A display of local art greets donors, nonprofit partners and community members when they enter the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. After the building was remodeled a few years ago, a wall serves as a rotating art display where local artists are invited to exhibit their work.

The display and its prominence elevate the importance of local art in the community. Featured artists rotate every few months.

Stacy Parish — the current featured artist at the Community Foundation — is more than just a painter. She’s an award-winning storyteller, host of the Full Spirals podcast, and educator who’s been honing her craft for almost 25 years. Stacy said the exhibit is a culmination of her “dance with the creative process.”

Here’s more from Stacy:

“I spent the first half of my life vacillating between the belief that I was born to create and the belief that my work was never ‘good enough.’ I’ve mounted creative endeavors, tried to turn my passions into paychecks, and mistaken the importance of product over the importance of process.

And when I talk to folks about creativity — whether they consider themselves an ’artist’ or not — I hear these same things again and again. In a capitalistic culture that views the arts as exclusive (rather than a birthright), it’s no wonder.

After turning 50, I set out on a new way of operating in the world — the way of ‘What if?’

• What if I try this?  Or THIS?
• What if there is no right way or wrong way?
• What if curiosity is more important than finding my “passion”?
• What if I can’t screw it up?

This exhibit is the culmination of my dance with the creative process, and it’s a dance that has lasted more than three decades. It represents a victory over some familiar refrains that circle in my mind — and in most people’s minds — around creativity.

It documents my process of finding creative flow in the visual arts and my discovery of a practice that can be used by anyone to access their creativity. I call this practice Empowered Lines.

Empowered Lines is a workshop I created that offers a path to wellness through creativity. It’s based on a course of study called Neurographica, and I designed it as a means to offer a practice to people, rather than just another project. 

I enjoy walking people through this process and demystifying creativity for people of all ages, and Empowered Lines is meant for anyone who wants to lean into their creativity — but for whatever reason — feels they’re not allowed to.

Participants are led through a step-by-step process of very simple drawing and painting with a focus on the creative process and not the end product. It’s a way to completely let go of thinking and tap into feeling and creating. Transform the story you’ve been telling yourself … discover and PLAY!

It’s a doorway; not a destination.”

If you are an artist interested in displaying your work at the Community Foundation, learn more here.

Stacy Parish was featured in a recent Voices from the Valley Episode titled Art Making an Impact. Check it out!

Listen to Voices From the Valley: Art Making An Impact: Part 1

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