Meet Liz Pascoe a 2017 graduate of our Certificate Training Program. We are excited to feature her as our monthly Alumni Spotlight! We think you will be inspired by her work as an Expressive Arts Facilitator and Drama Teacher! |
Liz Pascoe currently lives in North Port Florida and uses the Expressive Arts in most of her personal and professional practices. She is currently the Drama Teacher at Mangrove School of Sarasota and teaches acting classes at Venice Theatre. This season she is directing a show at The Loveland Center, an
adult day center for adults with disabilities. Liz is also the founder of The HeartWork Studio LLC and regularly facilitates workshops and creative experiences throughout South Florida. Liz is also a regular actor and singer in the area and appears in various shows and cabarets over the course of the season. Her three daughters enrich her life in ways she could have never imagined. |
Liz, what drew you to the field of Expressive Arts, or motivated you to get Expressive Arts training? |
What drew me to the expressive arts? I was cast in my first theatrical production at 9 and thru my childhood I joyfully spent most of my days and evenings at the theatre. In high school I could either be found in the theatre, hanging out in the band room, or seeking solace in the creative
writing room. I wasn’t a very happy child, and didn’t have many safe places and spaces to express myself, and just be me. The performing arts spaces became a home where I felt most free, and most like myself. In college I discovered I not only enjoyed performing, but also opportunities to hold creative space for others. I was also deeply aware of the healing and transformative power art making had, and experienced profound joy when I witnessed this healing take place. I began
to take on work as a teaching artist and director and found I naturally began incorporating different modalities (theatre, movement, sounds, nature, games) to the creative projects at hand, but I didn’t have a name for it, and I didn’t know how to build my skills on this work. When I wanted more education and training I was happily surprised to discover that there already was something like what I was doing out there: Expressive Arts, and that I could obtain more knowledge and playful
understanding thru the certificate program at EAFI. Starting the program, it all just clicked into place and I was so grateful I had followed my impulse to dive in. |
As you began to immerse yourself in this work, were there any unexpected gifts or surprises? |
There was one modality I was always deeply intimidated by: visual art. While I was a confident performer, I never felt like an artist, so I never claimed it. I avoided any visual art opportunities and stuck to writing or movement/body and voice work. I was petrified to hold a paintbrush-I just assumed I didn’t know how and just couldn’t. Taking workshops and engaging in the certificate training program gently exposed me to that
fear, one I don’t think I had admitted to myself that I wanted to tackle. The first complete image I made (a mandala) brings me to tears when I see it, because it holds so much: a willingness to be open, be playful, exploring, and trusting that I am an artist, just as I am, no qualification needed. Incorporating a modality I had ignored for so long into my practice with myself and others has enhanced and deepened my relationship to myself and others and the world around me. I
am still getting to know my relationship with visual art, and it's been a wonderful gift to incorporate this into my personal practice, and support others getting to know their creative being. |
Images produced during a Creative Counsel Workshop
How are you currently implementing expressive arts in your personal and/or professional life?
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I am always grateful for the expressive arts in
my life, and I have found engaging in a personal practice has helped me when I am faced with troubles I can’t work thru, or I need to gather courage and voice the unspoken. As a mother of three kids, I have always found keeping a personal practice to be deeply soothing and supports my self care work. I am also grateful I can take these skills and practices into my professional work as a teaching artist, performer, and director. I have found that when working on a creative
project, implementing other modalities as a way to play and engage the senses helps us create deeper, more meaningful work, avoid burn out, and simply feel better. |
What are your goals in this work, or how do you envision your involvement with EXA unfolding in the future? |
It has been a long road of personal and world
circumstances to get myself to a place of offering Expressive Arts workshops under my own business and brand. Earlier this year I was able to obtain my LLC and put together a regular offering of expressive arts workshops in the community. I am proud to be the founder of The HeartWork Studio LLC. My goal is to be able to expand my offerings even more to other communities around the world. Eventually I’d like to have my own amphitheater and outdoor studio location to
facilitate expressive art performance opportunities and have creative space for all to gather, create, and express. Visual Journal Club meets on the beach How has EXA enriched or expanded your career path (if applicable)? |
Engaging in
the expressive arts has had a transformative impact on my life. I am a more patient and playful mother. On creative projects I no longer stress on the outcome, and trust that with a healthy process, it’ll all work out- this has happily translated to my personal life as well. My sense of humor has never been healthier, and I feel grounded by my art making process. |
What is your current personal practice and how does it enrich your life? |
I have
actively kept a journal process since high school, and since embracing visual art into my life and practice, this journal work has become more visual, layered and in-depth. My journals are my anchor, my sounding board, where I go to gather courage and voice the unspoken. Journaling is the cornerstone to all of my other modalities. |
My personal practice, visual journaling What do you wish you could tell the world about Expressive Arts? I would tell the world that the expressive arts are for all! I am thrilled to see more traction happening in other healing spaces and the arts are remembered and revived where healing and this powerful work is so deeply needed. What are you currently offering, and what are the ways that people can work with you? Currently The HeartWork Studio is offering monthly workshops called Creative Counsel: We introduce folks to expressive arts with various prompts and modalities and encourage a healthy habit of artmaking. Weather permitting Visual Journal club meets every other week on the beach to write/create/share in a casual gathering. Artist Detox is a monthly offering for artists who make their work their profession and seek a
judgment free space and time to create and try on a new modality. The HeartWork Studio doesn’t have a physical location, and I enjoy facilitating creative space anywhere and everywhere. Collaborations with other expressive arts facilitators and presenters is an absolute delight, and I have had great joy supporting and sharing the development of various projects and opportunities to bring expressive arts to others. Pinky's Players is a production company for adults with disabilities. This expressive arts experience invited the participants to honor and remember the life of a member of their company who had recently died. I am always honored to work with this group and bring
expressive arts to our practice together. |
Anything else you would like to say? |
I am so grateful to EAFI for the inspiration to create and facilitate, profound wisdom to navigate these sacred creative spaces with others, and for their patience and willingness to share the gift of facilitation with others. |
Professional links - Learn more about Liz |
Watch for our Alumni Spotlight on the 15th of each month. We feature graduates of our Certificate Training Program - Expressive Arts Facilitators, Therapists, and Educators. We hope this series will inspire you, help spread the work of our alumni, and demonstrate the scope of
practice of the expressive arts field. To see past Alumni Spotlight features & our Alumni Directory visit the link below. www.expressiveartsflorida.com/art-professional-links For more information about our Certificate Training Program, Professional Development, and Workshops - both online and in-person,
visit us at www.expressiveartsflorida.com Tamara Teeter Knapp MA, Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern, REACE® Kathleen Horne MA, LMHC(S), REACE®, REAT® |
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