We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brandy Stark. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brandy below.
Brandy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
Most of my adult life has been divided between three major loves: education, art, and the study of the paranomral. They do overlap at times, though I sometimes find that I walk a fine line.
After 10 years as an adjunct professor, I got my PhD and was finally offered a full time faculty position. I was thrilled and for the first few years, felt fulfilled. But, as time went on the stresses of chaning expecations in higher education, a different student body, and the stress of balancing everything began to drain me in that trifecta of mental, spiritual, and physical wellness. As my college attempted to unionize, I found myself wondering if I could see myself there for the next 20 years; I could not.
I did seek advice from friends, family, a career coach, and a consilor. I did not want to make a hasty decision. I knew that I had achived a goal that I had wanted since childhood, but that the dream and the reality were not the same.
In late 2018, I found myself in the ER with a pounding heart and a pulse that I could feel in every facet of my body. It turned out that the stress had gotten to me. It was time to make that change (and, happily, it was only a stress reaction and nothing worse than that!)
I paid off my house, my debt, and set my goals. I wanted to make sure that I hit a certain level in the retirement program, saved up some money, put my house in order, and then it was time to move on. Over the summer of 2019, I quit my full time faculty job in order to follow my other passions: the art business that I had been building, and my paranormal interests (tours, talks, books, and more).
This was huge. It’s something that few people do. I thought I had walked away from higher education forever, but in 2021 I was called by State College Florida Manatee to do some part time teaching. I decided to do it because teaching is in my blood. I love learning, and I adore my subjects (religion, humanities, and literature. Yes, I also have three graduate degrees along with the PhD). This allowed me to continue to teach and connect with students but in an environment that was healthier for me. I had time to assist my mother as her primary caretaker, stay with my beloved pugs, and focus on my art skills, studio business, tours, and writing. I subsequently released “Supernatural Saint Petersburg and Paranormal Pinellas” (through Amazon.com or available at my studio and the Suntan Art Center). I was hired to write feature articles for the Northeast Journal. I work as a tour guide for Paradise Tours doing bus ghost tours.
I am poorer than I was (and as a homeowner now, probably poorer than ever before) but my apathy is gone.. I feel engaged, invigorated, and excited. I love what I do. My goal is to find ways to make more of a liveable wage doing it.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Sure, this is my official just bio:
Brandy Stark moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1992. As an undergraduate, she took a course in sculpture at the University of Tampa where she discovered her wire wrapping abilities. Utilizing welding rods, she made three wrapped wire figures: a triton, a dragon, and a centaur. These constituted the first generation of her “Metal Myths” series, established in 1995. A lifelong lover of world mythology, her works often manifest as ancient characters, legends, and deities. Tying past to present, Stark sees herself as a Neo-expressionist with the weaving and wrapping process she uses transferring her own energy into the piece. Inspired by the sculptures of Joan Miro, she also utilizes found objects in her pieces. These promote an awareness not only of upcycling, but symbolize that everything and everyone has a place in this world.
As she expanded her visual arts career, she also became an arts correspondent for the St. Petersburg Times (1998 to 2002). She also wrote for other local publications, including Bayside News, Sterling Powell’s City Life, and several art based websites. This gave her invaluable insights to the local artist community and inspired her to work even harder on her own artistic vision.
Much of her creativity intertwines with her educational endeavors. Her undergraduate studies produced a double major in History and Classics from the University of South Florida. She holds a graduate degree in Religious Studies, also from the University of South Florida, and a second graduate degree in Humanities from Tiffin University, Ohio. In December 2017 she completed her third graduate degree in Liberal Studies from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. She obtained a doctorate in Leadership and Education from Barry University in 2010. She won two National Endowment of the Humanities grants to further her research; Transcendentalism (Concord, Massachusetts, 2009) and Georgia O’Keefe (Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2012).
As an educator, she taught Humanities, Literature and Religious Studies at St. Petersburg College, Hillsborough Community College, the University of Tampa, and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. She continues to teach as an adjunct for Florida State College Jacksonville. During her 10-year tenure as a full time Humanities and Fine Arts instructor at St. Petersburg College, she created art spaces on multiple campuses in order to increase student-artist interaction. These spaces provided a free location for artists to share their works, and included interactive artist-centered discussions with each show.
Stark served as an artist-in-residence for Bay Pines VA Hospital in 2004, and on the boards of The Exhibiting Society of Artists and the Suntan Art Center. She has won “People’s Choice”, “Best 3-D” and “Best Concept” awards for her wire works. The wire pieces have also placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd for multiple art shows, and were selected to show in the Twelve Nights of Dali in December 2016. Her photography has won multiple awards, including Are You Being Koi With Me? (Honorable Mention), Shiva Nataraja (Honorable Mention, People’s Choice Award), and Peering Through A Portal (3rd place). Flamingo was juror-selected to show at Amalie Arena for the 2016 season and also won multiple awards. Its sister piece, Flamingo Knows won Honorable Mention; in 2017 it was selected for publication of the Best of Tampa Bay photography by Tampa Bay Magazine. Her work, Reflection of a Flamingo has also won multiple awards including Best of Show at Stirling Art Gallery (2017). She won a grant from the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance in 2019 to create the “All Things Augustus” art show.
SPIRITS of St. Petersburg
Dr. Brandy Stark started the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg in 1997, when she first started her academic research into the role of the liminal. She took her research to conferences and expanded into studying the lore and legends of Tampa Bay. She was able to utilize her connections at the University of South Florida to do her first official ghost hunt in 1999, which she later wrote up as an article for the USFSP student paper, The Crow’s Nest. From there, she did talks in the local community and met other individuals curious about the supernatural. She officially founded the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg paranormal investigation team in 2000, and it remains an active group today.
Over the years, she has done approximately 400 investigations locally, nationally, and internationally on her own and with her team. Stark’s goal is to involve the community in the research so that others can distinguish natural causes from those of more questionable origin. She has worked to create a reasonable and compassionate view of the supernatural world by integrating ideas and academic discussions of symbolism, cultural interpretation, and respect for others (dead or living).
She is the host for the Paranormal Pets podcast on petliferadio.com, now at over 110 episodes. Stark also authored a book on local paranormal phenomena called Supernatural Saint Petersburg and Paranormal Pinellas, available at Amazon. In addition, she is the guide for the Shadows in the Sunshine walking ghost tour of downtown St. Petersburg. Tours are created upon request and kept to small groups. Stops are at locations that the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg have investigated over the past two decades.
SPIRITS of St. Petersburg
Dr. Brandy Stark started the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg in 1997, when she first started her academic research into the role of the liminal. She took her research to conferences and expanded into studying the lore and legends of Tampa Bay. She was able to utilize her connections at the University of South Florida to do her first official ghost hunt in 1999, which she later wrote up as an article for the USFSP student paper, The Crow’s Nest. From there, she did talks in the local community and met other individuals curious about the supernatural. She officially founded the SPIRITS of St. Petersburg paranormal investigation team in 2000, and it remains an active group today.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One of the hardest things for me was convincing myself that I did the right thing. It’s easy to imagine the future, but when I quite that full time job I didn’t see COVID-19 on the horizon along with a complete shut down (a whole art show got “stuck” in my studio for months due the lockdown), or the threat of inflation (a killer for the arts) bringing fears of a recession. I also had nagging doubts that crept up on me from decades ago. I once had a supervisor who bought one of my pieces when I was a fledgling artist. She asked me what I would do when everyone who wanted a piece of my art had one already….and that was terrifying.
I worried and worried and worried. Was I crazy to give up that full time position that I had worked SO HARD for? I missed having a steady salary so much, and the security that it offered. I doubted my decision for three years, only really coming to terms with it and letting it go a few months ago.
It took friends and family reminding me how much I had changed since I resigned. I, personally, knew that my engagement in life ramped up 1000-fold. I am interested, excited, engaged. For the first time in my adult life, i didn’t feel the need to prove myself, but I still wrestled with self-doubt and imposter syndrome. I have always felt on the edge of the arts, with my wire works desctibed as niche pieces. The paranormal is great in the fall, but what would I do for the rest of the year? And it was strange to go back to an adjunct teaching job that was really only about teaching, yet knowing that most of the program powers resided with the full-time faculty to plan course materials. (State College of Florida Manatee has been wonderful to work with. I am grateful to have the ability to creat coursework that meets with my 20+ years of training, certifications, experiences and studies).
It was a silly little thing that changed my mind. During the lunar eclipse, I read an article about a meditation that was symbolically designed to help one release fears. I knew that the self doubt was a form of fear, my focus on the past was the same (especially as the savings that I had built up are dwindling and I have not been able to replace much yet. A broken ankle, even with ACA insurance, was eye-opening and still cost me quite a bit out of pocket! Emergencies and general rising cost of living has done the same….).
So, this meditation was about releasing fear. It was really hoaky and I did not place much faith in it. The general premise was to imagine sending oneself to the moon where a lunar eclipse guardian resides and to imagine giving them something that represents the weight of the fear. Imagine that that object is bound to the individual with a chain, then imagine giving that fear to the guardian who severs the chain, freeing the individual from the fear.
I mean, strange, right? But I was tired of the fear. Countless conversations and reassurances from others had not stopped me from this feeling of unsettlement. Maybe this would help?
I sat outside under my oak tree and watched the moon slowly disappearing during the hour before the complete shadow took over. The street was quiet (odd since I live in an urban area). I could hear frogs chirping and an owl trilled above me somewhere. Sitting and watching the moon was so calming. When it finally blinked out of sight, I focused my mind, imagined soaring up through the clouds and landing on the moon. I followed the meditation to the letter, imagining myself handing off my fear to a lunar guardian, cutting the cord that bound it to me, and then gently coming back to the earth.
The meditation took about 5 or 10 minutes. But when I opened my eyes, a calmness had come into me. The fear seemed to be gone. Months later, it still is.
I think that the meditation, in its symbolic state, helped me to get through that final push….to let go of the disappointment I had felt from my prior job and, perhaps, in myself. There was, and still is, a calmness within….and I think I may try to do a similar meditation for myself every now and again. In whatever way, this has allowed me to let go of the past and move forward into a very uncertain, but exciting, future.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
All of my fields, education, art, and even the paranormal research, is very critical. The academic world judges one for the ability to create a theory and support it, to defend a point of view successfully. It is a field that naturally leads itself to judgement, from obtaining degrees, being deemed worthy of hiring for part and full time positions, meeting standards placed by the administration, college, and state, and being judged by the students.
The arts are naturally subjective. I have always felt on the edge of the arts in this area, despite being a working and showing artist since 1995. There is an idea that sometimes forms that a “real” artist does it full time and supports themselves with art income. And there is a lot of rejection for art shows and grants with stiff competition and subjective juries with various backgrounds.
The paranormal field is the most unstable. With the rise of the television shows, the field has become oversaturated. What is on TV does not reflect a standard investigation since my team and I are not out for ratings. It runs as both a pseudoscience and, in my opinion, a pseudoreligion. So, tryting to tow a more objective line can be hard. (On the academic side of things, I can study the paranormal through the arts and literature as a form of cultural expression, which I also love). Plus, it’s another niche market that is also highly competitive.
I have learned that I need to just follow my own path. While it is important to have a good reputation, be honest and ethical, what works for me may not be fore everyone. I should count the successes, not the failures. Trying to see that has been incredibly hard for me so it is a day-by-day process. Trying to believe in me and my own value is always a challenge, but I am learning both.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bstarkart.com
- Instagram: b.starkart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandyBStark
- Linkedin: Brandy Stark
- Twitter: starkimages
- Youtube: SPIRITS of St. Petersburg
- Other: b.starkart2 (TikTok) Reels (content creator) Brandy B. Stark, PhD
Image Credits
All mine. I took all of these photos.