Page 6 - The Clare Connection_Fall 2017_Flipbook

2 6 CLARE CONNECTION

Artist Profile

Wendy Nixon:

With Art Comes Healing

It was such a free life, a free existence that
FOR SOME, ART IS SIMPLY A HOBBY. For others, art is a it gave me a great chance to explore…
way to make a living. But for Clare resident Wendy Nixon,
art is a means of survival.
“My definition of peace of mind,
healing and happiness is closely Her creativity, she believes, has led to her healing.
associated with artistic expression,”
Wendy says. “The older I get, the Ten years ago, Wendy was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer
more I believe that arts, crafts and in her liver and lymph system. Her oncologist let her know
writing hold far more answers to this stage of cancer carries an average life expectancy of
my health issues than doctor’s two to three years. But at her last CT scans in May, her
visits.” doctor said no trace of new cancer could be found – years
Jim Stack Wendy has had cancer for 43 years, after her fate was seemingly sealed.
although it went undetected for a “The more I keep busy with my hands doing creative
very long time. She says she knew things, the more I feel that I am a survivor,” Wendy says. “I
intuitively that something was very think my spiritual framework, which among other things
wrong, but in the days of first no mammograms and then includes 25 years of work in Reiki energy healing and
imperfect ones, it took 15 years to finally get a diagnosis of 16 years as a peer counselor with Y-ME National Breast
stage 3 breast cancer. Cancer Organization, plus my creativity, has been what’s
kept me alive.”
Her diagnosis came in the midst of a 36-year career as
a flight attendant. This job allowed her the time to travel And her creativity continues to evolve. About eight years
the world and pursue many ago, Wendy picked up watercolor painting, partially by
different artistic interests on the
side, such as having a Peruvian
import shop, working with an
airline travel company, buying
and selling estate jewelry,
creating wearable art and
more. Over time, she says, each
hobby eventually subsides and
something else takes its place.

“It was such a free life, a free
existence that it gave me
a great chance to explore,”
Wendy says.
As for art lessons, she hasn’t
taken many.
“I prefer the flow that happens
when I don’t get bogged down
with too much technique,” she
says. “My philosophy is a bit like,
‘If all else fails, read the rules!’”

Flowers