About Aimee Harel (she/her)
Hello, Aimeé here.
I am a Melbourne-based, Sydney-raised creative and empathic human being.
In my 20s and for the first 12 years of my career, I worked as a copywriter in the marketing and advertising sectors. I worked both in-house and as a freelancer for the likes of Bauer Media, Hanes, Hello May Magazine, Parks Victoria and some lesser known brands. I had a taste of agency land and enjoyed the drama of mag land right when paper media was on its way out.
During this time, I learnt a little about how large organisations worked and realised very quickly sitting at a desk all day pretending to be busy wasn’t for me. I also spent some of this time honing my skills in digital marketing and picking the brains of more techie colleagues, skills I still use in my work today.
I am blessed to have two beautiful boys who are now aged 5 and 7. During the first few years of their lives, COVID hit and I was lucky to be in the maternity, child-rearing stage of my life. Our iso days were dotted with breakfast in the garden and water play amidst a home filled with mess, toys and joy. They were also rife with a mind full of uncertainty as to where my career path would take me after the pandemic passed.
I knew I couldn’t go back to a stationary job and craved a dynamic role centred around health and wellbeing. Chronic illness and fatigue is a fact of my adult life that has often driven or hindered my life decisions. Much to my trusting husband’s chagrin, I did a massage course, set up a hamper business and sold bouquets of flowers on Instagram, to soon realise none of these endeavours were going to pass.
The pandemic lifted and I felt an intense urge to paint. I learnt about an intuitive painting method called Point Zero invented by French artist Michele Cassou, and before long, I invited friends and their children to come paint freely on my backyard deck, staring out towards lush greenery, and to the sounds of chirping birds and gentle healing rhythms through the speakers.
Since then, I have respectfully facilitated art-making experiences for people of varying ages and abilities including children, families, people with a native language other than English, people with mental ill health, and people with intellectual and physical disabilities.
In a three year period, I have been employed by local art schools and children’s art organisations to teach art skills, however something very central to my being tells me people need less pressure to achieve and more space to play, discover and explore. I believe it is through this free way of being, ideas and dreams can emerge. Of course, we do indeed require skills, tools and techniques to materialise our ideas, but this job is in the hands of many wonderful teachers and institutions that currently exist.
In this moment, the year of 2024, I am interested and open to learn more about the therapeutic nature of creative expression in various forms. I have painted, I have chanted, I have danced, I have breathed, I have written and I have verbalised until tears have fallen down my cheeks, making way for clarity and awareness.
I continue to support a few wonderful people on their journey through life’s challenges and joys, offering a cherished space to connect and create alongside one another. I am thankful to each one as their presence has become my purpose.