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

Britt, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I was a creative kid and don’t remember a time when I wasn’t making art. Art was always my favorite class in school and always something I did to avoid doing homework in other subjects. I loved to doodle, draw, paint, make sculptures, and give gifts of my art to my loved ones for their birthdays and holidays. However, my father was not a big fan of me pursuing art as a career. He thought art was a great hobby, but he wanted me to pursue a “real” career. So, my journey as an artist was not a straight line. It looked more like a scribble.

It wasn’t until I got to college and people were asking me to make them paintings for their dorms and apartments that I realized being an artist was a “real” career for me. So, with the support of my mother, I had a talk with my dad and transferred to an art school. When I graduated with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I felt that there was something more I needed to do to help others. But it took me a few years to find the concept of art therapy during which time I was exhibiting my art in galleries in San Francisco and Los Angeles. While getting my masters in Art Therapy and Marriage and Family Therapy, I connected with an agent who got my work in galleries in New York and Pittsburg. Looking back, I guess this would be the time when I finally realized I was a professional artist.

Britt, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Having my art in galleries sprinkled across the US with collectors around the world is an honor I never could have imagined as a child and something I’m so grateful for, but something always felt missing. I knew there was a benefit to the artist in the process of nonverbal expression that occurs during art making, but how could this translate to the viewer? How could my art help others?

Then, when my mother passed away and my only sister was diagnosed with cancer, art took on a whole new meaning. I had studied reiki and become a reiki master teacher and was interested in stone medicine, an ancient Chinese energy medicine practice, and found a synergy between my work and these wellness modalities. The paths merged when my art making became a sacred healing practice. It begins with meditation and a cleansing of my energy with sage smoke and quantum healing to purify my soul, followed by a prayer for the divine to send love through me into the artwork. I incorporate ground mineral stones with specific healing properties into the paint and set the intention to create more peace and calm in the world through each painting. By integrating energy healing into each piece, my art is now capable of sending a healing transmission thus lifting the energetic frequency of not only the viewer, but the entire planet.

Taking the concept of healing a step further, I host an annual multidisciplinary wellness and art event in Southern California called Healing House where guests receive the same healing energy put forth in my paintings: reiki, a guided meditation, and a crystal bowl sound bath designed to cleanse and purify their energy meridians. After the initial healing, guests art introduced to my latest body of art work, invited to move their bodies in a disco dance party, and the event is closed with a gratitude tea ceremony to fill our hearts and minds with love and a focus on blessings. It is my goal to host these events in places where participants who need healing will have easy access to a community focused on wellness and peace, so that this energy can spread into the world and continue lifting the vibration of the planet and all beings everywhere.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

As I said, my career as an artist has been a winding road. There were times, like when my mom was in treatment for cancer, where I did not make art. And during this time, I was focused on raising my children and I started blogging about parenting, business, and child safety. I was fortunate enough to be asked to speak at events like Baby Celebration LA, to over 20,000 moms. I was also invited to speak at what was called Blog World and eventually became New Media Expo in Las Vegas. I met and worked with a wide array of very interesting people who were among the first to build their brands on social media. We were the first set of social media influencers. And somehow, I found myself on the red carpet of events like the Emmys and the Billboard Awards, working with Vanity Fair and Entertainment Tonight as a social media correspondent. It was a lot of fun! But eventually it came to a point where I needed to reevaluate if this was the course I was meant to take in my life or if I was avoiding what I came here to do.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but I knew deep down, I wasn’t making art and I wasn’t listening to my soul. What I was doing was exciting and I was good at it, but it wasn’t my soul’s calling. I kept some consulting clients for a few years and phased out my social media influencer work and eventually found my way back to my art. I don’t regret the diversion I took with this work as I made amazing friends and had a great time, but it took a while to get back on track with my art and it also made me think long and hard about what I do want and why I’m here. I needed to have this experience to help me know for sure that I am meant to be an artist and my work is needed in this world. We live in a world of distractions and it’s okay to get distracted, but in the end we need to make sure we honor our life purpose.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

We are living through unprecedented times in every way. We’ve been through a pandemic where the world shut down and that has had consequences that continue to this day. Not only do we all have our individual stories of trauma and triumph, but as a collective we do as well. These experiences leave imprints on our souls that need to be transmuted to heal. I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone on the planet who isn’t in need of healing at this time. I believe healing comes from love.

My life mission is to put more love into this world. I do this not only by taking care of myself (body, mind, and spirit) through self love, but also through being a devoted wife, mom, daughter, and friend. I also do this through my podcast, The Daily Healing (available on Apple,Spotify, Google, iHeart, etc) which offers guided meditations to inspire a practice of healing, so we can collectively spread more love in the world.

It takes humility, forgiveness, compassion, and gratitude to be a loving human. Just like art is a practice we can always improve upon, healing is a practice we must engage in for our own spiritual evolution as individuals and as a collective. If we all focus on healing every day, the world will find peace.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://BrittMichaelian.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/BrittMichaelian
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/6fxZbufk6NsSt98e9WYD6j