Art for the soul

Pamela Parpart grew up interested in art, but she never imagined that is where her hobby would take her.

The retired real estate agent in the Town of Fredonia is helping others through her passion in multiple ways with her collection she calls Soul Expressions.

“Soul Expressions are one-of-a-kind works of intuitive art created for an individual,” she said. “Through color, image and contemplative writing, each piece reflects what the artist perceives their soul may be expressing at that moment in their life.”

The art spark was ignited in high school where Parpart grew up on a peninsula in the Seattle area.“I think all of my electives were involving art,” she said.

Life circumstances moved her away from the Pacific Northwest and art. She met her husband, Sean, who grew up on a horse farm in the Town of Saukville. The couple moved here in 1980, and Parpart stayed after Sean died in 2020.

Parpart reconnected with art at her father’s place in Mount Bonaparte, Wash., where she found some old supplies. The watercolors were so old she was using them like chalk.

Parpart’s vision of art to help people was also sparked in Washington. Her father’s place on a mountain drew water from a nearby spring, but he wanted to drill a well just in case.

A geologist visited and picked a place to drill. Then some sort of spiritual practitioner arrived with dowsing sticks that chose the same spot.

Her father may have known something. After he died, that spring dried up.

But Parpart was inspired by those dowsing sticks. She then started playing with a pendulum when she began hearing voices.

“Oh my gosh, I’m communicating with somebody,” she said.

Confused, she sought guidance from a priest, who she said told her to visit her doctor. In 2015, she went to the Namaste Healing Center of Wisconsin in Lake Mills.

Owner Kari Chapman-Ayres told Parpart, “You’re going to channel art through the universal language of light and for helping and communication to activate people’s cellular memories.”

Parpart was given tools to learn and began to educate herself, becoming a psychic and a medium who can talk to her late relatives and others.

Art plays a role in all of it.

Parpart has painted 54 water color pieces, each with their own meaning.

“I don’t think. I just go paint. I don’t use my mind. I bypass the whole head process. I just do,” she said.

Her paintings also bring out another element of art.

“Whenever I do a piece of art, a piece of writing comes with it automatically,” she said.

“The words are not me. I have to look up words. It flows like a poem.”

Parpart said her inspiration comes from archangels.

She has become a psychic and used to sell her art at psychic shows.

A psychiatrist told her to use her art to help children.

“They pick a photo they like, figure out the meaning and talk about that,” she said. “Kids are so not blocked yet. They’re open. That’s why the contest resonated with me.”

The contest that popped into Parpart’s Instagram feed was The People’s Artist by Johnny Depp, which invites artists of all kinds to submit pieces with fans voting for the best one. She didn’t win but found the experience to be valuable.

“It’s about helping other people. It’s about using art to move forward,” she said. “I think it’s helped me.”

Parpart hasn’t used her art to help children yet, but she has helped seniors.

She brought supplies and taught a class to a senior living facility in Florida.

Parpart drew a Nemo fish as a sample and had seniors try to paint it.

“None of them looked like the sample,” she said.

But many found interesting aspects in each other’s work.

“They were talking with each other. They just enjoyed it so much,” she said. “Those people were amazing.”

Parpart is now into big art.

“It was like a new moon and I should write down what I want to do for the next month,” she said.

She had been looking for inexpensive supplies when she found 2-by-3-foot canvases for $3 each on Facebook Marketplace.

A visit to the seller in Beaver Dam led to a psychic reading.

“What do I owe you?” the man asked.

“It looks like I’m getting free canvases,” Parpart said.

She took all 21, but they are not blank. She is painting over them.

“This is recycling. I love that. They’re not going to a landfill.”

Parpart’s spare time is spent with her small rescue dog Pip and with her 13 and 11-year-old granddaughters in Milwaukee, whose parents are teachers. She also treasures seeing her son who lives in Pittsburgh. He has a 4, 6 and 8-year-old.

Parpart doesn’t know what her next initiative will be, but she knows it will have purpose.

“There’s a reason for it. I just know there’s a reason for all of it,” she said. “It’s going to help somebody somewhere.”

For more information, visit Parpart’s Instagram page at @parpartart.