My Story – Freedom Arts & Bodywork

my story…

Well I was always a little out there.

as a child…

My mom said that I would do craft/art projects my own way. I did projects at bible camps, Sunday school, girl scouts, and with my mom. My mom bought me a sewing machine when I was 6 and we would sew side by side.

The only real art instruction I had was when I was 8 years old and took an oil painting class. After my first class the teacher was blown away about what I created, she pulled my mom to the side and said that I had a real gift for art, that what I created and how I used the paint, it takes students years to accomplish that technique. I was only able to take a few oil painting classes until my dad got electrocuted. He totally died and went to Heaven, was dead for 22 minutes and was a total miracle!

as a teenager…

That was it for art till 11th grade in High school when I took multimedia and art, which brought so much love to my life. Sadly softball and volleyball always trumped my art elective. My senior year I was the photographer for the newspaper and yearbook and also inherited my PawPaw’s darkroom and medium format camera. I had some fun with that. I also finally found my own path and got closer to what I was meant to be. I hid my talents most of my life because they made me so different and I just wanted to fit in.

I saw the world different. I saw something in everything. I saw the beauty everywhere I looked. It was very tough to navigate. It’s confusing to decide on the one thing to focus on, still 40 years later. So i decided what makes me truly happy is to do a bit of everything.

graphic design…

After high school I got a degree in graphic design and worked in publishing, laying out magazines in New Orleans. I also took art classes at Delgado and UNO for fun. After years of working behind a computer all day, I decided I wanted to be free.

fine arts…

In 2003 I started on my BA of Art at Nicholls. Actually I was like, ahhhhhhh, what am I going to do? It was August and Nicholls said I couldn’t take any more art classes until I took English and math; which I was deathly afraid of, so I trashed the thought of college. Until December came and I received a pamphlet in the mail stating I could go to college for free and would get paid a monthly siphon because my dad had just received his 100% disability for his PTSD from Vietnam, but I had to enroll before I turned 25 years old which was three months away. So I took it as the sign I had been praying for.

In college I was unstoppable, when I wasn’t studying I was in the studios making stuff, I was the leader of my art fraternity, graduated with the highest art award even though my last couple of years I struggled with migraines and being around chemicals: Tis the reason my studio & life are toxic free! I was the senior graphic designer for the newspaper and yearbook while I was in college, I taught art classes for the Houma Regional Art Council, and led many art shows as a curator, visual and performance artist! It was such a beautiful journey, I miss Nicholls so much, those art studios are a treasure, and I try to visit at least once a year.

post college…

In 2007, I moved to the Bywater Art Lofts in New Orleans and played a big role in the Colton Project on St. Claude, where about 200 artists took over a post-Katrina school in the Bywater. We fixed it up and changed the world. We hosted after school art classes for the 9th Ward kids, bused in kids from all over to have an art day, and had many art openings. We would have really changed the city with that place, it was so dreamy, and so amazing. Then they kicked us out and rebuilt it. It’s a nice charter school now.

I was in many group shows and had a couple of solo shows on Julia St. at the Canary Gallery. Life was amazing.

knocked up and upside down…

Then in 2009 I got myself pregnant, was totally alone, in pain and poor — my world fell apart. I had this incredible life growing inside me. In the end, he saved me, I call him — Luca, Bringer of my Light. My body was not ready to carry a child. I struggled with a lot of migraines, depression, neck and back pain. Having him nearly broke my back. It’s taken about 8 years to let go of the emotional and physical pain and get my life and art back on track.

freedom exclaimed…

I was stuck for such a long time. Ugh, that pain has strengthened me and has made me who I am inside and out. I am grateful for all of it. I named my business Freedom because Freedom is what I have sought out after since I was 18 years old and now I have finally arrived. It feels great and I can’t wait to inspire the world to find it.

talented art…

My job is awesome, except for the paper work. I love working with students to enhance their strengths and weaknesses and teach them to pull from within instead of copying. I work 3 days a week, seeing about 28 students in about 8 schools. Im super grateful they refused to make me full-time. I believe that is what led me to the bodywork I am practicing now. Which has totally relieved my pain. So it’s a win win!

future vision…

My ultimate vision has always been to have an artist residency program for artists who struggle with addictions, pain, confusion, and abuse. I want to teach them how to live a healthy artist life through diet, meditation, gardening, cooking, dancing, yoga, group therapy, and God; while having them teach community art classes in our amazing art studios.

What’s awesome is that I had this dream and that I had an art box on wheels and I would go to the different parts of the cites, rich and poor, and call out people from their houses, young and old, and create art with them. Then my cousin Massie gave me a journal a week later and I made her write something to me in there and she literally wrote my dream and in her version of “if Heidi was a piece of Art,” the art box had spinning lights and we all danced. I just feel that God did his confirmation thing. So I’m pumped and so grateful for this future life on this incredibly beautiful planet.