JULIA KIPLING
Contemporary watercolorist Katherine Stratton Miller had long fielded requests to transmute her illustrations into wallpaper. But it was teaming up with Rowanne McKnight—director of the Nashville Artist Collective, which has represented Miller since 2018—that made the dream a reality. Calling their line Julia Kipling as a tribute to their Southern grandmothers, the duo’s inaugural collection, Otomi, debuted this spring. Miller calls it an homage to both her nature-filled childhood on a Nashville farm and the world-renowned embroidered textiles of Mexico’s Altiplano region, reimagined in varied scales, finishes and colorways. juliakipling.com
PHOTO COURTESY JULIA KIPLING
WINDY O’CONNOR
Thanks to a background in interior design, this Charlotte artist has always painted with rooms in mind. Since 2007, she’s parlayed her painterly style into a series of wallcoverings available in pearlized grass cloth, silk, crystallized and smooth matte substrates. Moved by her state’s coastal surroundings, O’Connor creates patterns by lifting sections of her mixed- media works past and present, then digitally mirroring them to create modern, Rorschach-like motifs favored by fellow Queen City talents Holly Hollingsworth Phillips, Lisa Mende and more. windyoconnor.com
PHOTO BY VICKI TURNER
ANGELA SIMEONE
For this Nashville artist, a family heritage of Italian artisans and a significant portion of her childhood spent abroad naturally led to a passion for painting: her soft abstracts, propelled by the principles of color theory and her own concept of imbalance, have been collected by the likes of Blackberry Mountain and the Grand Hyatt Nashville. A gradual move to wallpaper over the past year has resulted in 50-plus patterns Simeone describes as both energetic and serene—with many printed on recycled paper. angelasimeone.com
PHOTO COURTESY ANGELA SIMEONE
LULIE WALLACE
This Columbus, Georgia artist’s vintage-inspired paintings are beloved for their pretty palettes, playful motifs and hand-brushed effects—qualities that lend themselves beautifully to Wallace’s timeless textiles and wallpapers, digitally printed in North Carolina. Inspired by her “love for relaxed, layered rooms,” the four latest releases (Eila, Rebekah, Della and Mims) to replicate her painterly style are available through Travis & Company in Atlanta or Fritz Porter in Charleston. luliewallace.com
