Show Me Your HeART Creativity Workshop: Mixed Media Adventures with Local Artist Amy Oestreicher at Stratford Library

Channel your inner artist, and create a unique piece of mixed media art! Using eclectic materials, unique insights, messy fun, and guided prompts, this class will inspire you to draw on creativity as a means of personal expression and to make beautiful, personal art. You’ll discover what being in the “flow” feels like and how freeing it can be to use art to navigate through life’s difficult detours. Learn to embrace the beauty of your mistakes, negotiate the curves that all artists come across in their work, utilize a range of materials, and deploy innovative strategies for conquering a blank page or empty canvas. No art experience required - only a curiosity to explore, an open mind, and a willingness to play!
For more information: https://www.amyoes.com/2015/11/12/show-me-your-heart-workshop-at-stratford-library-december-12th/or contact Amy directly.

Registration required. Workshop is limited to 10 people.

A $15 materials fee is due at the start of class.

Location: Stratford Library Lovell Room

2203 Main St. Stratford CT, 06615 | 203.385.4164

http://stratfordlibrary.org/

Amy Oestreicher is a twenty-eight year old artist, actress, musician, orator and writer residing in Westport, CT. Amy specializes in acrylics, mixed media and collage. Her first solo art exhibit in 2011, Journey Into Daylight (Westport Women’s Club) featured over 70 original works spreading her message of hope in the darkest of times, and the celebration of life. Since then, Oestreicher has mounted solo exhibits Discovery Museum, Temple Shalom, Picture This Gallery, Ridgefield Tusk and Cup Fine Coffee and several other venues. She has also participated in juried exhibitions at Blue Lemon, Beechwood Arts Gallery, City Lights Gallery, G & B Cultural Center, Carriage Barn’s Art in the Windows, and Ridgefield Art Walk. and her show “Coming hoME, Finding heART honored the grand opening of the Prescott Tavern in Amherst, MA. Her work has also been featured in various boutiques such as Palooza in Fairfield CT, Hazel Daze Boutique and featured on NBC’s Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda. Oestreicher’s work is currently for sale on her personal website www.amyoes.com and her Etsy Shop, AllspiceAndAcrylics.

As a survivor and “thriver” of nearly 30 surgeries, a coma, sexual abuse, organ failure and a decade of medical trauma, Amy has been challenged with moments of extreme difficulty. But as an artist, newlywed, actress, 28-year old college student and overall lover of life, Amy eagerly shares the lessons learned from trauma and has brought out the stories that unite us all through her writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking.

To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events. Amy has devoted herself to providing college students with an empowered approach to mental health through her traveling advocacy program and “Student Detourist” movement.

As the 2014 Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award, Amy is a passionate voice in the ostomy community, founding the online community Fearless Ostomates, speaking for the National WOCN conference, and writing for the official print publication of the UOAA.

Amy has written, directed and starred in a one woman musical about her life, Gutless & Grateful, has flourished as a mixed media and acrylic artist, with her art in multiple galleries and mounting dozens of solo art shows, and continues to share her story through her art, music, theatre, workshops and writings.

Amy’s “beautiful detour” has inspire her passionate desire to create and help others. She created the Detourist#LoveMyDetour movement to bring a positive light to life’s bumpy, unexpected routes. Her writings have appeared in Washington Post and On Being with Krista Tippet, her story has appeared on the TODAY Show andCBS, and her one-woman show has been seen in theatres across the country, earning rave reviews and accolades since it’s BroadwayWorld Award-nominated NYC debut.

Amy has collaborated with Beechwood Arts founder Jeanine Esposito in creating a series of monologues titled “Five windows on a Resilient Journey”, expressing the life-altering detours and ultimately the invaluable gifts of her resilience journey.

Amy is currently touring the country with her one-woman musical, Gutless & Grateful, her keynote presentations, workshops and signature talkbacks, which she has devised specialized versions for corporations, college campuses, survivors, healthcare professionals, and artists. She is leading mixed media creativity workshops to promote creativity as a mindset, an essential survival skill. Amy also offers private coaching to help others navigate their own beautiful detours. Visit amyoes.com for more information or contact her directly.