* welcome to my heart * 

I'm Ariana (they/them). I'm a Black, queer heartist living, loving, and playing with art supplies in Oakland, California. By day, I'm a somatic psychotherapist. At night, I try to go wherever aliveness leads me.... to love, learning, movement, nature, growth, community, intimacy, and to creative play (which involves all of it). 

Times are complicated. Heartbreak is real. So is fascism. So is genocide. I often make heart for self-comfort. Or when I'm wrestling with something confusing and hard. Or when I want to make myself smile. Or when I'm feeling feisty or wicked or full of aliveness. Or full of grief or rage at the meanness and cruelty of the world. Or in awe of the wonder and grace and unspeakable beauty of the universe. Or when the quiet voice of wisdom whispers in my ear. 

My heartwork is full of notes to self, and is more about the process than the outcome, so it feels very intimate to invite you into connection around it. I'm new at sharing my heart with other people in this way, so please forgive me if I'm awkward and weird. My life is a perfection-free zone and my heartwork is a place where I practice that. 

The website is new and incomplete and so am I. Neither of us is fully fleshed out, yet. So, if you'd like to get in touch, or if you're wondering how to get one of my prints, stickers, T-shirts, cards, or rare, precious originals, send me a message through my contact form. 

I aspire to build out this website and make my heartwork more accessible in upcoming months, so that you don't have to have a conversation with me if you want something that I've made. In the meantime, if you'd like for me to keep you in the loop so that I can share my heart with you, please share your email address with me down below. I will treat it with the utmost respect. 

I am so not here to spam you or sell your personal information or anything nefarious like that. And I totally don't have the spoons to be emailing a lot. I don't know how people do it. It'll be a miracle if I ever manage to send out a newsletter. So, you might never even hear from me at all. But, I'd love for us to be able to connect with one another. 

I'd love to share my heart with you.