The Healing (Holiday) Arts

Sometimes art is like the flower that pushes up from a tiny crack in the cement -- it won't be denied, even in a life that is very busy, in a person who is very sick, in a world that is very commercial. Just listen to artist Suzaane Urban tell the story of how she started her artist cooperative, and look for all the problems she solved and all the challenges she overcame in pursuit of her artistic vision. I especially like how she brought so many other artists along for the ride. This gal's got generosity, guts and wisdom:

"Three years ago I underwent surgery, the resulting therapy required radiation that left me little energy to sculpt or paint. I’m an artist with a day job so my creative time is at a premium, losing weeks to this sluggish state could’ve caused enormous frustration, however I knew further worrying would stress my body out. Instead, I chose to mentally map out my future creative goals, something my impatient Gemini personality seldom allows. Never did I dream that this period of lying around and thinking could spawn a successful creative project that has helped me to stay the course with my personal artistic goals.

It was snowing heavily the day I popped that thinking cap on. Watching snow drift by my window I thought how labor intensive my sculpting medium was. Back then I created art dolls utilizing a technique called needle-felting; needle-felting is a process of sculpting with wool with a special needle that has a barbed tip. My large needle-felt sculpts take three months to create, thus barring the opportunity for consistent online and local gallery exposure; and more important consistent sales. As the snow drifted by, I thought of Christmas, then Halloween and other holidays. I thought about working smaller, then, I thought about-Ornaments!

Ornaments are an art form in their own right, and they cover a spectrum of subject matter and themes and mediums. Many become heirloom treasures for the owner to pass on to future generations. This revelation made me about creating smaller felted pieces, as ornaments they would have more of a sale-ability factor because of the utilitarian purpose. I picked up a pad of paper and started sketching out little characters. As my energy improved I pulled out a batt of wool and sculpted my first felted bear ornament, I added vintage buttons and embroidered thread to his ball-shaped trunk. I pondered over selling avenue to introduce my new work and chose eBay-but my concern was how to garner attention among the list of auctions by artists-would my listing get lost?

Since I’d previously organized a local doll artist group for networking and feedback, I knew there’s more strength in numbers. I knew juried art groups did well on eBay so I started AHAO or America Holiday Artists and invited artists into the group. Using the group’s acronym AHAO in our auction’s subject field and our banner in the auction helps collectors to find AHAO artists work.

My line of ornaments did well, and a group of 40+ artists were juried into the group. I have a
Co-leader who’s been wonderfully supportive, yet we’ve never met in person. This year, AHAO morphed into aHa or American Holiday Artists at the request of artist members to include all holiday art forms, paintings, art dolls, fiber art and more. We have a blog featuring aHa artists work on ETSY and eBay: www.AmericanHolidayArtists.com
and a website: http://homepage.mac.com/urbanradio/AHAOonlinewebsite/AHAO1.htm
Our blog receives healthy daily hits, and artists have participated in challenges and blog give-aways to further our public presence.

One of my other goals over those wintry “thinking” days was to develop a new illustrative style, something that reflected my inner voice as I’d like to illustrate my own children’s books someday. Last Spring I picked up a brush and now create aceo-size paintings i.e. 2.5”x3.5” that can be hung on a tree or wall. I’ve met many interesting collectors and have been approached to show in galleries and even commissioned for commercial work.

I’m grateful for the epiphany I experienced to move forward after my surgery, it’s the best medicine in the world and the side effects are wonderful!"