START FROM THE HEART
(updated on February 14, 2024)

Start From the Heart is a teaching program geared toward re-engaging adults with creativity through the visual arts.   I first began teaching these classes at Hobbs Pharmacy, Merritt Island, FL in 2019, a supportive setting that embraces healing and community. 

After working as a classroom art teacher in the school system (and a variety of other settings), I wanted to design and share an art curriculum that put the focus on the act of making and discovery. The experience of making art to discover and connect encourages one to re-discover their own dormant creative roots. I’ve seen firsthand how this worked for me, starting at a young age. Start From the Heart, while “new” in 2019 has been designed from a lifetime of both teaching and using art as a means for my own “self-care”. 

For the last 4 years I’ve taught Start From the Heart classes in wellness centered locations, including Creative Expressions, a visual arts program for Complementary Cancer Care.  I am currently on leave from teaching those classes right now.   

Making art is just one of many tools available to us, no matter who or where we are, art can be added to our routines to de-stress and find healthy balance in a busy and often complex world. Engaging in the act of creation, be it gardening, cooking, dance, music, or the visual arts, is a powerful tool to have as we all navigate through life.  Sometimes making art from the heart will help reveal what words and other things simply may not.

It’s been my joy to help people re-discover and re-connect the path back to their creative selves. 

“It’s only in the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” 
The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery