How I became a “grief artist”

Hi, I’m Danica. I’m an artist, mother, and compassionate encourager. I lost my dad when I was twelve years old, and following a string of subsequent losses, I found that art could help me express and work through my emotions in a way that words could not.

I graduated from Washington State University with a thesis on expressing grief through art, and it was published in an online journal that same year.

Since then, I have spoken at multiple conferences nationwide and led grief art workshops throughout the Northwest. I am now a practicing artist and certified Therapeutic Art Life Coach. I am also the director of a growing arts ministry at a local church.

I created Project Grief to help others who are wading their way through grief and loss.

I have worked with artists and “non-artists” in a variety of contexts, and I have found that when it comes to grief and loss, everyone can benefit from a creative, expressive mode of healing.

Project Grief works with the idea that anyone, regardless of skill level, can learn to be a “grief artist”.

GRIEF ARTISTS are people who take the pain of life & transform it into tools and lessons that help them to continually discover a new identity, to love deeper, be more present, and to better work through difficulties as they come. 

I have found it to be true in my own life, and I think it can be true in yours, too: the hardest parts of our lives can be transformed into the most beautiful.