H_ART
VISUAL STORY TELLING
I BELIEVE
I believe all art is autobiographical. My art is provocative. I want the viewer to be a little uncomfortable and to work through that uneasy feeling to the beauty being expressed.
I draw my inspiration from the interactions between art-making and the body; personal history and mythology; sexuality and politics.
I am interested in challenging everything from authority to sexual roles, from psychology to religion, from medium to artistic styles.
I use humor and wordplay, any medium available, steal from other artists and their art, and on occasion cooperate with other artists in fast, intuitive artwork. As a twice-transplanted immigrant, I often mix cultures and their symbols to create new perspectives.
BIO
I was born in West Africa to Portuguese parents and grew up in Lisbon, Portugal. I’ve lived in the US since 1983 and the San Mateo Coast since 1991. Now I'm spending a year in Europe to develop new projects. I have been an educator for more than 20 years, teaching art classes and working in Special Education. I currently have a certificate in Art Therapy and hold degrees in Design and Illustration, Fine
Arts, Art Education, and Early Childhood Education.
I teach workshops to adults and young adults to unlock their creative purpose and use it to live a life that is authored rather than prescribed. Creativity is essential to a life well-lived. It has nothing to do with knowing how to draw. It’s a way of being. A way of seeing. A way to relate to ourselves and the world.
LIFE CAN BE CHALLENGING. Happiness is illusory. Connection is difficult. The world is changing fast. I am here to add fun and help you see the powerful creator you already are. There is no reason to struggle. LIFE CAN BE FUN.
HELLO! I'm a lifelong artist who relishes guiding people to their natural creator inside. With visual art, I can show you how to create from your heart the life you desire.
QUESTION
What do you want?
Are you tired of wanting and not getting?
Are you thinking it’s too late for your dreams?
Do you secretly wish it weren’t?
Are you not creative?
Do you wish you were?
Are you creative but in a creative funk?
Do you like whom you see in the mirror?
Have you always wished you were one of the beautiful people?
Are you successful financially but uninspired by your work?
Are you working your but off and not getting anywhere?
Do you wish you had more fun?
SAFE SPACE
BE WITH LIKEMINDED PEOPLE
THIS IS AN AMPLE, SAFE SPACE FOR PEOPLE OF ALL WALKS OF LIFE AND SKILL LEVEL WHERE NO ONE IS JUDGED.
LET'S CREATE!
AUTHOREYEZED
Let’s engage in our beautiful selfishness for a while.
Let’s do for ourselves what we very often do for others.
Let’s give ourselves what we wish others would give us.
Let’s listen attentively, intentionally, compassionately.
Let’s look at ourselves as we want to be seen.
Let’s create art and in the process create our reality.
Let’s become self-authoreyezed!
WHAT IF...
ANA DORIA-QUESADA
CREATIVE STORY TELLING ACTIVATOR
IF you are wanting something predictable and a skill-oriented art class or coaching program.... THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.
IF you are looking to break your personal and artistic constraints in a safe environment designed to honor your naturally creative spirit....
THIS IS YOUR TIME AND YOUR SPACE.
IF you are called to journey into yourself and into art-making and arrive at a place where freedom of expression comes naturally....
THEN I WELCOME YOU TO WALK WITH ME.
This is my path and there is plenty of room beside me.
Come!
Become
SELF-AUTHOREYEZED
Projects
AUTHOREYEZED
This is a fun course in understanding our emotional landscape. Participants explored how their environment, inner and outer, reflects their emotional state. Then through various kinds of self-portraits and visual projects, participants set out to change what is not energetically working.
HeART Journey
Through visual art-making, participants will create for themselves a practice of accessing their natural creative power. While experimenting and having fun, participants learn to use intention in everything they do so as to manifest their desires. Our thoughts and words carry tremendous power. Art-making makes concrete what lives in our bodies, minds, and hearts. When using intention in art-making those thoughts, words, and feelings align with our purpose in life.
PROCESS
In a safe, private Facebook group and through Zoom training, participants find the natural artist inside. I guide them through simple daily practices of drawing, journaling, meditation, connecting with nature, and with others.
A six-week journey, meeting twice a week to introduce the activity and to share, discuss, ask questions. Participants will explore concepts of:
Time
Reality
Presence
Creativity
Manifestation
Sel-realization
Expression
Happiness
Depending on a client's needs and desires, I design each training to fit them. Through a short conversation, the client and I distill the purpose and the focus of their inner work. Then, a course of action is set. It is always a co-creation. At every step, there is space made for reflection and evaluation. At any point, the direction can shift to better align with the purpose of the client.
With gentle, thoughtful, fun art-making activities, journaling, meditation, physical activity, and connection with the environment and community, we work on the mind, body, and spirit, to align the whole self with the natural personal purpose.
CUSTOMIZED WORK
EFFECTIVE TRAINING
CUSTOMIZED TRAINING
In individual self-expression, each situation is unique and requires a specific set of solutions. If you decide to explore your creativity individually, either as a hobby or for self-development, I can help you define the ideal outcome for your situation, and through strategic planning, we can achieve a satisfying path to your goals.
This is a month-to-month program. Four weeks of focused work, meeting twice a week, and drop-in video calls as needed.
A wholistic and intensive approach that takes into consideration a mind, body, spirit creative process.
GROUP WORK
Although people improve and evolve at their own time and pace, as humans, we depend on the context of community to feel a sense of belonging and purpose. My courses are designed to allow individual development in a supportive cooperative environment. These are usually six to 8-week programs.
Course Reviews
What's Being Said
Working with Ana was one of the most significant shifts in my life because of her unique approach, meditation, motivational inspiration, and self-discovery. She awakened my creational side with different tools and brought joy and light into my life.
By using Ana's services, her knowledge, skills, inspiration, and unique approach, your life will change, and it will open the doors to New You, to the creative Artist you never thought you were. Your Heart and Mind, the Artist in you, will blossom— the life-changing experiENCE.
Majda Bojt
"Being a student of Ana’s was a great experience for me. I learned the pleasure and simplicity of various art techniques as well as the beneficial mindfulness it brings. She is an excellent teacher who is clearly passionate about art, and I recommend her courses."
Karen StPierre
"In a real and deep state of gratitude, I would like to share my experience about the work developed with Ana Luísa, for almost six months.
Mainly I could trust more in myself, feel more courageous to face any situation that shows up.
Before I started the sessions, I came from a space of pain.
It was so hard to support, but i was saying to myself, “this is enough '', “i don't want to feel like this anymore”… so, I ask for help.
The greatest change is the way I look at myself now. More trusting, assertive and gentle with me and with people around me.
Before, I have tried courses of personal development, but I continued repeating my behavior standards unconsciously.
Now, I have become more conscious of my behavior standards. I can identify them, when they manifest. I look at them in a different perspective and I can transform them.
If you are considering doing this kind of work with Ana Luísa, open your mind to new and especially open your heart…and “the last but not the least”…practice, practice, practice.
Grateful with all my heart,
Laurentina Camilo"
"What I can say about this course, Author-eyes, created and taught by Ana Doria, is that it brought me back to the root of my artistic expression- efficiently! What can I say?.. it just felt like I was in the hands of a VERY experienced educator. The instructions were simple and clear and EFFECTIVE.
As an artist I never spent much time intentionally creating self portraits. My work is typically abstract. Ana’s direction and encouragement to get closer to my physicality through self portrait, brought me closer to who I am as a WOMAN. Going through this course, I became aware that I was maturing. Ana midwifed me through a life transition I didn’t even know I was going through. She is a natural."
Sara Jean
"I remember feeling curious and fascinated by the whole thing, and I believe taking Ana's course was what pushed me towards art. I believe some of those skills and practices that I had as a foundation led me to continue practicing drawing on my own. Without that, I might not have been interested in anime and animation. In a broad sense, I would say art is an expression of something innate to the personality and experience of the person making it. In that sense, I am definitely an artist - I create stuff that is undoubtedly grounded in who I am ."
Dylan Gallup, animator for Core Studio
"I reached out to Ana last year asking if she could do an art class with my 9-year-old daughter Asya once a week. Asya does not have an art class at her new school. Asya meets regularly on zoom with Ana. It’s working out beautifully. Ana gets Asya’s attention and engages her without making it feel like yet another chore or another weird idea coming from grown-ups. I feel that every single session is valuable to Asya. She is very independent when it comes to art projects and quickly loses interest when she is told what to do. Her interaction with Ana is supportive and nurturing for her as an artist. Ana creates space for Asya to be herself and understand herself."
-Sveta Krasikova, mom and scientist.
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