Biography and Vision

 

Wrenna Monet - A Life, Reclaimed

Born and raised in a small cabin without electricity or running water in the wilderness of the inside passage of Southeast, Alaska. The isolation of island life fueled Wrenna’s young imagination. But i2010, off the coast of California, working as a deckhand on a commercial squid fishing boat, a near fatal accident left her with a blood clot in her brain, a traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic fibromyalgia, and a near complete loss of identity. The accident that nearly killed her, however, was the spark that blossomed into the artistic passion that is now the motivating force in her life.

Making a short film with cinematographer Alan Gordon was a landmark moment in her recovery. Fire and Ice started Wrenna down the path to reclaiming herself. The film went viral and won several awards including first place at the LA Movie awards in 2013 for Best Short Film, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and Best Documentary Short. She still watches it often to remember to persevere and to live with passion and intention. The film may be seen at vimeo.com, or on her website.

Wrenna’s memories slowly began to return, by dint of hard work, inpatient neuro-rehabilitation, determination, a positive attitude, old photos, and Facebook. She continues to reclaim her identity, thanks to good doctors, a healthy lifestyle, a great support group, and hard work. Her loss has bloomed into a beautiful view of what “magic” really means. Her second chance at life brought with it a thirst to paint and recreate her vision with meaning and transparency. She embraces the good fortune and the blessing that it is to be alive and to have a blank canvas to start over on.

To relearn who she was, Wrenna studied painting with masters of modern visionary art and surrealism in Australia, Vienna, Italy and Mexico. This work connected her to a new perspective on life and to an understanding of the visions, dreams, and empathic gifts awakened in her through her trauma. Making art again has been healing for Wrenna; she couldn't remember how to paint or draw, along with more mundane activities.

She now sees life with a transcendental, vibrational perspective. The dimensions her brain injury have opened her up to have been awakening, inspiring and bizarre. She is inspired constantly by her visions and an enhanced sensitivity that affects how she experiences the world. She has turned these gifts into a living engine of recovery and creativity. She has been interviewed and featured on Be the Light Podcast, Team Rabbit Hole podcast and a few others focused on TBI awareness and her journey. Wrenna is also a budding motivational speaker for the brain injury community, stroke survivors, and other groups. Most recently Wrenna with her platform representing TBI and traumas survivors won the title of Ms. Oregon Petite 2020 which followed with her fourth crown as the people's choice award winner for Ms. USA Ambassador Petite 2021, and third place runner up in a pageant created for American women under 5'6 that are dedicated to moving mountains and inspiring others. 

Her goal is to help children and adults open their minds to believing in their magic and how to use imagination as a means of healing through art and self expression. She looks forward to teaching visionary art workshops and new opportunities. 

In the last few years, Wrenna has studied painting with teachers such as David Woody, Michael Fuchs, Amanda Sage, Laurence Caruana, Jonathan Solter, Adam Scott Miller, Daniel Mirante, and Autumn Skye Morrison.

Artists like her mother, father, and grandfather inspired her growth as a child, and opened her eyes to painting while young. After her accident, to reclaim and recreate herself, she returned to school to relearn basic things she had lost - focusing on english, speech, psychology, painting and sculpture. She fell in love with painting and found it to be her mediation medium, a means to cope with her chronic pain, and a way to heal from grieving for the life she once had. Wrenna feels she has embraced her rebirth with love and gratitude.

 

Wrenna Monet - Artistic Vision

Art is a doorway between worlds and a bridge of dreams. While some of my work has no apparent meaning, some does. In either case, I allow others to interpret my visions themselves - guided by what they see or need at any moment in time. Painting is my meditation; an escape, and a means to transcend what is in my forever-wandering, sub-conscious mind. My art is filled with love, light, time, powerful symbology and hidden meanings. Look closely and you may find hidden faces, goblins, spirits, women and other forms - whatever your mind allows. Sometimes I don’t know what I am painting for often it is an intuitive process. I can sit with the canvas for hours to allow myself to discover what comes out; it’s a magical process that I lovingly surrender to with patience and persistence. I like to see what flows out of the paint unforced and spontaneous, allowing the work to paint itself.

My work is populated by recurring images and symbols - the most obvious is the serpent. My regular use of snakes has drawn many comments and questions. Some find it difficult to grasp the use of this perceived symbol of evil in works with core themes of light, love, and redemption. Since the Book of Genesis, the serpent has been maligned as the cause of the fall of humankind. In my work, that fall from innocence is not into sin and degradation, but into rebirth and evolution; a transformation from darkness and ignorance into light and understanding. This rebirth is ongoing, in the evolution of the species and in the growth of the individual. The snake’s constant shedding of its skin symbolizes that cycle of rebirth and awakening. The snake, in a genetic sense, may be a key to the emergence of homo sapiens from the primate family to become the unique animal we now are. The saying “snake in the grass” has profound meaning. There is a theory, that, as we descended from trees millennia ago, the ability to detect slight movement in the grass (Snake! Danger!), became a positive adaptation for survival. A genetic predisposition to sharp vision and detection of movement was key to firing the evolution of our brain’s capacity from that of our simian ancestors to the wondrous organ we now possess.

In the last five years I have studied with master painters in several countries and at the Vienna Visionary Art Academy. I also performance paint, working live on stage or beside DJs and bands as they perform. Most recently I painted live during opening ceremony at Shambhala Music Festival in Canada 2018, The Oregon Eclipse Gathering 2017, Emissions Festival, Still Dream Festival, Abundance Enchantment, and many others. The music guides and inspires, as does the energy of the festival culture and community. My resume for galleries, live painting and exhibits can be found in the CV section. 

I accept commissions - book cover designs, illustrations, murals, portraits, pet portraits - and will create anything if you have a reference photo to work from. Allow me to make art personal for you in my style. I have done original works for celebrities like WWE Wrestler Mike (the Miz) Mizanan and Austin Winkler, lead singer of the band Hinder. Please, don’t be shy, contact me if interested; I love projects and new opportunities.

Thank you for your support and appreciation of my craft. 

 

 

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