Andrea Theocles Artist

 
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY Born in Massachusetts, Andrea’s earliest remembrances were of her love for nature. She had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge regarding plants and animals and a fertile imagination that was fueled with walks through nature. Raised in the Greek Orthodox Church, her childhood included deep involvement in the traditions of her religion and performing the traditional dances from many parts of Greece as part of church activities. Andrea is also a classically trained violinist performing since the age of eight. As a senior in high school, she was a concert mistress for the orchestra and participated in many all state performances. To this day Andrea is in awe of the range of emotions expressed by the violin in the hands of a skilled musician. Her Greek heritage goes back to the islands of Lesvos, Cyprus and Crete. These islands provided a background of music, art, dance and culinary arts, and reflected an intense passion of the Greek lifestyle. Hundreds of years of art and music in the blood yields a bounty of creativity that longs to be expressed. Though as a child Andrea was considered too sensitive and emotional, her art work has provided a venue for expression. Andrea’s mother, who had been educated in the fine arts, provided an early background in the principles of composition in art. Her father, a musician, also provided a family atmosphere that encouraged creativity. Her grandparents provided a wealth of knowledge in not only the culinary arts and music, but had a deep influence on her spiritual life. Her Grandfather Theocles always told her to seek out the meaning of her last name for this would be one of the keys to following her spiritual path. Her Grandmother Athena, spiritually directed and intuitive, has influenced Andrea even further in the path of love and compassion. Andrea studied dental hygiene in college while continuing her art work, primarily working with stained glass. Her career in dental hygiene led her to training in massage therapy and then to study energy medicine. These experiences along with her travels to the Southwest and to the Amazon allowed Andrea to experience other indigenous cultures: Oriental, Native American and Peruvian. A horseback riding excursion in 1994 on the Navajo Reservation in Monument Valley, Utah, provided Andrea’s first major experience with the Native American world. She visited a plethora of ruins, petroglyphs, arches and mesas where ancient ceremonies took place and felt many powerful energies coming from the surrounding areas. The Navajo guide recognized Andrea’s intuitive abilities when declaring: “ Spirit walks with you.” Later in the afternoon, asthmatic symptoms that had plagued her for years were relieved by the ceremonial singing of this guide, the stepson of a medicine man. A visit to the dental clinic at Monument Valley Hospital later that day showed Andrea a way of returning thanks to the Navajo for what she had experienced. Her guide had said: “Walk through that door and fulfill your destiny.” Andrea spent one week every month for the next year working in the clinic on the reservation. Many cultural exchanges with the elders and their families provided Andrea with many valuable lessons. Her time spent with the Navajo made her question the deeper meaning of life. Nature in those wild lands taught her how valuable life is and how it can be snuffed out in an instant if one is not connected to some kind of higher source. The experience of sitting under the stars at night in the middle of the valley where there are no lights for many miles is amazing. One can see the whole cosmos unfold. The stars in such a vast sky have a way of teaching us how small and insignificant we are in the reality of it all, and yet we are a part this creation. During succeeding years Andrea’s trips to the wilderness of the southwest led her into training for and joining a search and rescue unit in Utah. It was another chance to give back to the universe for its help in her time of need. One of her wilderness survival courses was taught by a Lakota Sioux pipe carrier, Papa Bear. He stressed being at one with nature and the universe along with many uses of simple equipment that had the potential of saving a life. He was clever and resourceful. Andrea was later initiated into the pipe carrier clan as a granddaughter. She has also had several experiences in Lakota sweat lodge ceremonies; their purposes were for cleansing and purification. In 1996 and again in 2000, Andrea took extended trips to the jungles of Peru and the high altitudes of Cuzco to seek out alternative medical therapies for health problems that did not respond to modern medicine. The trips to the Amazon jungle and the holy grounds of Machu Picchu were learning experiences for her and the medical practitioners that accompanied her. Their adventures, interviews and purification ceremonies with the shaman taught them a different view of life and health. The energy centers of the body are connected to the universe. One becomes aware of the different facets of time so that you can simultaneously see the past, present, future, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual states of being. After experiencing their rituals, medicine and cultures, she began to connect to a spirituality that she expresses in her art. Another experience at the age of thirty-one changed her life drastically and answered her questions regarding life, death, spirituality and the material world. This opened her up to a higher visionary vibration. Andrea invites the observer to travel into her world of color and emotion, to share subtle universal messages that have the potential to open their heart and mind. She attempts to evoke the deep stirrings of love and passion that is inside all of us. She tries to go one step beyond to a higher plane of feeling and emotion through color and a sense of movement.
 
 

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