNLO’s is the most exhibited rawhide painting in my collection and was featured in the Kingston Artists’ Showcase. It is also the artwork for Month October in the local MP 2026 calendar. The pair of story-telling pieces exemplify my exploration of circular composition and colour theory. In the large drum, the sapling is being planted. In the smaller drum, the tree and figures have grown older and are now hugging each other.

“Untitled” 12″D Custom Drum Commission for International Art Collector

The drum with the pink dolphin was completely created for a client from Rio de Janeiro. She wanted her most fond memories of her homeland painted upon its face. For this piece, I steam bent read oak and stained the frame with a custom colour.

The photo of me with my drums was taken of me sitting with my first 15 piece solo storytelling drum exhibition. Each painted drum told a story of my life from a little child growing up in the woods up to the time I moved to Kingston to earn my BFAH from Queen’s University.

“Barry” 12″D Custom Rawhide Art Drum – Commemorating a Family Story

The “Barry” drum commission highlights my professional technical skills in my studio setting. By valuing the client’s specific direction, I translated his vision into a high-impact storytelling art piece. Being a drum maker, I look forward to a challenge. To make the drum frame, I carefully coiled the steamed red oak in my Kingston art studio. The image features the father and his children looking at the Northern Lights while the silver moonlight drifts across Lake Superior. It was a true honour to celebrate his life story by creating this custom order drum.

Digital Storytelling Art, Narrative Logos, and Book Illustrations

Cover Art and Chapter Illustrations for Print and Digital Formats

The “Ways of Being…” book illustrations were created through collaboration with the editor and publisher. I was inspired by the book text and key words. This project required me to research Indigenous research references spanning North America. The illustrations were created as part of the writing; they both tell the story of the writing and stand alone as storytelling components. After going to print, an e-book was published. Due to the precisely crisp imagery and line-work, the files easily integrated into the e-textbook format.

Licensed Digital Image to Print for Award Plaque

“Nature’s Helping Hands” demonstrates my professional expertise in storytelling art licensing. For this usage, my client requested a licensing agreement to use an image that I had already created. Since they chose an image that I originally painted on an irregular shaped drum for exhibition, I redrafted it into a precise circular digital format. This high-impact execution ensured the artwork remained 100% visible on the national Creative City Impact Awards. Licensing artwork is a cost effective method of using artwork that need not be specifically created for the usage purpose.

Corporate & Organization Narrative Logos

Narrative logos are becoming more and more popular among my clients. The tradition of narrative images is grounded in Indigenous storytelling. For these logos, I listened to the client’s stories and drew upon historical and geographical research specific to the client’s region. The key, for me, to designing the visual story is listening to the client; hearing the passion and dreams that the client shares about the client’s past, present and future. It is from a place of gratitude and honour that I create these narrative artworks.

University Website Illustrations and Accompanying Physical Art Works

The Queen’s University Office of Indigenous Initiatives was my first web-series commission. It consisted of 10 circular digital icons based on provided key words. Then about a year later, the Faculty of Education commissioned me to create a 7-piece series for their website. As an example, the “Elder in Residence” image was designed to celebrate the position and of the Elder in Residence. Upon completion, the Faculty ordered a drum with the painted image. This was achieved by using the crisp imagery coupled with my flat painting technique.

Municipal Sign Illustrations

Creative placemaking involves community storytelling. It is a really rewarding art service that I offer. Through community involvement, a mutual appreciation for the ‘place’ is established while merging history with future aspirations, making for a rich journey, whereby multiple stakeholders have a voice. This sentiment was warmly true through the creation of King Township’s Land Acknowledgement image series. In this case, the artwork was used for signage. Municipal art projects like these present the municipality as approachable, thus encouraging community togetherness.

Large Scale Public Art Illustration

Large scale public art has taken a shift over recent years. With the advent of signage technologies like shrink wrapping, digital creations can now jump from the computer or tablet to the exterior walls of buildings. Although these types of image usages may appear as murals, they are more like stickers made from digital files. In short, they are printed digital illustrations. When I create site-specific art, whether interior or exterior, I create mockup images for my clients. I find that CAD drawings and/or Photoshop technologies are exceptionally helpful when establishing the briefs that ultimately guide the projects.

Let’s Bring Your Vision to Life with Vivid Storytelling Art

I value a positive, collaborative process that respects the direction and stories of every business, organization and collector with whom I work. My clients trust me to provide the technical know-how and professional oversight required to move from an initial creative concept to a high-end execution – delivered on time and as envisioned.

I hope that you find my artwork inspirational, uplifting, welcoming and most of all, BEAUTIFUL!

I am often asked why I create attention grabbing, beautiful artworks, that generate discussion and the mutual sharing of stories. My response is always:

“LIFE JUST FEELS BETTER
WHEN WE SMILE!”

Portia “Po” Chapman, Kingston Artist

Specializing in: Community Placemaking, Storytelling Art Research, Project Execution

To Start Your Project, Reach Out via the Contact Information Below:

Love Art by Po

Storytelling Art & Art Services
Portia “Po” Chapman / Kingston, ON