Mystical Willow Art
Colleen Koziara
Colleen attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, and currently lives her life in the near suburbs of Chicago living her dream of spending her days doing art and interacting with Seniors.
Colleen has illustrated 25 books including Magickal Places (Citadel), Seasons of the Sun (Weiser), and Exploring Celtic Druidism (CareerPress/NewPage). The most recent coming to press in the next year are The Big Blue Herd, a book for adults that work supporting children who are in grief, and The Magical Forest (working name) which is a tale written by a woman and her counselor documenting her journey to wellness, and reconnection, from a life of abuse and a multiple personality disorder. Colleen has been presenting, writing and providing art for Circle Sanctuary since 2002, most recently designing the PSG logos for 2010-2018. Colleen has been showing her work in private and juried shows in the Chicago area since 2004.
Colleen is the Owner and CEO of Beyond Bingo, Inc., a Senior Wellness Consulting & Programming Firm; an award winning designer of programming for seniors, and author of Taking Flight! A Senior Whole Life Wellness Handbook for seniors and caregivers. Her most recent program Murals to Remember ™ is a facilitated mural program that connects seniors with Alzheimers, and their caregivers, families and wider community members and assists them to create murals that foster reminiscence, the maintenance of cognitive function and interpersonal connections, and provide a renewed sense of pride and accomplishment.
Colleen gives workshops and seminars on a variety of topics and does private art instruction from her home for all ages, as well as art instruction for seniors in the Chicagoland area. Colleen does Body Art; Custom Tattoo Designs; Visionary Art; and Commissioned pieces manifest from the visions and dreams of her clients. Mystical Willow Productions is the umbrella name for her Artistic Endeavors.
Colleen has been an active member of the Pagan community for more than 30 years, is an Ovate member of OBOD, and a Reiki Master. For the past 7+ years Colleen has been working directly with an Elder to train as a traditional firekeeper and water pourer for sweatlodges, with the goal to be the creation of a new type of lodge, created with reverence and honor to those who preceded us here on this land, and a remembering of the lands where we came from, and a combining of these things to do all honor to The Earth that now sustains us all and needs our help and healing to survive.
Colleen describes each of her works as “Doorways”, through which she hopes the viewer will travel to seek that which is hidden deeper within the image, and possibly on their visual journey, find doorways of their own to mysteries hidden deeper within themselves. Colleen’s pieces give voice to the connection between the natural world and the magical realms, helping to reaffirm the magic within.
