Daily Inspiration: Meet Allison Mendoza

Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Mendoza.

Hi Allison, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I think the story got going in a couple different ways. The first being with my mom, Karen. Growing up, she would always take me to the store to get new materials for her quilting projects. Watching her inspired me to want to use those fabrics that were always surrounding her. To find a way to be involved with sewing, but in my own way. I tried using a pattern and then quickly I branched off. Going from using traditional counted cross-stitching materials to developing my own technique of “drawing with thread” on contemporary quilting fabric. Predominately free handing the finished products.

As for my photography, I do not remember a time being without a camera. It was almost like a forcefield I could use. To be involved without having to be noticed. If we were out of school on a sports day, I would document everything. I was more worried about getting candid shots of everyone than the actual event. Eventually I decided to have enough confidence in my abilities to pursue it as a major in university.
Coming away with a BFA and into the real world was a bit of a hustle. I had to get a full-time job for health insurance, so I accepted a position within an art department at a sports company that I’m still with them to this day.

Even with a career in an art department, and the stability that comes with it, I still needed a way to express my own point of view. So that’s where Buffalo Roam KS began. As a way to make art using my photography and embroidery, sometimes together and sometimes separate. A way to archive life experiences and connect with people through shared interests of the world around us.

I turned to Instagram to start documenting my projects and progress. Around the same time a friend introduced me to the Strawberry Swing Art Fair and pushed me to apply and take this ability seriously.

Through the Swings, working directly with clients through Instagram and my website on custom orders (where you can still find me), and other maker markets in KC and Lawrence I began to follow a path that has led to years of work and opportunity.

I have recently returned from an artist residency with Atelier Artist in Residence in County Kerry, Ireland. Where I was able to work for two weeks alongside different artists from around the world. From as far away as Oz and as close as Oklahoma. It was an amazing and surreal time. One that little me with the camera could never have dreamed of.

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?
The two biggest struggles in this journey of creating have been the pandemic and the loss of my niece, Isabel. I took very long breaks during both of those time periods. Both were world stopping events, one just happened to be a collective event we all experienced. The other one so breathtakingly personal and traumatic.
But I came back to it.
The art exists because I need it, it’s an extension of myself.
It keeps me thinking, feeling, moving forward.
To have this as an outlet is a gift and I genuinely enjoy it.

I try to give myself grace. To not pressure myself into having expectations as a business. It’s more important than that.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in freehand embroidery design and film photography. They are essentially all works of observation. Little moments here and there, but you have to be paying attention.

The beauty of a weird bird that is more like a dinosaur than anything. Trying to capture that essence with thread so it feels like it’s a moving representation.
Those charming dryer sets in the Laundromat, the devotional display in the shop window in a small Irish town that reminds me of my grandparents, the fog rolling over the field on the way to Sneem, that payphone in Upper Michigan that no one has used in years.
You are literally seeing something that snagged my interest and how I document that. From my brain to the finished product.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I truly think this city is magic. It doesn’t always hit you over the head with wow factors, but it feels like a secret for us that know.
It’s a place that really presents those small moments I’m always looking for to cherish.
And the people! Don’t get me started, I love a midwesterner.
It’s easy to take for granted how nice people are, and how genuine that kindness is.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://buffaloroamks.square.site/
• Instagram: buffaloroamks