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Art of the Detour

Amy Oestreicher

Author’s Statement

My name is Amy Oestreicher and according to doctors, I am a surgical disaster. As an artist, I call it a beautiful mosaic. As a former patient, I know the healing power of art.   Creativity was my roadmap where there was none, my anchor when times felt uncertain, my lifeline back to myself, and an empowering tool to feel as though I were co-creating my circumstances along with the universe.

My working process is intuitive and instinctive. Visual art comes naturally to me, as an effective way to express myself after surviving a coma and 27 surgeries. I tend to work with a lot of layering and mixed media materials – anything from tissue paper to fabric, buttons, papers, or toilet paper – whatever I found in hospitals as I recovered.   I love playing with textures, colors and shapes and allowing them to transform sadness, joy and gratitude.

Most importantly, I paint whatever I feel from the heart.  I love experimenting with acrylics, painting my world of trees, birds, flight, girls dancing, and tear drops. I found art accidentally on my way to healing physically, emotionally and spiritually and have learned that it is one of the most rewarding, forgiving, beautiful ways to find my way through the darkness and into the light.

Creativity is an essential mindset.  Painting allowed me to express things that were too painful, complicated and overwhelming for words. Good feelings overwhelmed the bad because I could control the euphoric, fantastic world portrayed on my canvases with what my subconscious chose to create.  Now, I’ve taken the lessons I’ve learned from my canvases and have applied them to every day life.

Amy Oestreicher

“Holding My World”
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AmyOestreicher

“Dancing Girl”
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Amy Oestreicher

“My World Has Split”
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Amy Oestreicher

“Tree Thoughts”
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Amy Oestreicher

“Singing Tree”
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About Amy Oestreicher

Amy Oestreicher is a PTSD peer-to-peer specialist, artist, author, writer for Huffington Post, speaker for TEDx and RAINN, health advocate, survivor, award-winning actress, and playwright, sharing the lessons learned from trauma through her writing, mixed media art, performance and inspirational speaking. To celebrate her own “beautiful detour”, Amy created the #LoveMyDetour campaign, to help others cope in the face of unexpected events.  "Detourism" is also the subject of her TEDx and upcoming book, My Beautiful Detour, available December 2017.As Eastern Regional Recipient of Convatec’s Great Comebacks Award, she's contributed to over 70 notable online and print publications, and her story has appeared on NBC's TODAY, CBS, Cosmopolitan, among others. Learn the art of navigating beautiful detours and sign up for updates at amyoes.com.

Filed Under: Visual Art Tagged With: Art

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