as an artist
I’m trying to bridge the gap and challenge the idea of what it means to be a creative for those who see art as “something for other people”.
I’m looking to foster connection. To co-create with another, human to human.
I help people to see, understand, & come to appreciate their value.
I’m here to empower people.
I aim to help people feel seen, for who they believe they are authentically, honoring their grace and their grit.
And ultimately, I hope to provide them with a non-judgmental mirror (myself) to develop compassion and empathy for the parts of themselves that were perhaps deemed “unacceptable”, “too much”, or “not enough” by others around them.
Unsurprisingly, it’s all the same intention that I have as a therapist who uses art to help individuals gain insight and understanding of their internal world. The difference though is in the approach.
As a therapist who facilitates clients exploring their emotions, thoughts, and even physiological symptoms via artistic media and materials, using the art itself as a catalyst for conversation with the client, I am better able to get a full-bodied understanding of a person’s reality.
As an artist and sensitive, deeply-feeling person, this process enables me to not only empathize with the client’s perspective but connect to the gravity of their lived experience. (As an example, it’s one thing for someone to merely state that they’re feeling overwhelmed and it’s another thing entirely to witness them create a 7 ft tall dense, black tsunami-like wave out of charcoal on butcher paper to represent the mass of their emotions.)
Art has the ability to help us not only witness our pain and suffering, but to transmute it.
It allows us the opportunity to take inspired action as well as gain forward momentum, empowering us, and reminding us of who we are authentically (outside of other’s opinions of us.)
It reminds us of our personal power.
…And how we can create and give meaning to our creations.
Witnessing clients access this inner knowing of who they are, truly, and the newfound certainty, clarity, and confidence it brings them is what I love about sharing art and the creative process with others.
It just comes down to being willing to play, explore, and trust that making ANYKIND of art is better than none at all, whatever your medium of choice is.
Whatever you create can be informative and propel or inspire you in a clearer direction.
Here, with each portrait service provided (both Pantera di La Luce and Salt of the Earth Portraits), I am taking this magical phenomenon and applying it in a new way.
Individuals who wish to either have a portrait of themselves or a portrait of a deceased loved one painted have the opportunity to be guided through creative prompts inspired by my work as an art therapist so that they may actively participate and collaborate with me in my own artistic process.
Myself, as the artist and painter, will be informed by the art an individual themselves makes (spurred from visual art and writing prompts), in turn helping me to better get to know and understand them and/ or their loved one in order to fabricate a more accurate representation of the person captured in the painting.
In short, I like to think of it as my own version of energy work.
Ultimately, I’m interested in a person’s essence.
I’m looking to not only capture their physical features and demeanor, but I’m looking to honor both their light and their shadow.