A PICTURE OF
Empathy How a Denver painter creates art for healing and hope By Monica Parpal Stockbridge
D
enver artist Angela Craven once wanted to be a lounge singer. “I told my mom that I wanted to wear a red sequined dress and play the piano,” Craven says, laughing at the memory. But when she turned seven, she set her sights on being an artist. Today, Craven creates abstract expressionist paintings to help others find strength and hope while celebrating meaningful moments in their lives. Craven was born in Colorado and graduated from Colorado State University. While studying abroad in Italy, she met instructor, abstract painter and future mentor Franca Marini. The artist invited students into
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her studio and shared her process of painting subconscious thoughts — her “interior landscapes” — as a means of communication. Craven remembers this as “a lightning rod moment.” After returning to Colorado, she immediately declared her major, committing to a bachelor’s of fine art in painting. After graduating, Craven moved to New York and started doing user experience (UX) design to support her abstract expressionist painting career. Part of her work was to interview people to get a better idea of how software designs affected them. “I learned so many incredible, personal, powerful things from interviews around
software,” she laughs. “I think people just really want to be heard.” Craven and her husband — also an artist — eventually returned to their home state of Colorado with plans to start a family. Yet their move was followed by devastating pregnancy losses and a later diagnosis of infertility. “I felt so frustrated and isolated,” Craven says. She turned to painting as a way of expressing her grief. Eventually, she began to talk about it. “The more I talked about it, the more people were like, I’m going through this, too, or I know someone who’s going through this,” she says. Photos: Rebecca Tillett