About

Process not Product. You do not need to be an artist. Art is used as a processing tool. All you need is an openness to your own innate creativity.
I believe everyone is born with creativity.

You do you. Participants are encouraged to focus on their own individuality, and create their own projects based on open-ended prompts. It’s very important that I create a safe environment for self-exploration. Participants must agree to treat others with respect. Any kind of judgement will not be tolerated. There is a focus on forming a supportive community.

It’s important that our community have access to many ways to support our wellness. While not everyone is an artist (which means a committed practice to making art), everyone is creative. My work embodies the value of art to support mental health through empowering participants to tap into their innate creativity.

My work fosters self-esteem and gives participants the experience of using art to process their emotions – and to heal. Art-making gives them space to be present, to experiment, to play. It provides stress reduction. Its tactile properties can be deeply therapeutic, appealing to our need for physical contact. These processes respond to some of the most common mental health issues: depression, anxiety and SUD.

I am not a therapist. I’m a graduate of a UCLA Arts and Healing program, and have a certificate from the Association of Mental Health Coordinators program. I have my certification and have worked as a Certified Art Peer Support Specialist at a Mental Health Center, (although I’m not working in this capacity through ArtWell.studio.)

I’m an art educator. I have an 20+ years of experience teaching Arts-based Social and Emotional Learning to youth – most recently at Dylan Jude Harrell Community Center in Long Beach, WA. I’ve taught in museums, public schools and community centers for over 20 years. I have my Substitute Teaching Certification with the WA public school system.

I’m an artist. I have a MFA from California Institute for the Arts and BFA from George Washington University. My interdisciplinary work has been shown in New York, San Francisco and internationally throughout Europe. I have created public art as senseofplaceLAB since 2008. I’m presently on the Public Artist Roster (2021 – 2025) for the Washington State Commission for the Arts. I combine mediums and forms that reference architecture, to evoke place and psychological memory. My layered imagery reflects a psychological layering of experience, through which to contemplate the murkiness of time, place and memory itself.