Dahlia Haselton

Dahlia is a 2026 Roost Boost Scholarship Merit Award Winner.

My work is rooted in painting and mixed media as a way of getting underneath the surface of everyday life and into the emotional spaces we don’t always show. I’m inspired by the strange beauty of ordinary moments of memories that resurface out of nowhere, childhood feelings that don’t quite fade, the way imagination can reshape something simple into something charged with meaning. Surrealism really resonates with me because it gives permission to paint my subconscious. Art has shaped who I am by teaching me to slow down and pay attention, to embrace uncertainty instead of trying to control everything, and to see vulnerability as strength.