Create with Christie joins us today to talk about art - Kiepersol Texas Podcast ep 4

Kiepersol Texas Podcast

Create with Christie joins us today to talk about art, hand-lettering and mental health through art - Kiepersol Texas Podcast ep 4 Hosted by Michael Roth . . . . Topics: Christie is a good friend of ours who hosts her Hand-Lettering Class at our Salt Kitchen which is attached to the Winery Tasting Room at Kiepersol. . "I am a Creative Coach, I like to pull out of you, your creative side!" Christie . Hand-Lettering is an art where you draw shapes and form beautiful letters that don't require you to be good at handwriting or be an artist, I just help you with the basics to do art. . Christie started off as a teacher and there was a time where the school programs stopped offering art class to students. Which broke her heart and motivated her to engage a lot of classroom activities that incorporated art. . Art eventually became self-therapy or a hobby. She then started to teach a scrapbooking class, since at that time it was a huge part of her community. Eventually, she opened a studio and her desire for art was motivated by money or incentives, which bogged her down. So she shut her studio down and started an Etsy shop. Now five years later, she still runs her shop, but it was time for her to go back to one of her passions, inspiring others through teaching art. Since technology advanced in the last five years, she was able to start teaching in a completely new platform. She was able to start a website where she can teach people all over the world online and here at the Winery Tasting Room at Kiepersol. This freed her to teach and do art out of the PASSION for it, not money or incentives. . Christie became self-aware of her mental health and needs, by changing her environment or surroundings which allowed for a healthy state of being. . Christie did some research to share on mental health and shared some tips. . Christie answers the questions "What is art?" Since there are so many ways to express yourself or perform art. If you look at many different musicians/songwriters and how they derive most of there music from life experiences of pain. By using the art of music or songwriting, they are able to work through the pain and result in the ability for joy or good things to come in to play. . Tip # 1) Making Art Reduces Stress - Art isn't about perfectionism, but more expressing your feelings or thoughts on to a canvas, paper or into music. . Tip # 2) Marking Art can reduce or distract your cyclical depression or negativity by helping you focus on what is important. "29% of doodlers recall more information." This is why listening to the radio or to podcasts while doing other tasks makes time go by faster or more enjoyable. You can listen to podcast and drive, or do the dishes or clean the house. So you can distract your lack of desire or the complaints in your head by taking the time to distract or stimulate your mind in other ways. . Tip # 3) Doing an art form that you love, releases endorphins and decreases cortisol (stress hormone) which reduces anxiety, creates a healthy state of mind, it can ground you mentally bringing you into the very moment. . If you wish to read more on the scientifically discovered benefits of doing art, read here: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-make-art-even-if-youre-bad-2016-6/#1-making-art-may-reduce-stress-and-anxiety-1 . If you've never Hand-Lettered, you're probably going to hate it at first, but it's not about being perfect or executing the perfect hand strokes. No professional basketball player just picked up a ball and made the perfect basket, once, then suggest that they were "successful." So too hand-lettering is an acquired skill, but the goal isn't perfection, it's to stretch the mind in new ways. . . If you're interested in taking one of Christie's courses online, you can visit: https://craftwithchristie.com to sign up for one of those courses. These courses are self-paced and you can do it at any time that is convenient for you.