Leslie Nolan’s Work among Women Featured at U.N.
Leslie Nolan, Wall, is among 42 women world-wide whose paintings are currently being shown at the United Nations. Nolan contributed three of 126 acrylic paintings in an exhibit called The Soul Fire Collection, which depicts the process of waking up to one’s life and one’s calling, and expressing a healing journey and transformation through painting.**
Nolan became involved in this project after her father’s death. She says, “Painting has always been my therapy; and after his illness, I became involved in taking an online class. It was what I knew I needed to heal. That class was called, Leading a Legendary Life, a six-month journey in making a painting and writing a novella about your Legendary Self. I was so thrilled with the class and my teacher Shiloh McCloud that I continued to take classes one after another.”
Nolan, who now has a line of more than 30 spiritual paintings, travelled to California to become certified in McCloud’s method of teaching, the Color of Women, a way of using art, poetry and writing to heal suffering and offer hope.
“Now I am assisting McCloud, helping with the websites, answering questions, writing blogs, and creating content for the “ning” site, a website designed for online teaching purposes. It has been quite a journey. In my new venture, The Venus Transits, I am planning a trip to Russia so that American and Russian women can paint Our Lady of Kazan.”
Nolan, the creative principal of Nolan Design, offers classes and art workshops at her Wall Township and Belmar studios. As a result of her experiences with the Color of Women, Nolan started the women’s group, The Venus Transits, which focuses on transition of one’s self through art and writing. She has taught at Brookdale Community College, Wall Township Municipal Center, and holistic conferences.
When she is not teaching, Nolan uses her artistic skills to problem solve, trouble-shoot and brainstorm challenging design projects in web and print as an art director and designer. She collaborates with clients, in-house art directors, editors, and publishers; and hires and supervises illustrators, photographers, copywriters.
Nolan’s clients have included Monmouth County Parks Service, Baker & Taylor Publishing, Inc.; Gold-N-Time Jewelers; Birdsall Engineering; Colgate Palmolive; Dow Jones; The Federal Reserve Bank of NY; Monmouth Health Care Foundation; McGraw Hill Publishing; NJ Natural Gas and Oxford University Press, among others.
Nolan was graduated from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y., with a B.F.A. (Bachelor of Fine Arts) in Visual Communications Design, Graphic Design and Art Direction, with honors, in 1985. At Pratt she was listed on the President’s List and the Dean’s List. She also received the Keeper of the Gate Award for Outstanding Community Service. From 1995-2012, Nolan attended the Sandler Sales Institute, Iselin, N. J., taking sales training and client building courses. Nolan has attended online Rutgers, Camden, N.J., working towards certifications in web design and development.
Between 1993 and 2009, Nolan received awards from Jersey Shore Public Relations & Advertising Association (JSPRAA) in design, service and the President’s Choice Awards. Nolan is a member of BarterPays; Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce, and Big Brother’s Big Sister’s of Monmouth and Middlesex counties. For more information, call 732-280-7989 or email leslie@leslienolandesign.com.
**The Background Leading to the U.N. Exhibit
Shiloh McCloud developed a method of teaching called the Color of Women. Because of her work during the past 17 years, McCloud became known to Lois A. Herman, the coordinator of WUNRN (Women’s UN Report Network). Herman, who reports about women, world-wide, and the violence against them, sent out an email blast with Shiloh’s poems and paintings, which were extremely well-received.
As a result, Herman invited Shiloh to speak at the UN Commission on the Status of Women 57th Panel: Arts & Film for Women’s Activism for Rights against Violence, Church Center, UN Chapel, New York. Shiloh put together her students’ paintings, including Nolan’s, which were exhibited at the U.N., as part of her presentation depicting how a person could heal through art and poetry. Some consider this method a palpable antidote for some of the pain women worldwide experience.
Nolan says, “It is Shiloh’s belief that if women are able to work from images that they are receiving from inside themselves, journeying inside of themselves to create images of hope and healing through art and journaling, instead of what the external culture is telling them they should be or how they should act in their life, it will help them realize their full healing potential, and assist in their life’s purpose and life calling.”
Shiloh has trained people, such as Nolan, to go into their own communities, using her method. Some people might use this method for those in recovery or, perhaps, for women affected by Hurricane Sandy, or for men and women who are vets. Each person has his or her own way to offer this method for different people in their community. For example, Nolan has created The Venus Transit, a group for women in transition.
Nolan says, “Besides just offering it to women who are going through a transition in their life, I can see that some methods can be used for women in business. Some classes work on the feminine business paradigm. There’s the potential of working with families of people who have been affected by hurricane sandy; one of my students was one of them. It can be used for teens and children—there are a lot of kids who are committing suicide in this area, in Manasquan and Belmar. This method can be used in many ways. It can be a form of expression, but it is also a place of healing.”
To see the entire exhibit, visit www.redthreadnation.com .