About

Heather Sullivan Bleasdell MA is a passionate artist, writer, mother and teacher experimenting in her magical laboratory in Northern California. Currently she teaches classes in art, meditation & creativity at the Petaluma Art House during the Fall and Spring. She also works with clients one-on-one as an intuitive consultant year round.

Training

Heather has a BA in English Literature from UC Santa Barbara, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Art from San Francisco State University. She graduated from a 3 year program in Intuitive Development at the School of Art & Magic with Mary Swanson in San Francisco. Heather worked as an independent artist & designer for 8 years, specializing in Web Design with Flash, as well as taught movie-making to adults and kids. Since 1999, Heather has practiced a form of process-painting she discovered through Michele Cassou’s book, Life Paint and Passion. She has studied with Michele Cassou, as well as taught and studied with Carol McIntyre and Barbara Schlumberger at The Painting Place in Santa Rosa. She has lead classes, workshops and transformational retreats since 1999.

Influences

Trees, running single-track trails, traveling, transformation, raw art, reading, the magical Mary Swanson, earth-based spirituality, nature, hand-made anything, playing dress-up, meditation, design, exploring, astrology, journaling, sidewalk chalk, roller-skating, hiking in the woods, sewing creatures, my mom & dad, sports, costumes, Michele Cassou’s questions, rocks (big and small), Lynda Berry’s story-telling, the guilt-free paintings of Squeak Carnwath’s, camping, the moon, riding my bike “The White Lady”, Beck, author/artist Kerry Smith, rainbows, Maui, Starhawk, stories-myths-fables, movies, authenticity, VW vanagons, painting, author/artist Maira Kalman, singing, seasonal magic, mexican arts & crafts, the mystery, succulents, gardening, coffee, glitter, wildness, kids, adventure and much much more... including my fabulously supportive husband, Artist Steve Bleasdell, and our darling delicious spawn, Addie Rose.

Philosophy

We are not our parents and our children are not us. We are all unique individuals with the right to our own experience, to our own thoughts, needs and desires. No two people think alike, paint alike or create alike. Therefore, let’s refuse to compare ourselves or our children to anyone else. We are all fellow travelers on life’s great adventure and we are all infinitely creative beings.

Whether we are conscious of it or not, we create our life every day, in every way. When we choose to feed our creativity with process-based expressive art, we begin to change our habitual thinking and response patterns. We become more playful, passionate and alive. We find ourselves more present in the moment. We become more “in-touch” with what has heart and meaning for us and less attached to the things that suck us dry. Once we learn how to tap into the Source of our creative energy regularly, we can begin to channel that same infinite creative flow into our daily lives... opening us up to unimaginable possibilities.

Current Obsessions

Painting, running on trails, Little Red Riding Hood mythology, doll making, writing, painting with toddlers, enjoying my daughter’s Lust for Life (and her lust for painting!)

Why is the studio closed? (Summer 2010)

Currently I am focused on my own work as an artist and exploring how to create art experiences with/for toddlers (and their parents). That means, Addie and I are spending a lot of time in the studio together. We will be including other’s soon, so please join the mailing list for updates on future classes and workshops. If you have a special request, feel free to email me.