Chelsea Heresco Parker Bio:
My art is a reflection of life as a beautiful adventure where we experience freedom. We can live free from shame, guilt, or depression. Free to be confident in who we are inside. Free to live lives of purpose that improve the world. Free to know our own worth and the value of the world around us.
My highest goal is to help people see themselves as having value, purpose, and a deep sense of belonging in a beautiful world.
I’ve found some very inspiring themes in:
romantic landscapes - themes of experiencing the awe of the sublime, finding ourselves and experiencing the spiritual through nature,
naturalism - a movement that reacted against industrialism/ urbanism and portrayed the pastoral purity of the untouched American West that shaped people’s ideas about westward expansion and getting back to nature, and
environmental art - themes of feminine empowerment and our responsibility to caring for the earth - though I’ve strongly reacted against some of the avant garde attempts to shock and horrify audiences into recognizing our own negative impact and leaning much more toward the naturalists’ tendency to create hope for a better future by recognizing what is possible, not just what is wrong.
My artistic process
I create art about environmentalism; nature’s impact on the human biome -physically, mentally, and spiritually; and my hope for a future where personal fulfillment is not in collaboration with nature, but where humans see themselves as essential components of nature - sublimely beautiful and powerful in our own right. I draw on themes from the spiritual and pastoral romantic landscapes, the impact of naturalism in shaping views of the American West and escaping industrial urbanism, and the impact of humanity on the planet through more recent environmentalism in art. I have reacted against the more avant garde methods of shocking my audience into recognizing our negative impact on the planet, instead drawing my audience into their own fullest potential as a powerful part of nature.
Origin Story
When I was nine, the highlight of my year was the two weeks I’d kick off my shoes and spend sunup to sundown in uninhibited imagination bliss with my cousins in rural Mississippi. We’d create worlds and adventures and engage in all manner of heroics. When we simply couldn’t take another step, or it became too dark to play outside, we’d pick up our pens and notebooks and draw the people and places and adventures we’d experienced. I’ll never forget watching my cousin, Hanna, make it all come to life with a simple pen. People and places that originated in our minds could become real on paper so other people could experience them as well. I fell in love with art as a way to express hopes, dreams, and truths about the world.
Now, I want to break down the walls that can exist between us as humans and sublime nature. I want to invite people deeper into relationship with nature —confident in our sense of worth and belonging, and finding spirituality, fullness, and most importantly, Freedom.
My (current) artist crushes are:
“I get such a powerful feeling when I look at this painting. I feel as if it’s looking at heaven from an earthly perspective. Such beauty in our world that transcends all the negative and leaves it behind, reaching upward to our heavenly Father. A meshing of Kingdoms... I knew it was something I wanted to look at and enjoy every day.
Thank you for bringing such beauty and heart into your paintings!”
My Values
The first ten years of my career path were spent in workforce development and education policy breaking down the walls between education classrooms and the broader community. I crafted state policy, curriculum, and educator trainings to expand work-based learning (i.e. internships, mentorships, clinicals, job shadows, etc…) I shared my vision on a national platform and consulted with other states to create richer experiences for young people. My passion has been helping young people gain a sense of pride, purpose, and belonging that would enable them to live fulfilling and prosperous lives.
My art is a reflection of life as a beautiful adventure where we experience freedom. We can live free from shame, guilt, or depression. Free to be confident in who we are inside. Free to live lives of purpose that improve the world. Free to know our own worth and the value of the world around us.