“You are the Mary Oliver of the art world!” —
Lynn Lubben
Just Right
In second grade, my hand flew exuberantly into the air at the teacher’s request to receive help with the production of the school play “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”
My task: create Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear.
With the largest brush I’d ever held in my small hand, I applied paint to gigantic cardboard sheets pre-cut into the shapes of the brown bear family… MY brown bear family…
Since that day, my art/life has been dedicated to countless ways to celebrate animals, nature, color, and paint… to create my visual trail.
A Few Highlights
- Learned nature/nurture as a wee one spending summers at my grandparents’ farm
- Art making and being in nature saved my life after violent trauma
- Completed a rigorous, documented nine years of solitary study
- First gallery transaction: purchase contract for 108 of my completed paintings
- Owned and managed a hot little gallery for emerging artists in a sizzling art district
- My studio was located in a cavernous former high-security lock-up ward for women (1991–1995)
- Studied with artists and healers in Bali, Tibet, and Nepal
- Wrote and illustrated a book for caregivers, born from my hospice volunteer experience
- Served as Artist in Residence at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and at numerous schools across all levels
- Invited to lunch at The White House to celebrate First Lady Laura Bush’s National Park Centennial project
- As a result, a piece of my art is represented in the permanent collection at the George W. Bush Presidential Library
- Invited Visual Artist for MSU/Wharton Center–Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Summer Institute
- Solo exhibition of 30 paintings, “Noble in Nature,” at Norfolk Botanical Garden
- Founded Wren House Studio School, 2017
- Artist in Residence and two-person exhibition at Norfolk Academy
- Invited to work with ASAP (Armed Services Arts Partnership)
Mother Earth, Chinese brush / India ink/vellum paper, 14×11″.
One of five illustrations for Soul Soaring by Poet Valerie Sayre
Today
My creative interests are focused. I make art, write the art/life blog, and recently opened the Wren House Studio School for online programs that track natural circadian rhythms as a potent creative tool.
I design studios for young and adult artists as a member of the faculty at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, and as a Statewide Educator with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
I support numerous environmental organizations and served fourteen years as a volunteer and member of the Board of Advisers for Tidewater Arts Outreach.
I support the highest creative voice within each of us. Visit my creative coaching service, Lifecycle.
Metta Meditation
May I be peaceful.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy and free.
May you be peaceful.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy and free.
May all beings be peaceful.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings be healthy and free.