Check Out Madison & Ashlyn Imel’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madison & Ashlyn Imel. 

Hi Madison & Ashlyn, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We are sisters who have always loved to create and design in various mediums. We’re rarely apart, and we even received the same degree! We were finishing up our senior year of college at home in 2020 as the pandemic was occurring. Many architecture firms and other companies related to interior design were on a hiring freeze, so we decided to create our own company where we could sell our art. It originated as a company including the two of us and our brother. We are triplets who do everything together, so we thought, why not start a company! We created a company called Modest Acorn offering illustrations, greeting cards, and wooden tools as some of our products. As we continued with our company, we turned our focus to travel art. Traveling is something our family loves to do! We enjoy dreaming up the next destination as well as looking back on fond memories we’ve made while vacationing. Travel art became our next step. Our brother has a sister company, selling woodworking plans for various projects, while the two of us focus on illustrations and paper art under M A Prints. Our art business is something we have always dreamed of, but we never thought it could go as far as it has. In addition to our extremely supportive and encouraging family, M A Prints is something we have been praying boldly for! We attribute everything we have accomplished to God. As we were planning which destination to create first, we decided on Kansas City, our hometown. From there, God blessed us with a spot in Made in KC, and we have been creating new collections with different destinations since. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We don’t think anything is ever completely a smooth road. There is so much to learn when starting out and figuring out how to enter the world of art. There have been times when Etsy sales are particularly low or pop-up shops aren’t as successful as we had hoped. However, we have learned so much along the way. As our business evolves, our prayers do too! We have 100% confidence in God and we have faith that He will do something with our art far beyond our imagination. It’s exciting to be in the unknown at times, but the best part is that we continue to grow and are able to do it alongside one another. It is such a special opportunity and experience to share as sisters. We have worked through finding niches that fit our art style and passion. Funny enough, social media and marketing are also brand new to us. There has been a large learning curve on how to promote ourselves and collaborate with others on Instagram. 

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We create travel art to encourage people to explore and to inspire people to dream. We hope to remind people of memories they’ve shared with loved ones around the world. Traveling creates experiences unlike any other, so we want to create art that helps people remember those experiences or dream of making new memories somewhere else. Our art has been a way for us to travel when we can’t. We take the opportunity to research destinations, including the people, culture, foods, activities, etc., to learn more about what we are illustrating. Ashlyn creates all her pieces using watercolor, gouache, and ink. Madison creates all her pieces using paper. Every detail, shadow, and shape is formed with paper. We are most proud of the journey of our art career. We have learned a lot and have not given up despite the challenges we face. We are proud that we have put ourselves out there and trusted God completely with stepping out in faith to share our art with others. We are different from other artists because our art allows others to be taken back to a memory. Seeing an art piece of something that you experienced connects you to it. We like to think that our art connects us to so many people because they share a passion to travel and experience new things. We also use our art to encourage people to dream. So many people give up on their dreams, but we like to use our art as a reminder to never give up on dreaming of traveling somewhere or doing something amazing. Our pieces are tokens of reminding others to keep their aspirations alive! 

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
We define success as glorifying God and our obedience to him. If one person is moved or positively impacted by our art, then that is more than enough for us. In all things we do, we do for God. For us, success is obeying Him in taking the steps to do what He has called us to do. We don’t care about wealth, praise, or the quantity of art pieces we sell because it is so much more to us than that. We have been getting to create together and watch each other grow as artists and Christians through the whole process. That is success to us! 

Pricing:

• 8.5″ x 11″ is currently $30
• 5″ x 7″ is currently $15
• Customs are available
• Originals are typically more expensive and dependent on size

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.maprints.squarespace.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/modestacorn/
• Other: www.etsy.com/shop/ModestAcorn

Image Credits
Callie Logan