Female

I am a symbolist painter, multimedia artist and writer. My paintings are a translation using movement, color and shape of the exploration of my emotions, dreams and the unconscious. The result is a collection of original paintings that are an evocative combination of abstraction and realism that explore the subtlety of spirit in the natural world. My art is organic and feminine glimpses of life in vivid color or soft pastel that speak of my love of the earth.
I am the founder of Creative Response, Inc., whose vision centers on the gathering together of creative persons to work on joint artistic projects that promote beauty and support individual and earth awareness and healing. I have created and produced The Pain Reliever, a healing tape with original music that has been marketed nationally for Hospice and for those persons dealing with pain, physical, emotional or spiritual. I have for the past 20 years a counseling practice in psychospiritual counseling and have run support groups for persons dealing with catastrophic illness, as well as grief support groups.
I received her Masters Degree in Special Education from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut and completed training in Psychosynthesis Counseling in 1983 and trained in mandala symbolism with Dr. Robert Johnson, author and Jungian therapist. My background has been quite eclectic, including extensive study in Eastern and Western psychological disciplines and shamanism. Applying this experience, I have conducted workshops on stress reduction, imagery exploration, meditation and awakening the child who is the spontaneous explorer within us all. I have also taught classes in listening and creating from our inner envisioning.
More recently, I have chosen to concentrate my energies on my creative expressions. I am the coauthor, with her son Zachary Burack, of Salt Marsh Reflections, a uniquely-bound book of poetry and photography of the salt marsh where I lived for 15 years. I recently moved with my husband to a horse farm in Cerrillos, New Mexico, just outside Santa Fe. We have opened the Ortiz Mountain Gallery which also hosts artist workshops(www.ortizmountaingallery.com). I presently devote my time to painting, the Gallery and caretaking the earth where I live.