About Lisa

Let’s make art together!

Making art together is sometimes more fun than doing it alone, and it’s a great way to enjoy time together. As a child, making art with my family was a wonderful opportunity to work and play together. Today I continue the tradition because making art together is fun.

My artistic abilities came in handy growing up working for recreational programs in the city. Children liked to make art together because it isn’t competitive and uses a universal language. I loved being with children and decided on pursuing education.

I studied the Montessori method and learned how to organize and present lessons to children. As an art teacher/therapist, I created an environment where the children worked independently with materials, had time to explore art techniques, and learned to care for their tools. This atmosphere evoked genuine expression from the children and pride in what they created.

I read a book by Edith Kramer, founder of the American Art Therapy movement, about her experiences doing art with children. I wanted to learn more about art therapy so I returned to school and earned an M.A. in Human Development from St Mary’s in Minneapolis.

In graduate school, I produced a multi cultural art program for my daughter’s elementary school. I videotaped the whole process from the beginning stages to the actual event. The video is a teaching tool in how, why and what you need to create a community art event.

I began creating ART TOGETHER programs for families and children in the schools. I wanted to provide easy ways to bring the arts to people of all ages. The young people I met gave me ideas. The art programs would be like playing with ideas and materials and reality. And the best thing : you don’t have to be an artist, and you don’t need talent.

Collaborating with other professionals is a way for me to use my art teaching and therapy background. As an art facilitator I like to design art programs that nurture staff development, help solve problems and give time for rest and renewal. I do this by creating an atmosphere where people have time to play and explore with the art materials, understand the art process and then use art as the language for learning.

I decided to combine Tai Chi and Qigong with artmaking using the mandala. I have practiced Tai Chi for sixteen years and kept a mandala journal for just as long. Practicing a moving meditation and a visual meditation in a complementary way expanded my expression and connected me to the natural world.

I often tell people I live with my family on the banks of the St Croix River. Actually I live on a hill overlooking the river next door to the the ARTSelf Studio and the River House (rentriverhouse.com). For a long time I have dreamed of having a place where people would come to make art, do Tai Chi and Qigong, enjoy the beauty of the river and woods, rest and relax. I am living this dream and want to share it with you.

With 35 years of facilitating, teaching and making art plus studying and teaching Tai Chi and Qigong (TAICHILISA.COM) I have lots of ideas for creating art programs, facilitating events, bringing people together and having fun making art. ART TOGETHER programs are personal expressions of what is most important to me.