Brie Pointer’s Take on Art, Curiosity, and Starting Before You Know
- cgoucher
- Aug 6
- 9 min read
Updated: Sep 14
Brie Pointer’s work lives at the intersection of design, illustration and storytelling. Her answers in this interview are exactly what you’d expect from someone who makes magic with cardboard and colour: joyful, real, and full of heart. Brie shares what keeps her creatively lit up, how intuition guides her career, and why a mural painted in the hardest season of her life turned into a full-circle lesson on love.
You’ve worked across so many mediums and messages, from branding to murals to public art. What first sparked your desire to tell stories visually, and how has your creative focus evolved over time?
I think I’ve always had a curiosity to learn about other people, their stories, and what makes them truly unique. One of my first memories of realizing that these stories can be made into a visual [brand] was when I was a kid watching Disney movies – going to the video store to rent a movie, exploring all of the covers, reading a bit about them, and then seeing the opening credits appear to introduce the movie in all of their pretty fonts and colours was so interesting and intriguing. It was something seemingly passive or expected, yet made with so much intention and joy.
I didn’t really understand what this was called when I was growing up. I didn’t learn it was something I could explore as a career until I was in high school where I took graphic design, yearbook, photography, and various art courses. This is when it all really began to make sense to me. Initially, I decided I wanted to be a photographer and capture people’s stories and essence, but my mom was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make a career of it. I was constantly trying new mediums and exploring my creativity in various forms, so she truly felt I would get bored only doing photography. One of my favourite teachers, Miss Roblin, encouraged me to apply to graphic design school. And that’s truly where I began to blossom.
I graduated from the Graphic Design program at Conestoga College in 2014. I have been bumping and exploring my creativity ever since ~ I even get to take photos for projects sometimes! (See mom, I can be a photographer! (hehe). She was totally right though. I feel that I was always meant for this career path – this exploration of inspiration and curiosity of creation. I am very grateful for my mum’s gentle nudge in this direction.
In terms of my ‘creative focus’, I tend to follow where my intuition takes me. I am a designer, illustrator, artist who works from my gut! HA! I create from the heart and truly, truly, truly try to follow the tug of curiosity in my work. I put myself out there into the world and see what comes back, aligns, and pulls me forward. I am incredibly grateful for this intuition-drawn career. It has allowed me to pause, realign, and truly find joy in the work, life, and community that I’m building.
You’ve created everything from packaging for emerging brands to large-scale murals. Is there a project that felt especially personal or transformative for you? What made it stand out?
Oh! This is a great question. I think of my projects as children almost. I love them all so much and they all contribute to my growth, curiosity, and inspiration in career and life.
I think if I was to pinpoint a couple, Boosh Beauty immediately comes to mind. This brand was one of my first branding projects outside of graduation. It was such an interesting place to learn and explore my confidence as a designer. Sarah and Linda were so fun to work with and the brand we built together helped connect with other women while encouraging them to feel empowered and confident in their beauty supplies. This project led me to other incredible work, brand projects and opportunities. It helped me get my foot in the door and really let me understand how much I love storytelling through brand.
Another brand that comes to mind is Reids. They are a family-run chocolate, candy, and nut shop based out of Cambridge, Ontario. I grew up going to their shop and it was a part of many family celebrations and holidays. In 2019, Him & Her, a design and development studio based out of Kitchener reached out to me to work with them on building the Reids brand. I started working full-time for the studio a few weeks later. Working for them changed the trajectory of my career and who I am as a person completely. The team there felt like family and truly gave me space to grow confidently as a designer, person, and mom. Reids was my primary client for the 2 years I worked at the studio before I went on maternity leave. I adore working with Reids. It is truly a brand where I was able to establish and build on each and every aspect of the company – adding cute personal touches everywhere I could. I am incredibly grateful to continue working for Reids now as an independent designer and continue building the brand legacy I helped to start!
The final piece that stands out is a harder one to talk about, but it is a truly beautiful story. Tokens of Love is a mural I designed for Cellar52 in St. Jacob’s. It was my first mural of this size and complexity. I was unbelievably excited to get started on it. The day I pitched the mural concepts to Cellar52 was the same day we found out my mom had Stage 4 Kidney cancer. She was going into the doctor’s appointment as I pitched the idea of the mural. I was so sad and yet so excited. When we heard about her diagnosis, my mom and I chatted about painting the mural together. She wanted to paint again – we grew up with her painting fun door signs for our rooms, colouring giant ‘happy birthday’ signs on the driveway, and building out fun crafts for us to do. She was a creative through and through. The idea of painting such a special mural together was incredible and I was so honoured and excited to do that WITH the woman who encouraged and inspired me to be creative. We had no idea what to expect with her diagnosis. We were inundated with doctors appointments and check-ups, blood tests, and moments to just sit with one another. It was one of the hardest times in my life. It all got so busy and stressful that I had to make the difficult decision to pass off the physical painting of the project to another artist. I couldn’t handle the time commitment with all that was going on. I recommended a few of my friends. My good friend and an incredible artist, Amy Esplen took over the project. She recruited a group of some of my friends to paint the mural for my mom and I while we were dealing with her end of life care. It was both heartbreaking and absolutely beautiful to be cared for in such a wholehearted way. What a full-circle moment for the ‘Token of Love” concept. This mural to it’s very core is wrapped in so much love it hurts to talk about and at the same time, it deserves that delicate attention. I am incredibly grateful for my friends showing up for me during this time and it truly showed me how important community is.
Your work has a kind of playful confidence, has that always been natural, or has it grown over time? How do you stay connected to your creative intuition?
My work and confidence has definitely adapted and grown over time. The more inner work I do to stay curious, explore, and discover who I am, who I want to be and work towards becoming; the more confident I am in life, work, and community. It creates a clearer path for me and how I show up for myself and others.The more I explore myself, the more true and authentic I feel and that reflects back in my personality, relationships, and of course, my creative work. It opens up others to vulnerability and true connection before even meeting me. They know and understand who they are working with and what kind of work we can create together, while also allowing me to set boundaries and exist truly to myself.
What’s something you’ve done recently that pushed you outside your comfort zone
ANOTHER GREAT QUESTION. I won a brand photoshoot with a local photographer. I am not used to being someone behind the lens, or someone who pampers themselves with hair and make-up. It was such a treat to go through this experience. At the same time, I had to let down my walls, show up as best as I can and just sit back to enjoy the process. Being someone who designs, curates, and art directs for others, I had to really trust the process and let someone else take the reins. It was a lot of fun and let me get out of my head. As humans we learn a lot when we get outside of our comfort zone. It lets us to adapt and grow and learn more about our boundaries and what works for us. It provides opportunity to learn what we like and don’t like – to be vulnerable is to grow.
When a project feels a bit “off” or you're not feeling creatively lit up, how do you find your way back into flow?
Communication! I don’t often find myself feeling off as I’m pretty passion-forward when working with clients, but if there is ever a moment where it just doesn’t feel quite right, I do have honest conversations with clients to try and pull us both back on track. I would also contribute work-life balance to this! Taking breaks, figuring out when your best working hours are and understanding what you need to keep yourself in a good balanced mindset is very important. Sharing time and space with those you love and taking up passion projects that light your fire are all incredible ways to keep concepts and creativity flowing. I truly do believe that if you have an idea, run with it – let it flow and it will gift back to you even more ideas, imagination, and creativity!
What’s something that’s bringing you joy or fuelling your curiosity right now—creatively or otherwise?
CARDBOARD. I need a good tactile project that is unrelated to screens. I love, love, love to work with my hands so being able to work on a project that allows for tactile touch – building sculptures, crafting with my kiddos, or testing out various mediums, etc. feels important to me. I just finished up a project where I made my entire logo 3D out of cardboard. It was used for the photoshoot I mentioned in an earlier answer, but I have some pretty big plans for that logo later this summer. Getting out of my head and just trying new things is important to keep me fresh, excited, and looking forward in my work. Giving space and room for ‘mistakes’ or being open to things not turning out the way I planned – this sometimes actually works in my favour and I create something even better than I imagined! I do believe giving one grace in art/design is important. Not every piece will be a masterpiece and that is completely okay. With all that said, this is why I work as a muralist as well – it pulls me away from the screen to creating my designs in real time and on a massive scale which feels like a true privilege for someone who loves to work with their hands and feel the satisfaction of making their designs come to life!
Bonus question: If we peeked inside your dream studio, what would we find?
Ahhhh, my dream studio. It would either be in a beautiful old factory with big, big, big windows or in a glass greenhouse (with great air conditioning). I could imagine some sort of porch or outdoor space that would allow me to see and explore nature while being creative. The porch would need a roof of some sort so I could be out creating in rainstorms. There needs to be a lot of natural light. Access to a big window. There would be colour, so much colour. A mural that changes once in a while and a massive table to host workshops and creative events for community to come and explore their imagination with me. I imagine there being some sort of kitchen or place to prepare good food – hopefully locally grown from either Wayward Farm directly outside of my studio, or from one of my farmer friends. I think there would be other artists that could use the space freely – testing and trying new mediums, exploring creativity, colour, and finding joy together. I imagine greenery, plants. There would need to be space for some sort of photo studio. A place to return to the desire of capturing people’s story and essence. At points in my life, I’ve imagined a risograph printer, letterpress printers, dark rooms, and space for woodworking tools or the ability to build more rigid and massive objects. I think the studio space would need to be pretty versatile to allow those moments of passion to grow and blossom through me and others. It would be a space for gathering, growing, and being vulnerable in community together.
Know someone creative or curious, or doing something cool in their own way? That’s exactly who I love talking to. I’d love to hear about them or from them.
Did a line or moment from this interview stick with you? Leave a comment, send a message, or tag someone who might want to be part of this series. You never know whose story will show up next. I read every one.
