Weel 7: Letter to an Artist

Dear Laura Aguilar,

I find your work beautiful and inspiring. In my class, we watched a video where you talked about your struggles and your art. The peace and comfort you described to have found with your body through your time in nature is a powerful lesson of healing. Hearing you talk about being nude in nature and about expressing yourself through your self-portraits reminded me how important it is to take time to be in nature and make expressive art for my own self-empowerment and mental health. I really believe that our connection to nature is a greatly untapped resource in modern medicine and psychotherapy, but I also believe that artists like yourself are helping to make room for the incorporation of nature in modern healing.

Art, too, can be a great modem for self-discovery and inward healing. Even though I have often used art for healing myself, I seem to forget when I have been away from it for too long. Your work has definitely reminded me of the power I have to discover myself through art, and I hope I don't forget it again soon! I also think that it is important that you are a self-taught artist. I believe that there is too much emphasis on the formal education of artists, and the work you put out shows that the desire to create can be innate. You don't have to go to an academy to put out great work! We need more artists like you demonstrating that fact for new generations of artists.

I hope you continue to make and show your art. It seems like a very important process to you, but it is also important to the people who see your work and learn your story.

Best,

Skylar