About the creative practice offerings…
You are invited to playfully explore the mysterious ways art-making - as a practice and process of soulful wit{h}ness - can calm our minds, heal our hearts and feed our hungers for a sense of joy, wild wonder and freedom.
So you can stay awake to the messages, beauty and connections that call and carry you into Life…
I share and teach creative {art} practices, soulful reflections, and holistic living mindfulness - to help you develop creative presence, awareness, and a joyful, activated awareness with the seeds of inspiration & truth planted within your unique creativity.
My offerings aim to clear a little space for your inner artist, away from the competing distractions and overwhelm of the world, so that the spark+spirit of your unique perspective, gifts, stories and creative energy can courageously express through you, your art+makings, and ultimately, how you navigate & {co}create your life and relationships.
“At the deepest level, the creative process and the healing process arise from a single source. When you are an artist, you are a healer; a wordless trust of the same mystery is the foundation of your work and its integrity.”
About Hali…
Hali Karla is a contemplative artist and holistic-creative coach/guide committed to helping others cultivate a creative art practice that has meaning for their unique experience, vision and ways of being + making in the world. She enjoys offering art explorations that encourage self-acceptance and inner trust, celebrate the joys of wonder and change, and honor the playful mystery of interconnection.
Her experience as a lifelong artist, past work as a hospice nurse, passion for spirituality, and how we relate, perceive and believe - all contribute to her guiding approach and her artwork imagery.
Hali has been described as a heart-healer who “evokes a dynamic sense of the sacred," while holding safe space for making meaningful connections, brave truth-telling, and activating curiosity, joy & courageous movement in how we engage with creative process (in art and life).
Her gifts of sensitivity, inquiry and insight - along with her daily gardening, prayer, and art practices - guide and ground her life and work in the world.
Hali lives in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina with her husband - musician and artist Steve Karla – and their beloved botanical and four-legged companions.
Some Interviews & such:
Quoted in Creatrix by Lucy H. Pearce
Featured at The Charmed Studio’s Free Resources for Artists and Writers
Quoted in Practice Pilgrimage by Lee Ann Hilbrich
Original mandala art featured in The Moon is my Calendar 2019 wall calendar
The Awakened Woman Self-Care Podcast with Emma Kupu Mitchell & Christine Pensa
Art Journaling vs. Visual Journaling chat, hosted by Kristal Norton, with Andrea Schroeder, Connie Solera, Lisa Sonora Beam
How to Art Journal (with my story & tips) with Kiala Givehand
The Creative Living podcast series with Jamie Ridler
A 21 SECRETS Conversation with Connie Solera
HERE with Bebe Butler for the Painted Guru Telesummit
“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.”
“We are in the universe and the universe is in us.”
A bit more “official”…
Hali Karla has a Bachelor’s in Fine Art and a Master’s in Nursing (with leadership focus & nvc training).
She completed the original IGNITE Teacher Training for artists, has trained as a Transformation and Life Coach and Living Compass Wellness facilitator. She has passionately studied, either formally and/or informally: psychology, therapeutic communication, grief work, holistic healing and wellness frameworks, astrology, herbalism, childhood trauma healing, mindfulness, spirituality, art education and the creative process.
She has created two- and three-dimensional works of art, has exhibited artwork in a variety of places, sold works to collectors, and also worked for five years as a studio and gallery coordinator.
Since leaving hospice RN work over a decade ago, she has been creating content, teaching and mentoring artists and creatives online, in the form of courses, group and one-on-one coaching, collaborative workshops and more. She remains dedicated to her own continuing education, skill-building, healing work and training.
Some past online courses, programs & offerings:
Painting inSpirit 12 month program for patrons, 2020
In The Stars astrology + creative practice 12 month eCourse, 2017 & 2018
SPECTRUM Holistic Creative Journaling Collective, 2014, 2015 & 2016, founder, facilitator & teacher
Art Practice Moon Magic, Reflective & Creative Practice Monthly Invitations, 2016 & 2017
Creative Retreat (Make Create Express) with Art Is Magic (invited as guest teacher), 2017, 2019, 2022
Pull, Pen, Paint workshops, 2017 & ‘18 (+ lessons featured in 2019), 2020 (invited as guest teacher)
Making Art Medicine 2016, three part online art-making workshop (portraits, places, and intuitive expression)
Creative Director, 21 SECRETS, 2014-2015
21 SECRETS Live, co-host (2014?)
21 SECRETS, art journaling workshops in 2016, 2014, 2013
RELATE 2013-2016, Contemplative Creative Practice Circle, creator and facilitator
EMBODY You one-on-one Mentoring, 2015
Birthing Ourselves Into Being, Visual Journaling for the Soul, 2015-16 (invited as guest teacher)
Prayer Painting & Sacred Art of Women group and invitations 2012-2016, creator and facilitator
AROUSE, intuitive art-making workshop, 2012 (invited as guest teacher)
And yet truly…
…none of the lists or credentials should ever matter more than the kind of human I show myself to be over the arc of my days. I am a work in progress, grateful to be alive, and practicing trust in the greater process of Creative Mystery daily.
As my dad tried to teach us: Just keep trying to be a better human being each day than you were the day before, walking in gratitude, with kindness and Creator’s help… And my mom added forgiveness, patience and fierce strength to that, by her example… These are still the most useful teachings of all, I find - in any setting or role - and the truest creative and spiritual path I try to walk.
