As I prepare to leave the Bay Area and step into a new chapter in life and work, I am in a reflective time inquiring into what I have gained over three decades of immersion in Northern California culture. This career I have cultivated has brought me into the roles of mentor, therapist and teacher (and of course 'artist'). I don't take for granted that I've landed in my purpose and calling, and that I receive tremendous value from engaging in the work. In my recent Art Cures retreat at the San Francisco Zen Center I gathered with many students and clients that I have supported over ...

I want to talk about my first hand experience with rejection. Part of achieving success as a creative person is learning to market oneself, be visible, and in turn find strategies to manage disappointment. Like most of us, I have had my share. And, despite the knowledge that rejection is to be expected, it is hard to accept when encountering it. Getting the 'no' from a film festival, a decline letter from a grant proposal, a brush-off from a potential client, or being 'ghosted' when sharing work can be discouraging. All of these instances have given me the opportunity to ...

Happy Holidays! As 2022 winds to a close, and we get ready for a different pace over the holidays, I am thanking you for being a part of my creative community. I find ongoing inspiration from the art expressions of the people I work with through my practice and in my courses. I also have so many incredible colleagues and artist friends who model how art can be a practice of healing, connection and social change. I wanted to offer you an exercise to tap into a creative mindset that can also offer you time for contemplation and integration as ...

This is my artist friend Henry Sultan. I have known Henry for a few decades, and now I'm in my 50's and he is in his 80's! We first met when I was the Art Curator at the California Institute of Integral Studies where I hosted an art show with Henry and his wife Jenny Badger Sultan. They have both dedicated their life to painting and the creative path. Currently, I live a block from Henry and Jenny's home and they have one of the best art studios I have ever encountered. You can see it from the street; it ...

In my ‘split’ life as arts therapist/ coach/ teacher/ artist, I am a grand juggler and I thrive on being actively engaged in life and art. My work can be intense, and being a creative person and a business owner doesn’t come without sacrifice. I have to be diligent about my self-care to maintain my stamina. This was especially true during the pandemic. In early 2020, in addition to my practice and teaching, I was at the tail end of a long creation phase with a documentary film, The Creative High. I started to see very clearly that stress was taking its toll. I could feel it in my ...

“A flow state…This is when you are so absorbed in what you are doing that you lose all sense of yourself, and time seems to fall away, and you are flowing into the experience itself. It is the deepest form of focus and attention that we know of…We know at some level, that when we are not focusing, we are not using one of our greatest capacities.” - Johann Hari As I write this, I am sitting at a local cafe. They are playing rhythmic alternative music, the doors are open and fans are overhead on a sunny day in ...

It was an absolute honor to be interviewed by the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation for an online blog entitled Meet Adriana Marchione, director of “The Creative High”.  This Q&A, facilitated by Jeremiah Gardner, was originally published for Hazelden Betty Ford’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. If you’d like to receive their advocacy emails, subscribe today. Q: What does recovery look like for you, and how has it empowered different aspects of your life? Recovery has been a waking-up process for me which is ever-evolving. It was a rebirth, which over time gave me the ability to face life with open eyes and a ...

The best forms of healing, therapy, and meditation are learning to trust. The trust is the genuine kind.” - Jack Kornfeld This newsletter is dedicated to Theresa Cangelosi who was my therapist for eight years. She guided me through the most difficult times of my life. I came to her after an estrangement from a spiritual mentor during an emotional crisis. A few years into our work together she supported me through the illness and death of my late husband due to lung cancer. Theresa was a somatic psychotherapist with a special focus working with trauma. She was Italian American which created a ...

"I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap. - Ani DiFranco I am a community-oriented person. I was brought up with festive family dinners, playing cards with aunts and uncles, and memorable parties at special events. In my formative years we lived abroad because of my father's work as an anthropologist in both Jamaica and Norway. I was introduced to an international group of people dedicated to social change. This has made a lasting impression. Throughout my life, I have maintained strong ties, yet there has been times when I have felt isolated or separate from. When I ...

Last week I wrote about 'languishing' and how art can be a way through (find the blog post here). I am following up with a ‘life/art' remedy to support you to connect to your aliveness through an Art Altar. I have found that even the simplest gathering of objects that have meaning increases the feeling of purpose and inner strength. In addition, it can be a useful guide towards healing oneself, giving hope to someone in your life, or supporting a cause you believe in. ART ALTAR EXERCISE 1) Find the intention for your art altar. What do you want to focus on, heal, offer to a ...