We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Heather Reese a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Heather, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

This is quite a complicated story, but so appropriate in the painful yet beautiful path that my life took because of my parents. As a young girl, I was sexually assaulted by my grandfather for 3 years. While this abuse stopped once I told my parents what was happening, they had no idea how to help me, so much so that it only caused further damage until I was able to get help for myself at 19.

Having said that, I came home from school one day at age 14, and my mom had a plethora of art supplies laying on my bed. She told me to have at it, to create, to write, to draw, to paint….wherever I wanted in my room. I painted and wrote of my pain and my dreams, not realizing the freedom she gave me to do so actually saved me from myself. I had no plans of becoming an artist one day, let alone an art therapy practitioner, but my life continued, and through years of therapy and putting the work in to become whole, art came full circle for me.

In the last 18 years, I have taught hundreds of classes and workshops, performed social justice stories through simultaneous painting and dancing, enjoyed solo and corporate exhibits, traveled the country with my art, and taken part in so many wonderful events in my community. While this is just a fraction of all I have learned and experienced, it led me to my passion of mentoring young women in the arts, and earning my certification as an art therapy practitioner. I am humbled that God can use a broken vessel like myself to help others heal. I waited for YEARS until I was “all fixed up” before I took any steps to serve my community or help women and girls through the healing power of art. I learned that I would never “fully arrive”, so I started doing all I was dreaming of, flaws and all! I have also started creative retreats for women, with my first successful retreat under my belt, and 16 now scheduled for 2023!

My mind never stops creating. It is constantly dancing through ideas and dreams and although it’s easy to focus on the mistakes my parents made, I have found so much peace in the things they did right. If it were not for that which they DID teach me, I so strongly believe my life would have taken a completely different road. I am ever grateful to them and equally amazed at how all three of my children (adult) have incredible artistic skills far beyond my own. Art heals; it brings people together, and it is a most magnificent thing to be a part of!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us! Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

My name is Heather Omara Reese, and I am a visual mixed media and performance artist. I got into art as a child, through trauma, which took me on my journey to healing!

As a young girl and teenager, drawing, painting and poetry were my outlets and safe space. As an adult, I continued to develop as an artist, but was also blessed with career opportunities. While most of my 18 year career has been spent in abstract painting, my art surprisingly transitioned into resin and earthen works since my father’s passing in March of 2021. Working with the things he taught me through my childhood not only helped in dealing with his loss, but literally brought me into my true nature as an artist and my deep connection to the earth. I took a lot of prayer walks after my father’s death and collected some really magical gems! In hopes of preserving them, I began to play with resin and glass, which rapidly turned into all the things: driftwood, pigment, crystals, bark, sand, dirt, seashells. moss, inks, liquid gold, compounds, leaves, and the list goes on.

It is safe to say since losing my dad, I’ve been on a “playground” of sorts. Every piece I create has a bit of my father’s spirit within it, which is incredibly healing! My dad and I share a very beautiful miracle, and when my pieces sell, I often share the story with my buyers. As we speak, there is a bio/documentary being filmed of our story by the amazing filmmaker Dedrick D L Pitter.

In essence, as a mixed media artist, I create earthen works of art: geodes of all shapes and sizes, meditation rock sculptures, resin furniture, driftwood filled with “river water”, rare lilac wood jewelry and hangings, resin mold creations with earthen elements and just sooo much more! I still paint large layered abstracts when the spirit hits me, which I adore. All of my work is original, which I believe sets me apart, and I LOVE commission work because I am giving something so unique and one-of-a-kind to my clients.

As a performance artist, I marry the art of movement and dance while simultaneously painting stories of social justice. Example: I performed for a social justice event in 2017 called ‘Silence is Death’, a blocks-wide arts event with art and performances to raise awareness to various social justice issues. I stood against sex trafficking with my piece, which include photos in this article.

I have taught hundreds of art classes in my community, across Ohio as well as the U.S., from schools to workshops for all ages, global organizations, community centers and Ohio State University. I paint custom residential homes as well (large abstract on walls), and murals! Earning my certification as an art therapy practitioner has been one of the greatest joys and highlights of my career. It is hard to pinpoint what I am most proud of, but I did a Ted Talk in 2016 which terrified me, but I did it!

My true pride and joy is being a mother, grandmother, sister and friend, and teaching my grandchildren about love and art. This is my driving force <3.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Ohhh how I wish I had known of all the resources available to me in the early years of my career! Because I was still dealing with trauma, it was easy to isolate and I unconsciously tried to figure everything out on my own. I had to learn the hard way that community is where love and opportunity flow, and once I allowed myself to learn from others, I just blossomed! Connection and collaboration really began to fuel my creative energy. I learned about grants, internships, continuing education, the power of giving back and teaching all you know to the next generation.

I was genuinely in a bubble for years…painting in a corner and advertising to the same friends and family. This only led me to the same spot I began in, time and again, until I allowed myself to spread my wings into my community. I love the quote “A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms”. There is enough to go around and we NEED each other to flourish. The only reason I didn’t know about my available resources was because I did not seek them. I was craving community but entered the art world like a fish out of water. Turns out, I could have avoided so many issues if I had just CONNECTED.

The best advice I can give any emerging artist is to connect, connect, connect! Visit your local museums, artist co-ops, grant and resource organizations locally and nationally, post to social media, and apply to festivals, events, exhibits and galleries until it becomes second nature.

If I could sum up into one word every artist’s greatest resource? Community.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding things for me as an artist are:

1) The freedom to create all the things that live in my head, my heart and my spirit. For years, trauma stole these spaces, but with time and healing, my creative process was able to take that back in SO many beautiful ways! I had to learn (and unlearn!) mindsets, and it is within this realm that I am able to unapologetically and freely be my redheaded wildflower self :).

2) Mentoring girls and women through the power of art to help them in their journey to healing. THIS is my whole heart; to watch these ladies grow and heal feeds my entire self. Art saved my life (God really did), but He used the profound impact of the arts to literally save me from the disastrous road my life could have taken. But God. But grace. Whether I am holding space for one in an art therapy session, or leading one of my Creative Freedom Retreats for Women, this is where my heart beats.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @the_red_head33
• Facebook: Heather Omara Art

Image Credits
Dedrick D L Pitter Donte Woods-Spikes