I’m a mixed media artist living in Austin Texas, on the verge of greatness. That is, if you measure greatness by how many cups of green tea I drink a day, or you notice that my shoes never match my outfit, or that I am not very good at tying a bow. It’s true being a domestic engineer is not where my talents lie, and quite frankly, I’m not sure art is either. But I keep making art because I can’t stop.

I was diagnosed bipolar and have found DBT (Dialectal Behavior Therapy) to be the treatment that works best for me at this point in my life. It requires daily practice and I’m so thankful that I found it in combination with the medications I take. I have a lot of dreams and goals for the years ahead, and I’m ecstatic about waking each day knowing that I am working toward a life worth living. That’s on my good days. On my down days I’m accomplished if I fold a load of laundry and guess two answers correctly on Family Feud.

I believe in the power of creativity in all of us; I know first hand as an artist, a person with mental illness and an art teacher that it can heal and save lives.