Sarah Seidelman in her studio.

Sarah Seidelmann is one of the four Arrowhead regional artists selected for the Grand Marais Art Colony Studio 21 Gallery this summer. She premiers her work at her exhibit, Making Love Visible beginning with the June 1 opening event. The show is on display through June 29.

Title: Never forget how wonderful you are

Seidelmann started her career as a fourth-generation physician but now works as a writer, shamanic healer, artist and coach. She said she is on a mission to “make love visible in this world.” She wants to “give others courage and grit and joyful exuberance in life’s journey” through her paintings.

A story runs deep behind each of her works. Here’s how she describes the events surrounding “Never Forget How Wonderful You Are,” one of the pieces in the show.

In the middle of creating a “super fun and imaginative and just kind of crazy work, things changed,” she said. The painting featured “a combination of a tiger and a raccoon and … bees … and there were also whales … and it was getting really wild.” Then one day she turned it into a floral. “I started blacking out all the parts that weren’t going to  be flowers.” As she was finishing up, she found out that her husband’s mom had a stroke and was unable to speak. “So I ended up adding the words to it: ‘Never forget how wonderful you are.’ ” When she took the painting to the hospital, it was warmly received by her husband’s mom.

Painting: Never forget all of the good things you have done

“I feel like the animals are such good reminders … they’re not sitting around obsessed over their failures and their flops … they’re just being bears or squirrels, or whatever.”

Seidelmann is attracted to a “painting from the source” method. “It’s really kind of a shamanic spiritual way of painting. You basically open a sacred space before you begin to paint.”

She aims for her art to be “playful and free.” She uses bright colors and doesn’t worry too much about the outcome. She wants her work to “make you laugh.” “Flowers are a big thing for me,” she said. One of her still-life paintings depicts “two of our dogs as part of the bouquet.”Seidleman’s work zeros in on the “unexpected and fun” in the spirital world as well as the world around her. ”Dogs are not self conscious,” she said. “Because dogs are just so delightful, they help us to connect with strangers.”

Title: The Pugs and Flowers Always Whispered Their Good Advice

“Connect” is the operative word when describing Seidlemann and her paintings. She said she strives to share her “own light and in turn to inspire others to do the same.” From all accounts, the Making Love Visible exhibit promises to deliver.

The opening will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. on June 1 at the Studio 21 gallery, Grand Marais Art Colony, 21 W. Highway 61, next to Hungry Hippie Tacos. The exhibit is on display from June 1-29.

The Grand Marais Art Colony features artists Mary Stafford in July, Natalija Walbridge in August, and Margie Helstrom in September.

Cheryl Reitan is a freelance writer living in Duluth.