Issue 2 Artist Spotlight | Denise Serna

C+B: Tell us about yourself, Denise!

DS: I have been a teacher for nearly twenty years and always with literacy and language acquisition at the core of my work. I taught for ten years in the United States and then made a big move across the world to the Middle East and have been teaching overseas for the past nine years. I love the opportunity to have direct experience of cultures vastly different than my own and have traveled extensively to deeply fill my creative well with the people, foods, landscapes, textiles and of course art, in cities around the globe.

C+B: Describe your work in three words.

DS: Bold, Rugged and Spiritual.

C+B: What are your long-term goals for creating?

DS: My long-term goals for creating are that it becomes my sole pursuit. My husband and I have plans of opening a retreat center/art haven in Sri Lanka that would include our various interests such as meditation, yoga, permaculture, hiking, photography and art in a way that those who stay and visit with us would find the creative nourishment they need to return to that which patiently stirs within their own hearts. I hope to work in that space, cultivating our dreams into reality and creating art and process that can be shared with the world in and outside Sri Lanka.

Find and support Denise here:

IG: @dmssabine_art

(Original artwork ©Denise Serna)

Ideal creative retreat: My ideal creative retreat would be held in a place that sits at an elevation, in relative isolation with cooler temperatures that make wandering through the nearby environs pleasant and invigorating. I would like for it to offer opportunities for community with other creatives, simple but hearty fare, as well as sufficient space and time for solitude and reflection.

Currently inspired by: Jo Bertini @jobertini, Reneesha @rnwulf, Isabell Seidel @isabell.seidel, Michelle Fletcher Atelier @michellefletcheratelier, Maria Fraaije @fraaijeboel

Denise Serna