Health & Wellness
Photo © Kristina Campbell
WELLNESS ARTIST No More Secrets : Sue Muirhead's Journey with Process Art K R I ST INA CA M P B ELL
MUIRHEAD’S JOURNEY with process art began when she
‘No More Secrets’ is drawn from a series Muirhead cre-
was introduced to Michele Cassou’s, ‘Life, Paint and
ated after disturbing revelations about her father came
Passion’, and Aviva Gold’s ‘Painting from the Source’.
to light in 2009, late in his life. The news was deeply
She was amazed after attending their workshops, Muir-
painful and devastating, and she had to reconcile her-
head remembers. “I was witness to the most amazing art
self to a parallel story about her father that she had no
gallery I had ever visited! People who had never painted
idea existed. Feeling the ground torn out from under
and professional artists together, used just colour and
her, process art provided the means to work through all
paper to create the most inspiring art,” she says.
sorts of conflicting and painful emotions.
In her art today, Muirhead starts with a blank piece
“I processed and processed, and continue to process,
of paper, and follows her energy rather than trying to
one of the rawest and most difficult events of my life,”
create what might look good or expected. "Process art
she shares. “Doing art saved my sanity.” In 2018, having
allows me to express the full range of my emotions,"
created over 300 images, Muirhead laid her works out
she says. "I have worked through the most painful and
before her and saw a story emerge. “I chose 57 imag-
devasting events, and the most beautiful and uplifting
es, put them into an order that spoke to what had hap-
experiences of my life with process art. It has allowed
pened, and the story ‘No More Secrets’ was created.”
me to present a creative voice that is authentically my own.” Muirhead works primarily with watercolour cray-
Deciding to exhibit the work has been a process in and
ons, felt pens, and sheets of 9x12” watercolour paper,
of itself. “Opening up and sharing my deepest challeng-
making so her supplies easy to pack up and travel with.
es is tough,” says Muirhead. However, the huge stack
2 4 | C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E | I s s u e 4 4
W W W. C O M PA S S M A G A Z I N E . C A