Finding Her Voice Through Art

Juanita Buckles is an artist who paints with energy. Using vibrant acrylics, she creates works that are meant to comfort and inspire. But if you had asked her years ago, no one would be more surprised by this path than Juanita herself.

For most of her life, Juanita wished she could "make art," but she felt lost in a maze—her attempts at drawing felt uninteresting and hard to figure out. Art is a form of communication, and she hadn't found her language yet.

Then, one day, Juanita found herself wrestling with an illness that threatened to take her life. As she sat in bed, barely able to move, she searched for something positive to do. She watched one of her favorite TV shows, as he talked about "happy trees".

And before Juanita knew it, she had found her language. Painting!

She could barely move her arms, but this would be art. If it looked crazy, she would simply say it was abstract! And so it began...