Whitney Anderson Rooney (WAR Art & Interiors) is an artist, interior design consultant, and founder of Antonym Collective, based in Cleveland, OH.
Her interior design practice specializes in eclectic, high-impact residential spaces, balancing color and texture with natural materials and secondhand pieces to create thoughtful spaces. She excels in mid-sized, mid-tier transformative projects.
A self-taught artist working primarily in oil and acrylic, Whitney creates figurative portraits exploring vices, nonchalance, and surrealism. She is best known for melancholic portraits of people smoking. Her practice also includes textured abstracts, found-object mosaics, and experimental works.
Whitney also founded Antonym Collective, a collaborative creative studio and gathering space at 78th Street Studios, providing creative businesses with shared resources, reduced overhead, and mutual support.
Whitney has her Master’s in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University and her Bachelor’s in International Affairs from Florida State University. She is a board member of Ohio City Inc. and a member of the Historic Ohio City Design Review Committee. She is a native of Tampa, FL and has been a Clevelander since 2009.
In terms of design, my personal aesthetic is pretty eclectic. I love natural materials, high contrast, organic styling, and a juxtaposition of new and old. I don’t want my design projects to be immediately recognizable. I design to the client and hope there’s more commonality in the styles and elements you won’t find in my work than what you do. My favorite clients are those who really lean into their personal style.
