Transformative Art Story: Lisa Rasmussen MFA

I was born extremely hyper sensitive and shy. Growing up my Dad had PTSD, so there was a lot of chaos, violence, and lots of love in my home. My Mom was an Artist and guided me into using the power of Art to express myself. In recollection, I had my first major Social Phobic panic attack in school when I was around six. Art became my way of navigating in this sometimes scary world. Literally Art has saved my life, many times. Art has healed me.

By the time I got to my late teens, I became really Emo and I became a Goth. At this time my art became an expression of my internal and external angst. I was really treading in the dark world. Then when I was eighteen, I was in a very bad car crash. I had passed out and at that time I had an Out of Body Experience. From that brush with death and from the experience of having my spirit leave my body.  I completely transformed. I become hungry for mysticism and self growth. I became a seeker. My Art transformed from being dark into transcendence. I began painting mystical landscapes and my dreams. Art transformed into my teacher and healer. During the creation process I would have Kundalini rushes and felt a spiritual high from the creative process. I also began the practice of witnessing my art and seeing what new information and wisdom it had. I feel deeply in love with the power of art. Painting obsessively at night, I began working in the fine art world selling Picasso's and Chagall's. Then 2001, I had the opportunity to teach ESL in the South of China. That experience changed my life and my trajectory. I fell in love with teaching.

In undergraduate school I took a job working with at-risk teens called the Teen Art Explosion at an Alternative Highschool. All of these youth had been kicked out every school possible and this was their last chance. There I taught these youth the Transformative power of Art. One of my proudest memories was when 24 of teens' dream artwork got published in the International Association for the Study of Dreams magazine. That is when I decided to get MFA at JFKU in Berkeley in the Arts & Consciousness program. To really explore the deeper transformative nature of art and its amazing process. While getting my MFA, I took a job working as an Art Therapist at a mental health institution, Lincoln Child Center Oakland.  I taught these emotionally traumatized youth the power of art to heal and to transform. It was profound that the most traumatized of children thrived in the art room. My kids (my students) dubbed it the calm room. In 2008, I received the Holistic Studies graduate of the year award for my MFA Graduate Exhibition and my work with Children at Lincoln.

In tandem with my Art Therapist work, I had opened a non-profit called Art is Moving with Lauren Odell Usher Sharpton. Whose mission is to get everyone in  the world to take Art  for their well being. In 2010 we created our first Art Break Day in the Bay area with five sites. Setting up art making sites for strangers sit down and take art breaks for free. The next year Art Break Day went international and to date we have facilitated over 63,000 Art Breaks.

In 2010, I left the Bay Area and moved to LA. There I opened Sanctuary for Arts & Healing in Malibu with Fellow Alumnus, Ceylan Hulya called Art 4 All People. We curated arts and healing exhibitions. As well as we developed a new arts and healing practice called YogArt. With YogArt we led workshops, teach trainings, and retreats.

In 2015, I created the Harmonia Institute which is an extension of YogArt, where I teach the Harmonia Practice in workshops, life coaching, and retreats. In tandem with Harmonia, I began a Retreat program called Artemis Sacred Journeys with Mary Rockwood. We host international women’s empowerment Retreats in Tinos Greece. So for over seventeen years I have been teaching the transformative power of art to many diverse populations. My central focus with Harmonia is women's empowerment through the creative and holistic processes. Where by incorporate doTerra essential oils and various powerful holistic practices. Thus far my journey has been one of art, transformation, world travel, and magic. As I continue to expand and transcend my teachings and my art are refining like an alchemical process. I am here to be in service and inspire. Art is Life, Life is Art.