Abstract artist Marian Steen vividly remembers the moment that ignited her lifelong passion for telling a personalized tale through her art. “In third grade, I received a shimmering gold star on one of my paintings,” she says with an infectious grin. What may seem like a small act of grade-school recognition to some is a cherished moment by the now wildly successful and innovative painter whose colorful creations tell stories decades in the making.

Offering the finest European gold-rimmed porcelain, custom or in-house designed hand lettering and a fresh take on sustainable commodities, Sasha Nicholas isn’t your grandmama’s china shop.

Nettie White’s stock in trade is transformation: designing high-end, custom artistic spaces that breath new life into just about everything in your home.

“My specialty is color. I started out doing walls and had to be creative with what was there,” she says, “and that turned into ‘What about our cabinets?’ and ‘What about the bookcase, and what about floors?’ We do everything.”

Ty de LaVenta’s story begins with the August 1949 issue of LIFE magazine, which profiled the life and works of Jackson Pollock. Nine-year-old de LaVenta was so enthralled with Pollock’s paintings that he was determined to become an artist himself. Unfortunately artist wasn’t a respected or viable career choice in his small farming community, so he channeled his creative energy into a construction business. De LaVenta’s dream remained unfulfilled until five decades later, when a spiritual experience at the Mayan ruins of Tulum compelled him to create his first sculpture.

Brothers Milt and Brian Ciskowskis' trajectory toward their current calling has had as many twists and turns as one of their many manipulated trees. The two started their careers on their grandfather’s farm, where they raised cattle and helped in the florist shop he founded on Cass Avenue in 1910. They eventually moved the shop and greenhouse to North St. Louis, closing up and re-emerging as Cass Bonsai Gardens at 6145 Quercus Grove Road in rural Edwardsville, IL, in 1998.

The butter doesn’t care that it’s interview time. Kaylen Wissinger is ready for our meeting, but the butter is the perfect temperature for kneading into the dough. So I sit at a cheerful wooden table in the sunlit bakery while Wissinger works the butter, and her magic, into bacon blue-cheese scones.