Cover Artist: Heather Hanson

By Gina Malone

Accepting the call to art—embracing the Divine Feminine—showing up as a new, authentic person rather than what society or family or tradition expected her to be. These were tenets Heather Hanson followed in finding her role as artist. And with her business, Embrace the Space Between, she helps others find the meaning in their own lives through Sacred StoryScapes.

Hanson was born in Lexington, KY, and grew up helping out in family-owned retail stores, first in Monticello, KY, then in Vero Beach, FL. As a child, she embraced creativity—collecting, writing, exploring and painting. “I drew portraits, and worked constantly at creating faces,” she says.

After high school, she had dreams of being a journalist, but after a setback joined the US Navy, earning her Bachelor of Science while working as a helicopter mechanic on a flight line in Maryland. “I remember squatting in the nose wheel of a P-3, washing the greasy joints with a paintbrush, wearing goggles and a jumpsuit in 100-degree heat,” she says. “As I stood there sobbing in confusion and frustration, I kept asking myself, ‘how did I end up here?’ That ordeal was a crucible and gave me the push I needed to change specialties.”

Accepted into the military’s Presidio of Monterey, she studied Russian and moved to Japan, where she met and married her husband Sean. The two left the Navy in 1998 and returned to the US.

In 2003, the couple welcomed triplet daughters into their lives. Deciding that home was a better place for their children than daycare, they decided that Sean would stay home and Heather would continue in her career as an IT business analyst. “I sacrificed what I had always believed the role of ‘Mom’ should be, and he sacrificed the role of ‘Dad’ he believed,” Hanson says.

Although she was soon to be swept up in the rigors of her career, Hanson did pick up a camera again at this time. “It had been years since high school, and I needed an outlet, a way to capture the beauty of family,” she says. “I rediscovered my love of creating, especially capturing moments in time—people always.”

Hanson knew that she wanted, eventually, to leave corporate work and so began doing freelance photography on the side in Augusta, GA, where they were living. In 2010, the family moved to Charlotte with her job and then to Sweden, where they spent three years, enjoying the Swedish focus on family time.

A return to the US in 2015 threw her back into the rat race. “The push and pull among creating, my career, my family—all tearing me in different directions—began again, only this time with greater ferocity,” she says.

Health crises led her to the spiritual self-study program, A Course in Miracles. “I remember sitting with the book in my hand, reading and then sobbing,” she says. “I cracked open and from that moment began to nurture an ever-increasing capacity for inquiry, intuition and a trust in myself in order to become courageous enough to cross-examine the rules of a culture that I had believed were sacrosanct.”

During her time of treatment, when she also lost her mother and grandmother, Hanson says she “took the time afforded—finally—and dove deep into my creativity, along with my spirituality.” Just before the COVID lockdown of 2020, she left her corporate job and the family simplified their lives.

By the summer of 2021, she was diving deep into painting, exploring acrylics, oils, pen, ink, charcoal and collage. When she heard about a studio in Asheville, Hanson leased the space in order to coach, teach and sell products that would “support women’s awakening journeys.” In the meantime, she learned to accept herself as an artist.

Her creation of Sacred StoryScapes grew out of a friend’s suggestion that she share with others what she created for herself with the painting Light of Healing. “I could combine all of my life experience—corporate career, triplet motherhood, military veteran, breast cancer survivor—with my coaching and SoulCollage® accreditations—with my work in the Spiritual Director program—with my painting, my art,” Hanson says. “All could come together in one offering and I could create these paintings for other women.”

Colleen Lobaugh had just arrived in Asheville when she discovered Embrace the Space Between, seeking out books and workshops and watching Hanson create Light of Healing. When Hanson began offering StoryScapes to others, Lobaugh did not hesitate. “I wasn’t sure of what the process was going to be, but knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I wanted to work with Heather,” she says.

To create StoryScapes, Hanson begins with words written in water-soluble ink and smeared with water. Next comes collage—bits of ephemera—and then a wash in a warm color. She draws freehand on the canvas, beginning with the face. “Once I am satisfied with the face, I will paint over the lines in a light color, thin, almost sketching with paint,” Hanson says.

“Then I start painting the values.” She works in layers, letting the underpaint show through. “Each time I make a large move—like seeing the shapes to add—it comes after a prayer and meditation,” she says. “That is an embedded part of my process, as this is where the inspiration comes.” Acrylic inks for details, heavy gel medium for texture and varnish complete the works.

The result, Lobaugh says of her own StoryScape, “is a work of art to remind me of who I am, where I have been and all the possibilities ahead of me, a reminder that I am an accumulation of past experiences and of how God has turned the ashes into beauty.”

Through the years, Hanson says, she has learned that “there is no ‘work’ and ‘life’; there is only life.” A life that she shares with others. “This space that I am holding is important,” she adds, “I feel that, and each time someone enters and tells me they feel good, relaxed and at peace just standing in my studio helps me in knowing that what I am doing is true, purposeful and healing.”

Embrace The Space Between is located at 20 Artful Way, Suite 105, in the River Arts District. Learn more at EmbracetheSpaceBetween.com.