Heidi Pelot

I grew up on a seashore town on the East Coast: pine forests, long stretches of beach and bay fronts with boats and shorebirds. It was a good place for artists and a good place to be a child. The odor of turpentine often wafted through the house from my mother's art. I drew a lot, especially in school where it provided a creative outlet and relief from the tedious classwork.

Teachers called on me to do murals and posters. I had planned to be an artist as an adult until the age of fifteen, when I was very moved by a television show that depicted a woman psychologist working with an autistic child. He was expressing himself through art. I changed direction and have spent most of my adult life practicing psychotherapy with adults, couples and children. For the last few years I have worked with emotionally disturbed children and teens in special education classes.

I use art as a tool for self awareness, self expression, and to foster a sense of well being that comes from engagement in creative activity. The underlying premise that I operate from is that we are all artists. Their work, sometimes surprising often delightful, confirms this for me (and I hope for them as well). When my own children were young I was an art docent at their elementary school, working with other parents to insure that visual and performing arts were a vital part of education.