Mixed Media
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Painting
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Prints, home decor, apparel, and more available in my online store.
If you are interested in commissioning a piece CONTACT ME
If you are interested in commissioning a piece CONTACT ME
Artist Statement
I am a witness.
I have seen and experienced more than one person's share. Childhood did not afford me a time of innocence, but the arts and nature were always a refuge. My father was an artist/creative and art materials in my environment were a norm. Our family's experiences of good or bad were intense and usually managed with an unsettling bravado. Because of this I began creating process driven art and writing to make sense of what I was undergoing. The marriage of words and images has evolved into art journaling, which often stimulates my larger works. From childhood, to adolescence and into adulthood I have continued to witness and experience chaos and trauma. Life now is what I have made it. Full of people I choose, love, creativity, laughter, peace, bike-riding, and dogs. I have found home and have been in Portland, Oregon since 1992, the longest I have ever lived anywhere. As a licensed art therapist I am able to provide a safe place for my clients to externalize feelings and thoughts for which they may not have words. Providing a place to be heard and honored. While I was an artist before I was an art therapist, my role as clinician personifies my role of witness.
Process driven art making is contrary to what I learned in art school. In school we learned about the properties of media and how to manipulate it. Critiques focused on the formal elements of art and how students ought to implement them to define their creative voice. However, art history activated my curiosity in artist's narratives. Seeing the creative risks certain artists took responding to life's events reinforced the process-driven approach to which I organically adopted. Allowing the process to drive the experience "bore witness" to the applicability and validity of this approach for me personally. My own art has become a testimony of my experiences, often influenced by the sociopolitical and interpersonal sensitivities that I feel or am witness to. I aspire for my work to inspire...to be a place to honor life's challenges as both inevitable and as a catalyst for personal insight and positive growth.
During my studies I fell in love with the forgiving qualities of chalk pastels, the hidden potential pushing the media layer upon layer. This love led me to paint and mixed media. I developed my own encaustic technique, replacing toxic pigments with crayons donated to my studio. My method of creating these evocative pieces is organic and involves being present with my feelings and thoughts throughout the creative process. Pieces have esoteric themes that I meditate on as I work which adds an air of unpredictability and mystery to each. Sometimes haunted figures or creatures emerge. Often lush music plays its part while I work, becoming an ally in my practice creating thought-provoking works to share with others.
I have seen and experienced more than one person's share. Childhood did not afford me a time of innocence, but the arts and nature were always a refuge. My father was an artist/creative and art materials in my environment were a norm. Our family's experiences of good or bad were intense and usually managed with an unsettling bravado. Because of this I began creating process driven art and writing to make sense of what I was undergoing. The marriage of words and images has evolved into art journaling, which often stimulates my larger works. From childhood, to adolescence and into adulthood I have continued to witness and experience chaos and trauma. Life now is what I have made it. Full of people I choose, love, creativity, laughter, peace, bike-riding, and dogs. I have found home and have been in Portland, Oregon since 1992, the longest I have ever lived anywhere. As a licensed art therapist I am able to provide a safe place for my clients to externalize feelings and thoughts for which they may not have words. Providing a place to be heard and honored. While I was an artist before I was an art therapist, my role as clinician personifies my role of witness.
Process driven art making is contrary to what I learned in art school. In school we learned about the properties of media and how to manipulate it. Critiques focused on the formal elements of art and how students ought to implement them to define their creative voice. However, art history activated my curiosity in artist's narratives. Seeing the creative risks certain artists took responding to life's events reinforced the process-driven approach to which I organically adopted. Allowing the process to drive the experience "bore witness" to the applicability and validity of this approach for me personally. My own art has become a testimony of my experiences, often influenced by the sociopolitical and interpersonal sensitivities that I feel or am witness to. I aspire for my work to inspire...to be a place to honor life's challenges as both inevitable and as a catalyst for personal insight and positive growth.
During my studies I fell in love with the forgiving qualities of chalk pastels, the hidden potential pushing the media layer upon layer. This love led me to paint and mixed media. I developed my own encaustic technique, replacing toxic pigments with crayons donated to my studio. My method of creating these evocative pieces is organic and involves being present with my feelings and thoughts throughout the creative process. Pieces have esoteric themes that I meditate on as I work which adds an air of unpredictability and mystery to each. Sometimes haunted figures or creatures emerge. Often lush music plays its part while I work, becoming an ally in my practice creating thought-provoking works to share with others.
Exhibitions & Collections
Exhibitions & Collections:
American Art Therapy Association Member Exhibit 2024
WE ARE HERE Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Center Art Therapy Gallery August-November 2024
Juried Exhibit: Dream and Reality People & Paintings Gallery 2024 Portals
American Art Therapy Association Member Exhibit 2023
Art Therapy Credentials Board Online Gallery 2022
Faculty & Student Art Exhibit Lewis & Clark College February 2021
Divulge: A National Exhibition Featuring the Use of Art For Therapy and Mental Health Awareness. Juried Show: D’arte Center 740 Duke St. Norfolk, VA 23510
AH:LE Survivor Creative Summit: Exhibition Collaborator and Curator Evolve Gallery August 2019
Faculty & Student Art Exhibit Lewis & Clark College, York Commons February 2019, February 2020 Alumni Art Exhibition: Mayer Gallery, Marylhurst University October 2017 AH:LE Gender Expression Creative Summit:
Evolve Gallery Exhibition Collaborator and Curator August 2017
Portland State University White Gallery Exhibition Collaborator and Curator October 2017
Heritage University Virginia S. Hislop Gallery Exhibition Collaborator and Curator December 2017- March 2018
Marylhurst University Exhibition Collaborator and Curator April 2018
Streff Gallery Marylhurst University Art Therapy Faculty Exhibition: 2017, 2018
Evolve Gallery: Solo Show and Book Release October 2016
Duplex Solo Exhibition October 2013
Milwaukie, Oregon City Hall Solo Show August 2013
Place Gallery, Pioneer Place The Big 200 2011
Settlement Gallery, Pioneer Place Mirrors, 2011
The Albina Press, Siren Fest 2009 Olympic Mills, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Spring Creek Coffee House Solo Exhibitions 2009, May 2010
Portland Home & Garden Show Artist Demonstration Encaustic painting 2009, Watercolor painting 2010
Olympia Fall Art Walk Solo Show Envy Salon 2009
Love Show, Gallery Homeland 2011
Love Show, Olympic Mills 2009, 2010
Love Show, Launch Pad Gallery February 2008, 2012
100th Monkey Studio Monthly Group Shows
Stumptown Coffee Roasters (Division Location) 2000
Marylhurst University 1999 Graduate Exhibition
Alma College Permanent Collection of Flora Kirsh Beck Gallery- Before Fran Pastel Drawing 1990
Publications:
Healing from Clinical Trauma Using Creative Mindfulness Techniques, Routledge 2022
Tales From the Pandemic: Volume 3 (March 2021) Cover image (Touch), poem, and 2 art pieces (Emerge and Navigating the Future)
Creative Wellness Treatment Deck (July 2021) Click to purchase!
AH:LE The Gender Summit 2018
Creative Wellness: Art Journaling with Mindfulness by Beth Ann Short 2017
Voice Catcher 3 2008 Internal artwork throughout publication.
Film & Video:
Crow & Moon Productions
Crow & Moon YouTube
BA's YouTube Channel
American Art Therapy Association Member Exhibit 2024
WE ARE HERE Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Center Art Therapy Gallery August-November 2024
Juried Exhibit: Dream and Reality People & Paintings Gallery 2024 Portals
American Art Therapy Association Member Exhibit 2023
Art Therapy Credentials Board Online Gallery 2022
Faculty & Student Art Exhibit Lewis & Clark College February 2021
Divulge: A National Exhibition Featuring the Use of Art For Therapy and Mental Health Awareness. Juried Show: D’arte Center 740 Duke St. Norfolk, VA 23510
AH:LE Survivor Creative Summit: Exhibition Collaborator and Curator Evolve Gallery August 2019
Faculty & Student Art Exhibit Lewis & Clark College, York Commons February 2019, February 2020 Alumni Art Exhibition: Mayer Gallery, Marylhurst University October 2017 AH:LE Gender Expression Creative Summit:
Evolve Gallery Exhibition Collaborator and Curator August 2017
Portland State University White Gallery Exhibition Collaborator and Curator October 2017
Heritage University Virginia S. Hislop Gallery Exhibition Collaborator and Curator December 2017- March 2018
Marylhurst University Exhibition Collaborator and Curator April 2018
Streff Gallery Marylhurst University Art Therapy Faculty Exhibition: 2017, 2018
Evolve Gallery: Solo Show and Book Release October 2016
Duplex Solo Exhibition October 2013
Milwaukie, Oregon City Hall Solo Show August 2013
Place Gallery, Pioneer Place The Big 200 2011
Settlement Gallery, Pioneer Place Mirrors, 2011
The Albina Press, Siren Fest 2009 Olympic Mills, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
Spring Creek Coffee House Solo Exhibitions 2009, May 2010
Portland Home & Garden Show Artist Demonstration Encaustic painting 2009, Watercolor painting 2010
Olympia Fall Art Walk Solo Show Envy Salon 2009
Love Show, Gallery Homeland 2011
Love Show, Olympic Mills 2009, 2010
Love Show, Launch Pad Gallery February 2008, 2012
100th Monkey Studio Monthly Group Shows
- 2011: Light, Partnership, Art as Healing, Mapping, Honors, Kimble Memorial Show
- 2010: Dolls, Duets, Healing Arts, Recycle/Reuse, 3rd Annual Gender Show, Maps, Self Portraits, Storytelling, Kimble Memorial Show
- 2009: Consumerism, Senses, Art of Creative Art Therapists, Reduce/Reuse/Recycle, 2nd Annual Gender Show, America?, Memoirs, Altars & Shrines, Pilgrimage, HIV/AIDS & Support
- 2008: Social Change, Connections, Nationality, Gender, The Art of Art Therapists, Mischief, Tribute, Gratitude, HIV/AIDS & Hope
- 2007: The Art of Diversity, Women’s Show, Recycle Reuse, The Art of Art Therapists, Heat, Transitions, The Human/Animal Bond, HIV/AIDS
- 2006: Art of Wellness, Year in Review
Stumptown Coffee Roasters (Division Location) 2000
Marylhurst University 1999 Graduate Exhibition
Alma College Permanent Collection of Flora Kirsh Beck Gallery- Before Fran Pastel Drawing 1990
Publications:
Healing from Clinical Trauma Using Creative Mindfulness Techniques, Routledge 2022
Tales From the Pandemic: Volume 3 (March 2021) Cover image (Touch), poem, and 2 art pieces (Emerge and Navigating the Future)
Creative Wellness Treatment Deck (July 2021) Click to purchase!
AH:LE The Gender Summit 2018
Creative Wellness: Art Journaling with Mindfulness by Beth Ann Short 2017
Voice Catcher 3 2008 Internal artwork throughout publication.
Film & Video:
Crow & Moon Productions
Crow & Moon YouTube
BA's YouTube Channel
