image by Gabrielle Kai
My name is Karen Wallace and I’m an Art Therapist, Artist, Art Instructor, Educator, Focusing Trainer and a gypsy at heart! During my early twenties after university, I worked in fashion, but after five years I left that world with my partner, Patrick, and traveled through Europe and North Africa in a VW van for 18 months. We really lived the life of carefree rovers. It was the early 1980s and many people were traveling that way. Looking back on our life style, I now feel we took enormous risks, but then it was to us, just life on the road. We sold everything we owned before leaving Canada and had many strange, amazing and life enriching experiences. We returned to Canada moving to Pender Island in British Columbia and began our back to the land period. We had a market garden selling organic produce, I ran a local gallery and sold my own artwork and the work of many other Island artists, we raised goats, chickens, doves, a pony and cats and dogs. I had two children, both home births. We lived an idealistic life in a beautiful paradise and hosted story telling festivals (Patrick is a story teller), art shows in the garden, and I read tarot for many tourists.
When the traveling urge hit us again, we sold everything that we owned and backpacked through the South Pacific with our children, Teiji (7) and Willow (11), settling in Brisbane Australia for a while. When we lived on Pender Island I worked in clay, but traded that for Mixed Media and aArt Journaling so I could work on the road. We homed schooled the children on the road using Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia as the curriculum. When we returned to Canada moving to Victoria B.C., I returned to school and became an Art Therapist. I worked for several years in Victoria as an Art Therapist in the school system, and privately with people suffering from mental and emotional issues and with special needs. During that time I also I taught Art Journaling and Mixed Media and showed my own work in galleries in Victoria and the Gulf Islands. In 2004, my partner took a position at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, and my son and I soon followed him to the Prairies.
In Regina, I have a private practice with adults and children and I specialize in trauma work. Some of the people that I work with live with brain injuries, autism, life transitions, depression, abuse issues, body image and family issues. I also facilitate many different kinds of creativity and art therapy groups for example: The Archetypal Journey, Learning to Love the Body You Have, Claiming Your Ruby Red Slippers, Soul Garden and Honoring the Mother. I teach Focusing and Focused Centered Art Therapy internationally. I teach Art Education at the University of Regina showing pre-service teachers how to bring Mixed Media and process art into their classrooms. Most of my traveling these days is done with clients through their desires to make changes in their lives.
I feel very blessed to have had the experience of twice being free of possessions by selling everything we owned to travel, to have taken the risk to take the kids hiking through the South Pacific and having traveled Europe and North Africa while it was still open and seemingly safer.
In November 2011, I am returning to Morocco to Peacock Pavilions to give a workshop called Learning Focusing to Help Free the Artist in You. Of all the places I have traveled, Morocco is one of my favorite. You can read more about this workshop at my website. I am inviting all those possessed by wanderlust to join me in this adventure and come to Marrakech, Morocco to learn how to use Art Therapy and Focusing to help free up your inner artist. At the beautiful, colorful and relaxing Peacock Pavilions, we will enjoy great food, a wonderful environment and rich learning. You can check out this post to explore the exquisite location that will host this workshop. We will be gathering November 6th to 12th 2011 for this adventure. Come play with us if you are up for an exotic adventure among other gypsy artists!
