I’m Sophie Michaud – Educator, Visual Practitioner, and Artist. I chose to become an educator because I am passionate about the evolving learner in each of us, and the quality of the relationships we grow on this life-long journey together. Over the past 19 years, I have served schools in a variety of roles, from teacher to school leader.
My own learning curve brought me to sharpen my visual thinking skills and become a visual practitioner in service of my work in education. I trained in graphic recording, graphic facilitation, and visual coaching until I earned my certification as a visual coach. See examples of my work here.
As far as the “artist” part of this self-description is concerned, I started making art shortly after moving to the United States from France, my country of origin. I became interested in the process of making art as a tool for self-expression. Art provided the language I needed to express myself beyond what words could convey. I make art to think, feel, observe, and communicate. Access the studio here.
I create signature experiences and offer customized services at the meeting point of these three inspiring fields.
It forms a rich, layered, textured, colorful, and unique territory on which to do exciting work as individuals and groups of people dedicated to purpose, meaning, growth, and joy.
Through my work, I seek to:
- Revive our innate connection to images as a language, providing continuity from childhood on.
- Reestablish balance between two complementary cognitive strategies: logical and imaginative thinking.
- Leverage our hands as a power tool for creative expression.
- Open up a space of inclusion through imagination.
- Invest in the future of our shared humanity by working towards a creative legacy that leaves us more connected to ourselves, each other, and our world.
I create signature experiences and offer customized services to mission-driven organizations and individuals committed to doing authentic work in service of process, learning, communication, and leadership across all ages and stages of growth. I also offer access to my own artwork as an expression of my personal experience as a fellow participant on the visual and creative path.
IMAGES
- We are, by nature, illustrative creatures. Images, symbols, and pictures are the oldest language we possess to process, record, and share our experiences with the world.
- We are, by nature, “whole-brained”. We are both analytical and imaginative. We access a higher capacity to think, feel, and express ourselves when we leverage both logical and imaginative thinking, words and images.
- Cultivating our capacity to imagine is key to expanding self-knowledge and authentic expression. Visually rendering information is an act of individuation which is, in essence, unique. It allows others to see you and consider your vision of the world.
- We work visually to engage our senses, process, and express information. We observe, listen, feel, and make physical contact with various materials as we create. The information moves through us and into our hands to translate our experience. It is an active hands-on practice that fires up our capacity to “see” beyond what we think we know.
- Working visually is joyful and playful (when we cut through our preconceived notion of being creative frauds and failures). When we explore and express our individuality visually, we build proximity with ourselves and our peers as they do the same. Working visually gathers people together building appreciation, empathy, and connection. A deeply human experience all around.
