WILLIAMS, Heather C. 1947-

PERSONAL: Born January 7, 1947, in Rockford, IL; daughter of Edwin L. and Edith L. Williams; partner of Cynthia Apollonia Wright. Education: University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, B.A.; apprentice to Jan Valentin Saether; Prosperos 4th Way School of Ontology, ordination degree, high watch mentor.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, New World Library, 14 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949. E-mail—heather@drawingtogether.com.

CAREER: Art instructor, speaker. Special educator in San Diego County schools; facilitator of workshops and trainings in sacred drawing.

WRITINGS:

Drawing As a Sacred Activity: Simple Steps to ExploreYour Feelings and Heal Your Consciousness, New World Library (Novato, CA), 2002.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Research on drawing as an educational tool for young people struggling with reading and writing.

SIDELIGHTS: Heather C. Williams promotes drawing as a way to become more conscious of the dynamic relationship between the inner and outer world. She has brought therapeutic art to troubled teens and adults, people suffering from AIDS, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, Alzheimer's disease, and poverty, and to inmates and their families. Williams spent a dozen years at a spiritual retreat (4th Way School of Ontology) where she explored perception, consciousness, the unconscious mind, and using art to heal and inspire. Her book, Drawing As a Sacred Activity: Simple Steps to Explore Your Feelings and Heal YourConsciousness, is a result of her thirty years as an artist and advocate of conscious creativity as an approach to living in a fast-paced global community.

The volume on spiritual practice and self expression contains three sections. The first, "Pencils and Perception," focuses on drawing what is seen in the physical world. The next section, "Crayons and Consciousness," is about drawing the interior landscape, and "Ink and Intuition" is concerned with drawing on one's intuitive wisdom. Three hundred black-and-white illustrations and dozens of exercises are included.

On her Web site, Williams explains that drawing "calms and helps you focus, develops greater hand-eye coordination, helps you feel more connected to the world, enhances your ability to see what is in front of you, helps you accept and express yourself as a creative being, [and] improves your capacity to think visually—helpful in developing creative ideas."

Library Journal's Douglas Lord wrote that in this guide, Williams "combines her natural teaching abilities . . . with a lifetime devoted to art."

Williams told CA: "What first got me interested in writing was an urge to share what has helped me so much in my life. The most surprising thing I learned as a writer was how my thinking is grounded and clarified when I make my thoughts visual. At one point I had to use the storyboard process to write the book. I hope my book(s) contribute to helping people trust their eyes and become friends with their inner eternal self."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, September 15, 2002, Douglas Lord, review of Drawing As a Sacred Activity: Simple Steps to Explore Your Feelings and Heal Your Consciousness, p. 81.

ONLINE

Edge,http://www.edgenews.com/ (June, 2003), Heather C. Williams, "Trouble Focusing Your Attention? What a Little Pencil Can Do for You!"

Heather C. Williams Home Page,http://www.drawingtogether.com/ (September 8, 2003).

Kay Marie Porterfield Home Page,http://www.kporterfield.com/ (September 8, 2003), Heather C. Williams, "Why Drawing Is a Sacred Activity."