Britt Mikalian, courtesy of Jason Mintzer Photography
Written by Emma Segrest March 5, 2024
Britt Mikalian sits at the intersection of grief, spirituality, healing, and art. Combining the fruits of creativity with a deep connection to the natural world, Michaelian has carved out a unique niche in art production. Mikalian has always been a person with creative tendencies. She recalls spending her childhood fascinated with drawing and watching others create art. This lifelong fascination and practice of hers led her to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There she met with her admissions counselor and after showing her her portfolio, she was admitted on the spot.
Mikalian received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree here. She earned a master’s degree in art therapy and began her research into understanding how art can heal art makers. At a fundamental level, Michaelian understood that creativity and art bring spiritual healing. However, it wasn’t until Michaelian faced extreme hardship in her own life that she was able to understand how deep and powerful this combination of forces was.
When Michaelian’s mother and sister were diagnosed with cancer, Michaelian stepped in to care for them. After her mother’s diagnosis, Michaelian felt that her desire to create art was beginning to wane. After her mother died from the disease, her sister also received her diagnosis. It was during this period, caring for her younger sister, that Mikalian slowly began to create art again.
I am powerful. I’m complete. Grounds you into your root chakra, solar plexus chakra, and personal power. Selenite, Theolite, Blue Apatite, Rose Quartz, Rainbow Fluorite, Sedona Energy Vortex Soil, acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 48″, courtesy of Roberto Liera
“When my sister got sick, she bought me paint by numbers. It’s like painting giraffes and horses,” Mikakerin says. “She made me paint again, and I remembered how wonderful it was to create again.”
Michaelian also studied Reiki, a type of energy healing that uses the healer’s hands to move energy blocks and buildups in the body. Mikalian was on his way to becoming a Reiki Master when he had a revelation to incorporate Reiki into the artwork he was creating. In doing so, Michaelian was able to create artwork that is not only visually interesting, but also aims to provide a healing experience for the viewer. The first iteration of this combination became part of the first Healing House event produced by Mikalian.
Healing House is a project created by Mickalene that serves as both an exhibition of her artwork and a wellness event. She describes the annual event as a “gift” to participants. This gift refers to creating a space that encourages participants to surrender to the energies around them, open their hearts, and experience spiritual cleansing. At the beginning of the night, Mikalian gave each participant two of her crystals. One was for cleansing and she had one to open her heart. She then performed a sound bath aimed at bringing about alignment, followed by a guided meditation that connected to the various chakras said to exist within the body. During the meditation, Mikalian performed Reiki on the participants and then introduced her art.
“We wanted people to not only open their eyes and experience the art, but also close their eyes and experience the feel and feel of the art before actually looking at it up close,” says Michaelian. “We wanted people to have a two-hour experience where nothing is expected of them except to focus on love and healing.”
Truth is my peace. Love is my vision. Clear communication of the throat chakra. Selenite, blue apatite, rose quartz, rainbow fluorite, acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 48″, courtesy of Roberto Liera
Mikalian’s art captures an abstract sense of what spiritual energy is like. Organic shapes and lines fill the large canvas. Her use of texture and color makes her work reminiscent of the natural world. During her creative process, she relies on her intuition to create. She sprays the canvas with special herbal water to reveal the colors beneath the top layer of paint, and then lays the crystals on the canvas as well.
The earth itself also has a great influence on these paintings. For her 50th birthday, she traveled to Sedona, Arizona and had the opportunity to explore the various natural energy vortices that exist around the area. An energy vortex is a ley line that is said to exist on Earth, and an energy vortex is formed when two of these ley lines intersect. Mikalian explained that the energy vortex she visited had a masculine side and a feminine side of the vortex.
I’m calm. Peace flows through me. Third eye chakra intuition, calm mind, and peaceful thoughts. Selenite, blue apatite, aventurine, amethyst, acrylic on canvas, 36″ x 36″, courtesy of Roberto Liera
“We decided to sit down on the men’s side and the women’s side, collect a little bit of soil on each side, and see what we could do with it,” says Michaelian. “I’ve been incorporating it into my work. I mix it with paint and even apply it over paint.”
Mikalian hopes her art, in whatever form it takes, invites others to begin their own healing journeys. Her work aims to provide the viewer with an introspective experience that expands the mind and opens the heart. In the future, I hope to teach other artists how to incorporate this spiritual healing into their own work. She imagines a world where museums filled with healing art exist. For now, she’s started with the Healing House, which she hopes to continue holding across the country. Michaelian also has a podcast called “The Daily Healing” where he shares his daily practices to guide people on their healing journey.
“I want to spread this conversation so that people know that looking at art is healing in itself, but looking at healing art takes you on this whole journey of creating a healing practice. I invite you,” Michaelian explains. “When you heal yourself, that energy ripples out into the world.” W.M.
To learn more about Michaelian and Healing House, visit her website. www.brittmichaelian.art Follow her on Instagram @brittmichaelian
