People have said to me, “Wow, you know you’ve worked so hard!”. That’s true and that’s a big part of it. But the main part is doing it. Not just talking about it. Because a lot of people have great ideas but never do anything with them.
The Art Of Finding Myself
Upon entering adulthood and after becoming a mother, I lost my connection to art. With the demand of being a wife and a working mother with a high stress job - as a 911 dispatcher - I eventually felt lost and unsure of who I was as a person. I became depressed, anxious, and generally unhappy with my life. I started thinking back to when I felt the happiest and what I was doing during that time. That reflection process led me back to art.
Dear Daughter:
When I read about Daisy Coleman’s death last week, I sat down and tuned into her 2016 documentary on Netflix; Audrie & Daisy. Between the bouts of anger while watching this film about sexual assault, I had a repetitive thought — How am I going to explain this to my son and daughter one day? So I just started typing…
Profile No. 7: Mary-Alice
I told my acting class, “You guys, I think I’m gonna have to do this a third of the time, because it’s just so crazy for me to think it’s gonna go anywhere.” And maybe that’s a darkest before the dawn thing. Stuff happens when you stop having this death grip on it - and you just let it go.
Diva Khoury: Little Black Book
You find you’re banging your head against a brick wall! I’m not doing what I’m meant to be doing! So you go into this ego trip of, “I’m not creating but I should be but I can’t find inspiration to write…” and it’s a downward spiral of yuckiness! But eventually you have to buckle down and take care of "just me” and exclude art from the picture. And once you’re out of that and creating again it’s like, oh that’s why I went through all of that! I can harness all that frustration and personal growth and put it in my work.
5 Summer Reads - Written By Women
Who else has been reading up a storm over the past four months? Raise your hands — and glasses! This is a list of five books written by women that will surely help you find your next pick!
Profile No. 6: Nina
I guess my point is, if you are true to yourself, if you really pour yourself into your work, then you “Do You” and no one else can do what you do. It will be recognizable.
13-Going-On Grace & Frankie
I like to believe that I’m a 40-year-old woman. It’s kind of a13 Going on 30 fantasy that helped me get out of a dark situation. And when I say 40, I really mean like 70 as well because I am obsessed with becoming old enough to be either Grace or Frankie.
My Taylor Swift Revolution.
I used to really dislike Taylor Swift. Not for any real reason - and I’m really not proud of it. But now! I am thrilled to say I absolutely love her. This little revolution is something that I feel needs to be shared, because the root issue is pretty deep… And Folklore just released last night and I stayed up all night waiting for it to come out and putting my thoughts into writing…
Portraits & Dreams
My paintings are a collection of portraits, figures and partial figures. As subjects, I am drawn to homeless people, street musicians, or psychics. My painting is heartfelt and expressionistic, to convey and translate the personality and emotion of the person - or about the person - that I am inspired by.
Horoscope Hour with Santi: LEO
This is a Leo astrological reading and can apply to any Leo placements in your birth chart. For this month I pulled the tarot card… “The Healer” The Page of Mirrors.
Connection to Mind & Nature
I hold optimism that humans will continue to strive on becoming more empathetic towards each other’s religions, cultures, values, and personal relationships is linked to her artistic process, which comes also from deep passion for preserving the environment.
Profile No. 5: Lillian
“There’s a lot of pressure on women as we get older. Conventionally we are meant to follow this trajectory; you do one thing and as you get older you become more successful, wealthier, gain seniority. But why? Why can’t I be successful running my own company at 25 and then switch to learn something new at 30? Careers don’t need to be a linear path. The pressure is to become more successful as you get older and not switch. But you shouldn’t feel bad about making those choices for yourself.”
It's My Birthday!
…and I’ll eat cake if I want to! Holy Sh*t I’m 30. And the funny thing about it is …. I am SO excited!
Portraits of Divine Women
How Heart Thou’s mission: to support causes using art as a fundraising incentive.
Scheherazoom! An Invitation.
A model that uses participatory theatre and artistic practices to empower displaced populations to overcome the trauma of enforced migration, and both benefit from, and contribute to, their host communities. I've witnessed that through using forms of theatre (including dance, music, poetry), as a tool to explore global issues, mental health and more, we start to heal.
Happy Kanata Day, Eh'?
On July 1st, 2020, let’s take this as a reminder to educate ourselves. Although this article was initially meant to be light hearted, I was quickly humbled by the importance of a deeper message…
Reconstructing: Vogue Italia
Imagining these collages are borne from a playdate between Franca Sozzani, René Magritte and myself: it’s cut-and-paste fun, not to be taken too seriously and yet deeply rewarding. In an evermore digital world, I enjoy the tactile process.
Inclusive Illustration
We often generate and evaluate ideas based on what we know. When we use only what we know as the base to create from, we exclude a lot of people.