Laurie Maves Guglielmi has always been an artist. She spent her childhood with her family in northwestern Illinois, along with her larger-than-life imagination, always creating her own reality (often to the chagrin of her small town mid- western parents). There was nothing more she wanted to do, than to make something out of nothing. And if she could make something beautiful, she saw herself as a superhero. While living in Denver, Colorado in the late 1990's, Laurie took a leap of faith and gradually transitioned from her profession in the non-profit sector as an art therapist to that of a full time fine artist and live performance painter. After nearly two decades of living and working in the Rocky Mountain Region of Colorado, she relocated to the Sarasota, Florida, where she resides with her husband, Ralph Guglielmi and maintains a painting studio at The 11 th Orange, a working Arts and Art Therapies studio. There you can find her either facilitating expressive workshops or creating large scale abstract intuitive paintings. By focusing on the sacred act of mark making, Laurie finds a meditation in painting and experiences a deep spiritual connection in the act of creating. She finds the unplanned final images are often only the culmination of her exploratory process. By working in this way, she often feels that she is not making the paintings, but rather allows the paintings to make themselves. At The 11 th Orange, she offers “BE FREE” large-scale abstract painting workshops and classes designed for anyone interested in exploring the creative process. She believes that Art is for Everyone and that artistic processes can provide stress reduction and self-expression for anyone wanting to participate in the process.