Story & Photos
By Michael Kinney
There are not many times when the worst day of your life turns out to be the best. But that is exactly how Andrea St. Clair describes 2023.
Despite going through the most trying and difficult moments of her life and knowing she had a chance of dying, the Lawton (Ok) native said they were crucial for development as an artist.
and Creativity Center
“I think there are certain things in your life that really shift your focus,” St. Clair said. “And for me, unfortunately, it was scary and really life-altering. But I think good things have come from it.”
St. Clair, who also went under the pseudonym Andrea Doris, is an artist who specializes in woodworking. She has been creating handmade mirrors since 2018 and watched that evolve into bigger and more unique designs. She even makes use of power tools on some of her most intricate pieces of work.
However, for most of her adult life, the art was always just a side project. Ever since St. Clair finished graduate school with a degree in Communication Design, her professional career has been filled with working for various companies as a designer. (That doesn’t include her stint as a teacher.)
Her passion lay on the more artistic side and St. Clair wasn’t able to indulge in it.
But then in 2023, things changed for St. Clair. At the urging of family members who noticed she looked different and was always tired, St. Clair went to see a doctor.
“I was diagnosed with kidney failure,” St. Clair said. “It turned out I only had 13 percent of my kidney function left. It was a big surprise.”
But that wasn’t the end of St. Clair’s 2023 surprises. At the time of her diagnosis, she was working as a product designer and was forced to go on medical leave to deal with her kidney failure.
“I got laid off while I was on medical leave,” St. Clair said. “Like a huge company-wide thing. And I just fell victim to that round. My whole team did.”
Just like that, St. Clair was out of work, at home, and on the precipice of her urinary system completely shutting down with stage five kidney failure. But yet, the wife and mother of a young son still calls that a “lucky” day.
Unable to go to work, St. Clair was forced back into the hands of her first love.
“When you’re sick like that, you really start to think about how you spend your time and who you spend it with,” St. Clair said. “I was kind of lucky to get laid off because it helped me kind of shift my focus and my priorities and gave me the option to focus on art. It took a while to be able to focus on art again because I was on dialysis and just going through all that.”
Even though St. Clair had come to the realization that she could put all her energy and efforts into bringing her artistic endeavors to life, she had very little of either to give. While the art fueled her soul and spirit, it didn’t heal her faulty kidneys.
“You don’t really see anything in the moment because if you don’t get a kidney, I mean, eventually you’re just going to die,” St. Clair said. “So, when you’re going through that, that’s all you’re thinking about. And you go to the doctor 50 percent of your life at least. You’re always there. And you’re tired all the time. But I was drawing. I didn’t have the energy to go to the workshop, but I was drawing constantly.”
St. Clair said she was drawing all the way up until the night before her kidney transplant from her older brother in late 2023.
When St. Clair woke up after her surgery, she knew her art would be her focus going forward.
“This is how I want to spend my time. This is what’s fulfilling,” St. Clair said. “And when I think about how I want my son to see what I’m doing. I want him to see me doing what I love and making a living from that because I want him to do what he loves someday.”
St. Clair had her first showing since her surgery at the Paseo’s First Friday Gallery Walk on June 6 in Oklahoma City. Her handmade woodwork is being displayed at Paseo Arts and Creativity Center (3024 Paseo) through the end of June.
The walls are filled with work she has been working on ever since she got her strength back. She calls it her Restore Collection, and it includes the same designs she had been working on the night before her surgery.
“Creating this was healing,” St. Clair said. “Lately, I’ve been filled with this urge to try new things, to challenge my body, and to explore things outside of my comfort zone. This collection represents all of that, and I’m beyond grateful that I get to share it.”
St. Clair called the First Friday showing a success, even before she sold several of the items she had on display. Her brightly colored middle fingers were particularly popular.
“This is definitely a big deal for me because we moved here not too long ago,” St. Clair said. “Six months after I moved here, I got diagnosed. Then I spent a year being sick. And then I spent the year after that doing this. So, this is me stepping out and trying to say, ‘I’m going to do this and I’m going to do this here.’ Time is such a blur because life had other plans. So this is me just trying to get into this art scene, trying to make a name for myself, trying to do more of it.”
To see more of St. Clair’s work, visit the Paseo Arts and Creativity Center or go to her website.
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