Biography
My love of photography is over 30 years old. I have always looked through the viewfinder of a camera in search of that image which elicits an intuitive response to form and color, to the abstract. As a photographic artist I am experimenting with my love of painting and connecting this love to my photographic images. I'm pushing the technological abilities of one medium to meet the painterly qualities of another. I like to see how far I can push the envelope with color and stroke while still creating something that evokes a response. I am in search of revealing the abstract quality in most of my works. The end product being the "distillation" or "essence" of the image. I try to find that simplicity, perhaps with some dissonance and tension, to illustrate a thought or feeling or purely a moment in time. But, then again, because change is the only constant in life, you will see new things on a regular basis.
My New Hampshire Native American ancestry has been very important to me. It has taken me on the path of the Good Red Road. I've been fortunate to have studied with Native American shamans on the West and East Coasts as well as in the southwest. I've had training with Michael Harner and Sandra Ingerman from the Foundation for Shamanistic Studies as well as extensive training in chakra healing and sound healing. I was ordained as a non-denominational minister at Harvard Divinity School after attending the Healing Light Center Church's Seminary program in Los Angeles, California (4-year program) from which I received a B.A. in Natural Theology and Sacred Healing.
I perform weddings, celebrate births, and memorials as well as other rites of passage. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and English from Emmanuel College in Boston where I received a teaching certificate in art for grades 1-12. I studied fine arts and theatre in West Berlin, Germany and have also trained in photography at the Massachusetts College of Art, the Art Institute and the New England School of Photography.
As a certified "SpiritSong" teacher I help others find their true voice with self-expression leading to empowerment. See http://wayofsong.com/join_start.htm
Recently I received a grant from the Germeshausen Foundation through Harvard Divinity School's "Health and Healing Initiative". This was done through the Center for the Study of World Religions' "Women Healing Women Program". My project "The Medicine Voice Project" led me to teach SpiritSong to women with breast cancer. See http://www.hds.harvard.edu/cswr/events/WHW.html (for online video of conference)
I have studied Voice Overs with composer/producer Dan Levine of Levine Productions and have a demo CD produced by David Bourgeois at White Lake Music and Post in Albany, NY. You can find out more about this at: http://users.rcn.com/maureenchase/
My formal work experience has been in the communications media (graphic design, advertising, television production, publicity, event coordination) including CBS Television, CBS Radio, New Age Journal , American Film Magazine , Cable Choice Magazine and Little, Brown & Company Publishers. I have also worked in the education field at Harvard Divinity School, the Education Development Center and Phillips Academy Andover.
I also have a desktop publishing business specializing in producing newsletters, brochures, and publications for both print and websites.
