Wild Rosie was born out of a sincere love of the natural world and a true desire to bring beauty, genuine joy, hope, and love to the lives of others through all that we teach and create.
Meet the team
Born into a family of artists in the woods of midcoast Maine, Nina has been making art with her own two hands for as long as she can remember. With a background in everything from metalsmithing to printmaking, fiber arts to cyanotypes, she is ever-inspired by the creative process and revels in sharing the creative journey with others. She holds a BFA in Studio Arts and has continued learning both formally and through curious & keen exploration! She apprenticed master metalsmith, Christine Peters, through a grant with the Maine Crafts Association in 2018 and has taken several intensives in various media, including watercolor, indigo studies and natural botanical dyes. She is devoted to the joy she has seen in others when they create— Nina was a teacher for over 10 years and worked with children of all ages and abilities and adults with developmental differences. She is delighted to be welcoming that passion into her work with Wild Bird Craft.
“Art was my childhood home. I grew up within a world that was brimming with design and singing loud with color. I think above all, it taught me to notice, to deeply appreciate, and to find joy in the tiniest of moments.”
Nina Devenney
Patrick Ralls
Inspired by the process of learning how things connect in our vast and beautiful world, Patrick is a builder and an artist at heart. His love of art began early on, inspired by children’s book illustrations, and has taken him on a path of both learning and facilitation. He has worked with youth of all abilities in both art and outdoor education, as well as adults with developmental differences in outdoor adventure and as a Special Olympics coach. He is passionate about meeting people where they are and creating supportive, inviting spaces where folks are free to explore, push their own boundaries, and move through their fears to do something they’ve never done before.
Patrick holds a BFA in Studio Arts, with a concentration in sculpture, welding and woodworking. He has since completed further intensives in woodworking, including at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport in 2017. He has worked professionally in the field, crafting fine cabinetry and furniture.
“Discovering what people are passionate about as the entry point to creativity and making leads to empowering experiences— more of that, please!”
Our Story
Nina and Patrick met in an art school welding class way back in 2007 in the Pioneer Valley. After traveling the country and checking out over a dozen National Parks in an old mini van named Millie, they tried out living in a bunch of locations around the country including the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of Alaska, visited Iceland and Canada and made their way home to Maine (Nina’s home state) in 2016, where they have worked hard to become established artists and educators. They live with their hilarious and creative toddler (their very greatest accomplishment!) and a very fluffy cat named Bosco on Maine’s rocky coast, where they enjoy a vibrant community, lots of talented and awesome friends, cold salt water and beautiful mountain hikes.
Nina launched Wild Rosie in 2019, whilst teaching elementary art and right before becoming a mama. The path unfolded to a joyous one, and Patrick joined her full time in 2021. They have been working together on this project ever since, and in 2023, they began Wildbird Craft, a traveling craft school that serves others, bringing creative experiences in block printing. metalsmithing, and textile arts to their community.
Our shared passions for art and the outdoors have always been at the heart of all that we do together.
What’s in a name?
When Nina started Wild Rosie, she named it for her grandmothers. Her Italian grammy, Rosie Avellino, had a passion for homemade food, big family dinners, handmade aprons and copper kettle tea parties. Nina’s maternal grandmother, Dorothy Jewell, had a passion for the outdoors and was a walking encyclopedia of wisdom about the stars, flowers, birds and all things Wild. Together, they became Wild Rosie, reminiscent of the wild beach roses, the Rosa rugosa, that blossom along the rocky coasts of Maine.
Both of these women still inspire Nina every day to lean into all that life has to offer us, and the immense beauty of both family, community and nature. Through this name, she hopes to honor both women and to share their most cherished parts of life with the world, carrying it ever-onward.
Our Process
Delighted by the magic of the natural world and the incredibly human process of making things by hand, we are always looking towards connection and a sense of place as sources of inspiration.
Our process involves many steps, from capturing a feeling in visual form and translating it to a piece of functional art that can be used again and again.
It is important to us that our creations are both beautiful and functional. Our favorite kind of art is art you can live with and that will bring handmade quality to your daily life.
Pottery is made by Nina’s mom and dad, Mary and Joe Devenney, and decorated by hand, using a technique called sgraffito, which means “to scratch”, in the family pottery shop.
Our dyes are sourced from both purchased color pigments as well as botanical ones that we harness ourselves. Each process is different and has it’s own unique quirks and magic. Patrick dyes all of our tea towels and Nina dyes all our botanically dyed goods.
Our table linens are then printed, either with Nina’s illustrations, or by hand, one at a time, with hand-carved block prints that she carves. Patrick is the printing expert and keeps the print shop rolling. It’s all a wild experience that keeps us awestruck, delighted, hardworking and humbled.
