How I got from biology to art and back again

Imagine a classic situation - you meet a new person, you introduce yourselves to each other and the most common question that follows is - what do you do for living? For me, this has always been (and perhaps still is) the TOP 1 most unpopular question. I just never really know how to answer it.

Because I'm a biologist, photographer and art therapist. All together. Ugh!

Sounds like a crazy combination, right?
Because it is.
But it makes sense! Seiously!

It's just a bit of a longer story...

As a child, I loved to draw.
And reciting poems, later prose.
And to sing.
To dance.
To embroider.
To create.
And to play musical instruments.

I loved art in every possible form!

I kept winning recitation competitions one after another and wanted to become an actress. Or a painter. Just an artist. No matter which kind, just an artist!

But it didn't meet with much enthusiasm from my parents. Their idea of my life was completely different. Since I was always good at learning, the natural expectation was college. Ideally medicine. Doing a "proper job." After all, artists will never make a living! I'll starve to death!

I believe my parents' intention was good and they wanted only the best for me as their child. The problem is that when a person has something too deep inside them, trying to get it out of their head is basically a waste of time.

So I went to college. I refused to go to medical school. I said, if I can't be an artist, I'll be a scientist. Nature, biology, experiments, that was my other passion, so I wanted to go that route instead. During my studies I got interested in the field of neurobiology. Human brain, my dear, that's an incredible machine!

And from the school, I went straight to maternity leave. One kid, another one... and the science train was gone before I knew it.

But in between washing poopy diapers and cooking porridge, my artistic heart started to come alive again. I bought a sewing machine, experimented with silk painting, tried all sorts of art techniques and finally got into photography. Quite innocently. At that time, cell phones were still used for phone calls only, so when I wanted to create memories of my baby's cute little fingers, I had to use my camera. First it was my husband's little digital one, then I got the cheapest DSLR

I enjoyed it. I was good at it. I was totally immersed in it.

I've moved on to better SLRs, better lenses. From taking pictures of my own kids to taking pictures of my friends' kids. And sometime later, I was opening my own photo studio. While I could no longer be the actress or artist of my childhood dreams, photography was a great way to fulfill my need for creative self-expression. And so I took photos for much of my adult life. But even though I enjoyed it immensely (and I still do!), somewhere in the background I always had a program running that my parents had started - this is not a "proper job"!

Once, during a life crisis, a friend recommended a lady to me. I didn't feel like going to a psychologist, I had already had a few bad experiences. This lady, however, was supposed to be different. My friend said, she was an art therapist. I had never heard the word before, but I liked the "art" part. So I thought I could give it a shot.

The art therapist really helped me. Very much. Not only in that particular situation I was experiencing. She showed me something new about myself and challenged my learned ideas about art. I started studying psychology, art history, went back to neurobiology, started seeing things in context. I studied the influence of diet on the psyche, I became interested in sports, books, music, religion... I discovered a holistic approach to the human being.

And suddenly everything started to make sense.

I studied art therapy in Jihlava, I am currently finishing my art therapy training in Týniště nad Orlicí with Mrs. M. Štefančíková, I participated in a workshop on the use of art therapy in a solution-focused approach and also in training in psychomotorics. As part of writing my final thesis at VŠPJ, I prepared and implemented a course of creative writing for children at Filipka Primary School in Brno and also completed an internship at the Psychiatric Hospital in Havlíčkův Brod.

Just as I've always loved it, I've discovered a vastly wide field of use for the most diverse areas of art in art therapy. And once and for all, I got rid of the idea of the bohemian artist who squanders a fortune, cuts off his ear and/or starves to death.

And one more thing. I discovered that I don't have to be a "real" artist at all to benefit from creative process. Quite the opposite! Creativity helps us communicate with the world in the moment when we can't put our feelings into words, it shows us ourselves, it helps us release tension... and soooo much more!

So that's my story, how I got from art to biology, from biology to art and back and forth again. It's not so weird after all, is it? It is too long for a small talk at a party though, I know. But if you've read this far, thank you! And I'll be very happy to meet you in person, too. And even if we don't meet - just create, don't let your dreams be taken away from you, explore, learn and never give up!