Confessions of a Punk Rock Princess when asked about her art experience and resume:

“I am rebel. And a woman in process. So all of my projects, from my books and paintings to my resume are rebellious works of love and outrageousness in process.  One of my gifts is that I am not a perfectionist. I don't try to get it right. I just share what I have and I hope it reaches someone in a way that they need to be met. I don't fit into fill in the blank spaces, and most folks don't. When we try, we end up looking and feeling crunched.  I did not have traditional art training and I had to leave art college to save my own creativity from the depths of conformity. So when folks ask where I got my training, I just say, my family. Because I did. My mom taught me, encouraged me, to be as different and unique as I felt like being.  I stopped trying to fit in at about age 14, and not a moment too soon. I was done with all that. I became a punk rocker without the anger. And I was proud of it. But how can you put punk rock princess on your resume?  Where is the space for writing, 'I have been drawing all my life' on a resume? Or, 'I am the one my friends turn to when they are in need' or 'I am inventing my own legend' or 'I have written 100 poems".  

About my art career? Well, I haven't shown in traditional galleries, but I have been exhibiting for thirteen year straight. And selling everything I make. And I have taught hundreds of women to paint from their soul. Where is the space for saying, 'I believe in myself, and in you.'  And what if we got a degree for surviving life by age 30? That is quite an accomplishment.

Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud

A life experience resume and summary of creative adventures!

Gallery Experience

• Gallery Owner:
• Wisdom House Gallery, Mendocino, California – Founded with Isaiah McCloud in 2004 
• Revenues of over 1.5  million dollars of art and books.
• Shiloh’s artwork and product line represented in 300 stores/galleries/venues
• Color of Woman Gallery - Owned and directed a women’s art gallery for seven years, with locations in Boulder, Colorado, Port Townsend, Washington, Sonoma, Sausalito, San Francisco, Berkeley and Mendocino, California

Co-Creations and Projects Founded

• Holy Counsel of Women – Co-founded Ministry with Rev. Ama Zenya at First Congregational Church of Oakland – Established in 2004
• Soulrise Gallery, Denver, Colorado – mentored owner Heidi Damata for six months in all aspects of gallery management and product development - 2006
• Flaming Heart Publishing, Co-founded wholesale publishing company with Isaiah McCloud, 2006
• Circle of Compassion – Facilitated Girl’s Rights of Passage for teenage girls – 2006
• Palm of Her Hand – publishing project to launch greeting card line with Alice Walker and Shiloh McCloud

Art Consulting and Design Projects

• Represented, marketed, coached and launched hundreds of women artists and exhibits for product and material development, logo presentation, and fine art exhibitions.
• Created design environment for women’s beauty services/salons, including, Brushworx Artistry, Plush Beauty Bar, Pleasanton, and Bellizza, Suisun
• Alice Walker Collaboration- Graphic designer for two major events that she created and  have launched a greeting card and poster line with her poetry and Shiloh McCloud images.

Art Alliance Projects:

• Formed project alliances and events with women/children centered non-profits including
• La Casa de las Madres, America’s Angel, Glide Memorial Church, Women Defending Ourselves and Parsa (Organization working with widows and children in Afghanistan), First Congregational Church of Oakland The Women’s Recovery Association, Marin Abused Womens Service, YWCA of Sonoma County, Native Women’s Wellness Circles and Belladonna Sanctuary, Mendocino Environmental Center, Bay Area Business Women
  

Healing Projects

• Toledo Hospital - working with my books in Cancer Survivor Group
• Pine Grove Women's Recovery Center - working with my books in women's Recvoery Group
• Girl's Ink - Working with girls and Gennifer Mountain Weaver to create
• a girl' rights of Passage journal.

Art Showings and Projects:

• Participated in over a hundred juried shows at galleries and art exhibits across U.S.
• Produced, marketed and exhibited at over fifty art, music and educational events, concerts, exhibits, schools, conferences and women’s circles.
• The Virgin Show - Galleria Tonantzin Guest artist for the 2004, 11th Annual Virgin Art Show – (San Juan Bautista, Ca)
• “Sacred Body Sacred Woman”, New College of California MA exhibition (Berkeley, CA)
• “Angels, Women and Heroes”, First Congregational Church, Six month rotating exhibit (Oakland, CA)
• “Center for Attitudinal Healing” – Marianne Williamson event exhibition (Oakland, CA)
•  “Dancing With The Tree of Life”, Belladonna Sanctuary – Nine Month In-House Gallery Exhibition  (Berkeley, CA) – 2004-2005
• “Praises for the World” Ritual Concert, with musician Jennifer Berezan, author Alice Walker and Gloria Steinem. 2004 and 2005
• “Source of Empowerment” – Woman as Symbol” - California Institute of Integral Studies juried art show (San Francisco, Ca) - 2004
• “Violence Against Women Women Against Violence” Northern California Women’s Caucus - Nexus Gallery Berkeley, CA and California Institute of Integral Studies, SF.
• Celebration of Craftswomen - Exhibitor in the countries only all-woman annual art show for three years through the San Francisco Women’s Building
• Napa’s Mustard Festival – Exhibitor, for three years and won 2nd place in competition
• Salute to the Arts – Exhibitor, Three years In juried shows (Sonoma, CA)
• DONA – Doulas of North America Art exhibitor in annual conference
•  “Glide’s Wall of Peace” Commissioned by to provide a “platform for creative response” to the war.  Hundreds from Glide Memorial participated custom six-piece mural
• “The Healing” Developed V-Day theme marketing and product line for fund-raising events for domestic violence shelters in California
• Women Defending Ourselves – (WDO) Sponsored “Wonder of Women” campaign
• Middle Fish Gallery, Boulder, Colorado fine art show 2006
• Ashkenaz – Berkeley, CA – Art show in conjunction with Alice Walker event
• Created art show environments for events for  Marianne Williamson, Leonard Schlain, Kathy Jones, Oriya Mountain Dreamer, Alice Walker, Jennifer Berezan, Vicki Noble, Jamie Sieber, Lucia Birnbaum
• Worked with Canadian Mid-wives Association of BC to create Logo image for anniversary event.

Art Training:

• Two year mentorship in painting and clay with artist and illustrator Sue Hoya Sellars, who illustrated for Rita May Brown’s first book, Plain Brown Wrapper
• Icon Painting Apprenticeship to Pavel Tikhimov, famous Russian iconographer
• Academy of Art, San Francisco, Two years 1992-1994
• College of Marin, Kentwood, Two years 1990-1992
• Dominican College, One year 1989

Publishing Projects With Others:

We Moon Calendar – 2001 and 2007
Sage Woman Calendar through Amber Lotus publishing - 2008, 2009
Rachel’s Bag - In Search of the Kabalah of our Mothers -Caron McCloud
Peak Vitality - Elite Books - 2007 - The cover image, and article included.
She is Everywhere - Belladonna Publishing - 2004
Light of Consciousness - December 2007 Issue - Showcase of work

  
Teaching Experience  and Curriculum:

• Faith & Feminism Conference, Wisdom's Urgent Cry - Presenter 2007
• First Congregational Church of Oakland, Speaker 2007
• New College of California, Women’s Spirituality Department, MA Program 2002-Now New College of California, Creative Inquiry, MFA Program  2002 -Now
• Founded small independent school in 1999, “Constellation of Wisdom” A Mystery School for the Creative Arts
• Woman of Vision Workshop Series - workshops for visionary entrepreneurs
• A Teaching Ministry:  taught and mentored hundreds of students from age three – seventy-five with an emphasis on healing through creativity
• Class instruction in watercolor, oil, acrylic, drawing, sumi calligraphy, journaling, design, project and program development, marketing, creating your artistic identity etc…through one-on-one classes, group workshops and weekend retreats
• Mountain Song Montessori schools, Mendocino, CA – teaching art to children - 4 years
• Taught creative learning and art classes to home-schooled children and at community centers in the Bay Area including “Be Your Own Superhero” series in at the Sonoma Community Center in 2002
• My books are part of curriculum for:  Women’s Wellness Circles – OVCD, Not-for-profit women’s healing program, in Bakersfield and Institute of Art as Medicine in Sacramento, CA,
  
• Books used for curriculum for Mount Saint Mary’s College for three years, and used at New College, Women’s Spirituality Program,
• Books and curriculum used at Pine Grove Treatment Center for women, Hattiesburg, MI
• Book and curriculum approved in 2008 for Toledo Hospital Cancer Recovery Program
• Teach at New College of California MFA Creative Inquiry Program - Visionary Business and Art Class and  (San Francisco, CA)
• Native Women’s Wellness Retreat - Owen’s Valley Career
• Development Tribal Tanif – Taught medicine shields and sacred journaling (Bakersfield, CA)
• Provided counseling and pastoral services for over five years to women and teenage girls
• Taught self-expression through painting images and words at the after school program for Sonoma High School Curriculum Development 

Developed and co-taught workshops with the following teachers/organizations:

• 2002 “Ecstasy of Sound” co-produced workshop about painting to rhythm with Jennifer Berezan, producer of “Praises For The World” concerts in Oakland
• 2000 “Journaling the Soul” with Rose Offner, author of Journal to the Soul at Readers Bookstore in Sonoma;
• 2003 “Transformation of the Sole” workshop with La Casa de las Madres – painting women’s “shoes” symbolic of leaving damaging situations;
• 2002 “Mother-Daughter Workshop” created this with my mother, the poet Caron McCloud and sponsored by The Women to Women Institute of Sonoma
• 2003 “Palace of The Soul” – Summer Camp Creating your own myth through paint, rhinestone and 3-D collage with Artist Elizabeth Gibbons
• 2001 “Painting from the Inside” – with master Sue Hoya Sellars teaching women to paint from the inside out;
• 2002 “Illustrating Your Foundation” class for entrepreneurs to illustrate with the steps to success in full color - with JoAnne Kellert, Gateway Consulting;
• 2004 “Creation Arts Consulting” Image and logo development, establishing a creative “identity”  For businesses and entrepreneurs with Isaiah McCloud.
• Trained advocate for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault

Publishing Projects:

Independently published five illustrated journals for women’s creative development.  They are featured in 90% of the women’s bookstores in the United States; two are in their third printing with over 15,000 copies sold to date.  Books are used as curriculum for a number of teaching programs:

1. Color of Woman - Journey to the Sanctuary Within
2. She Moves To Her Own Rhythm – A Guided Exploration
3. Heart Wings – A Book About Real Friendship
4. She Dances Between The Worlds - Exploring the Language of the Heart
5. Her Evolution – Women’s workbook for personal transformation.
6. Heart of the Visionary - A Workbook for Entrepreneurial Women

• Designed book covers - She is Everywhere by Lucia Chiavola Birnbaum, Peak Vitality, Rachel’s Bag
• Alice Walker Greeting cards project -   with Shiloh’s  images and Alice’s poetry.
• Founder of Cosmic Cowgirls, LLC -A  Woman an d Girls owned independently owned publishing company
• Book illustrations used for women’s book jackets and inside illustrations
• Plans for twenty more journals include healing and recovery topics ranging from, feminine divine, breast cancer, prayer, creativity as a spiritual practice, pregnancy, infertility, marriage, divorce, self-healing practice, business/vision plans, surgery/trauma, abuse, teenage issues, alcoholism and more!!!

Publications and Reviews:

• Reviews by Louise Hay, Dick Bowles, Vicki Noble, Luisa Teish, Judy Grahn, Rose Offner, Sark, Christin Lore Weber
• Published in Sark Woman Magazine on several occasions
• Coloring books featured/reviewed in over twenty magazines & publications
• Artwork/articles/poems from the books featured in over thirty publications including
• We’ Moon calendar
• Shiloh’s writings have also been published in over 20 magazines/publications and my images have been featured in over fifty publications

Shiloh’s Art Included in the following collections:

• Alice Walker, Leonard Schlain, Gregg Braden, Marianne Williamson, Ani DiFranco, Delores Heurte, Lucia Birnbaum, Sheila Kitzinger,  Jennifer Berezan, Dick Bowles, Pratiba Parimar, Lucia Birnbaum, Patricia Lynn Riley, Janice Mirikitani, Marjorie Power
• Church/Sanctuary/School Collections: Gnostic Sanctuary – Mountan View, First Congregational Church of Oakland, Grace of Sophia- Boulder, Colorado, Ebenezer Baptist Church – San Francisco, New College – San Francisco, Belladonna Sanctuary, Berkely, Mountain Song – Anderson Valley, California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, Christ Sophia Sanctuary, Oakland

Work Presented at the following Conferences

• Association for Peri and Prenatal Conference – on-going
• Doula’s of North America Conference – on-going
• Women’s Rights of Spring – on-going
• Native Women’s Wellness Circles.  Commissioned by nonprofit focused in educating Native peoples to teach journaling to women on reservations using Color of Woman’s journals and class materials
• Lillith Institute - “Personal Iconography” presentation w/slides sponsored by the Lillith Institutes’ “Voice of the Spirit” series
• Work featured at the 2003 Stanford Conference on birth awareness and the 2003 DONA Doula conference
• The Virgin Image Conference – Gallery Tonantzin – Taught painting practice
• Faith and Feminism Conference, 2007 Solo Show

Educational Experience:
Ordained, Reverend Shiloh Sophia McCloud by Grace of Sophia Church - 1996 - 2 Year Ministerial Program
Academy of Art, San Francisco, California.- 2  years -
St. Mary’s Seminary, Boulder Colorado - 2 years
Dominican College in San Rafael - 1 Year
College of Marin - 2 Years

A little itty bitty bio...

Shiloh Sophia McCloud has dedicated the past sixteen years of her life to the study and practice of art as a spiritual discipline as well as to helping equip women with the tools and understanding to develop their own creative potential. Shiloh's artwork is dedicated to providing healing images of women and family. As a leader in helping to build a Sacred Arts movement, Shiloh lives and teaches a philosophy that all art forms are tools for individual, social and spiritual transformation. Thousands of women have deepened in their creative practice through Shiloh's illustrated Color of Woman journals and her workshops. Shiloh is the founder of Cosmic Cowgirls Ink., a woman and girl owned publishing company that now produces five Color of Woman journals with dozens more on the way. Shiloh's paintings are internationally collected and her product line is represented at galleries and fine shops throughout the Unites States. She and her husband, Isaiah, own Wisdom House Gallery in Mendocino, California. "The work of a woman visionary is to the know the past, dream the future, and take powerful action in the present."

PO Box 1014 - Mendocino, CA 95460 1-888-385-6866