Weavings #12

Jill McGowan:

I think the one thing that kept me going was, was the customer feedback. And I really think that helped me through the worst times was when I would hear positive reinforcement from the customers. There were some really lean, lean years. And so I think it was customer feedback all the time. Just positive feedback about keep doing what you're doing and we love your product and finally someone's getting it, gets what we want and what we need.

Alex Rheault:

I think as an artist, one of the things that I've learned is that it's really important to be true to self and to live in your truth. Sometimes making art is really about living your life and really improving on that and building that, experimenting with your life as a kind of material.

Sarah Armentrout:

What is the thing that brings you back to yourself? And you know, that's just such an easy, easy. It's riding. I can get on a horse and the day looks very different for me at the end of that ride.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Hello, this is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast live number 12 airing on Sunday, December 4, 2011. Our theme this week is weaving. In 2006, I recognized that being the type of physician I was was not quite enough for my patients. As a family physician trained in family and preventive medicine with a master's in public health, I knew that I was impacting people, but not quite to the extent that I wanted to. So I went on a quest to find things that would be helpful to my patients to weave in new and different and yet ev evidence based things that I could make their lives better. On today's show we will be talking to individuals who have had the same experience in their lives. They have recognized a need exists and they have found ways to meet that need. We begin with a conversation with Jill McGowan, internationally known clothing designer based here in Maine. We speak with Alex Rowe of the Maine College of Art and the Quimby Colony. And we conclude with a conversation with Sarah Armentrout of equest and the Carlisle Writing Academy. We hope that you continue to contemplate the theme of weavings and its impact and its meaning in your own life. As you listen to our discussions with these guests, as you listen to our daily tread quote and our bountiful blog reading, we hope that we continue to inspire you and support you as you seek to live your own bountiful life. Thank you for listening. Each week on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we feature a segment that we had been calling Food and Sustenance, but we've decided to call Deep Dish, mostly because Jen Morgan and I, we, we dish a lot on things that maybe aren't completely food related from a physical standpoint. But here I am with Jen again.

Genevieve Morgan:

Hi, Lisa. So nice to be here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Nice to have you. This morning I went to Whole Foods. Whole Foods is our sponsor for this segment. And it is December now, so there are fewer things in the store that are locally raised, but there's still a lot there. So what I had today was we have some Brussels sprouts, we have some carrots, we have some carrot juice and some butternut squash and some spinach.

Genevieve Morgan:

It does. It looks like a delicious winter feast over there, actually.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yes. And so I thought we would talk a little bit about the weavings that we do with food, because weavings is our theme of today's show.

Genevieve Morgan:

Well, and you bring up a good point because, Lisa, you've done a lot of weaving in your life. You started out as a traditional medical doctor, a family doctor, I believe. I think in our interview that we did last year, you studied and you were going to have a traditional practice. And then something happened along the way that made you rethink your plan. What was that?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you're right. I was trained in family medicine. I did that. I did a master's in public health. I did training in preventive medicine. I had a family medicine practice. I was doing that actively, and I had done it long enough that in 2006, I realized what I am offering my patients is not exactly what they need. And I'm very practical that way. I went and studied Chinese medicine. So it doesn't maybe seem practical, but it's very practical. I am all about tools that you can use.

Genevieve Morgan:

Well, you actually said that in the article. You said that you could measure the results of your acupuncture practice.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's right. This is an article that you wrote for the inaugural wellness issue for Maine Magazine.

Genevieve Morgan:

Yes. All about integrative medicine and the tsunami effect it's having on healthcare in our state, which you are at the lead of.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, and we need to have a tsunami of sorts because things are not in a great state right now. We all recognize that. And this is why I did go back and study traditional Chinese medicine, and I studied acupuncture. But I also had spent a lot of time looking at food and nutrition. And every week on the show, we read from the Bountiful blog. And I believe that I mentioned to people that this started as a food blog. It started as me going back and learning how to cook myself as an indu so that I could share this information with my patients.

Genevieve Morgan:

And why is that so important to you?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, for me personally, I spent a lot of time in my life feeding other people, literally and figuratively. I was a mother. I was a physician. I was the oldest of 10. And there was a lot of outgoing energy. I was a wife. So I spent so much time nourishing and nurturing other people, which I love doing, but it left me empty and starving in some ways. So when I realized how starving I was, and I had some very physical sort of manifestations of starvation, and I even realized that I was almost starving myself, almost intentionally starving myself to try and maybe get myself out of the life that I had created, that didn't quite resonate that I went back and I said, okay, now I need to feed myself. And let's start with the physical, because if you can't feed yourself physically, then you don't exist anymore. Physically.

Genevieve Morgan:

Correct. Yes. Well, I'm glad you recognized that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it's a hard thing to come to. I think a lot of women have this problem.

Genevieve Morgan:

Absolutely. Or they have the opposite problem, which is they use food as a way to insulate themselves from those feelings.

Jill McGowan:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And it isn't just women, it's also men. But I have noticed this a lot in my practice and amongst my friends and family members that it does tend to be fairly female. And we had Marcel pick talking about this topic on are you tired and wired? That's her book. So our show that we did a few weeks back, this was this whole idea of sort of feeding yourself. Yes.

Genevieve Morgan:

And the book that she and I did together, the core balance diet, we found in our research that you cannot dissemble you cannot unweave emotions and food. And that's really what you're talking about.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's right. And so when I go to Whole Foods every week and I pick up food, it's not just about the physical. I'm actually trying to figure out what can I do with this food that is going to feed me in a physical way, but is also going to nurture me in some way spiritually. And it sounds like a funny thing until you've actually. Well, we've talked about beets. Until you've actually sliced open a red, red beet and you've thought to yourself, this is the most amazing magenta I've ever seen. Or until you've taken the time with a purple cabbage to slice it in half and to see the sort of crenellations around the outside and the design. So I think there is this very visual, very sensual element to food that feeds us. And this is why I needed to do this with myself and my own life, to feed myself physically. And it became spiritual. And why I do this with my patients on an ongoing basis and why we talk about food on this show. Because food is just a microcosm of the macrocosm. It's an example of something smaller, something more tangible that can be done, that can actually nurture you in a less tangible and extremely significant way. So this week, speaking about these foods that I had just mentioned, I actually brought along what I. I love this book. We have actually, we, time to time, talk about books that we use as resources for people who already have some background in food. This book that I love now is called the Flavor Bible. And it's not a book that has recipes, but what it does have is, it has. And this is by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg. And we'll, we'll reference this on our website. You can go in this book and you can look up Brussels sprouts and they will, they will tell you what season it's from. If this is an autumn, winter sort of food, the taste is bitter. The relatives are broccol, cabbage, cauliflower, collard greens, kale, and kohlrabi. And remember, we've talked about cruciferous vegetables, so we know that these are already good for our hearts and for cancer prevention. And it gives you some techniques as to how to use them. But it also, which I love, this is one of my favorite, favorite things to do with food is to bring together, to marry together tastes and smells and textures is to bring them all together and create something new, to weave them all Together. So this is why I love this book. And again, it's not for the kind of faint of heart. You have to have a little confidence in your cooking skills. You have to be able to say, all right, I know how to braise a Brussels sprout. So now I'm going to try some of these combinations.

Genevieve Morgan:

But it sounds like it educates you on how to take it to the next level.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It does. And this is sort of a next level book. And I think about levels of wellness in food, cooking, life, wellness. And this book is sort of an upper level book. But I love it and it's. It's just a great book. So Brussels sprouts, they talk about some of the taste combinations. One of them is Brussels sprouts, lemon juice and thyme.

Genevieve Morgan:

Thyme, really?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So these three tastes go really well together. They talk about, you know, they put vinegar, cider and white wine vinegar as important sort of braising. And it is the balance between the taste that actually that gives you that oomph.

Genevieve Morgan:

Well, and isn't that true on your tongue? And I know that the tongue is very important in Chinese medicine, that you have different tastes on your tongue. Does that play into the. When people talk about your palate, a chef's palate, is that what they're talking about?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, it's the same. It's the same. It's different languages saying the same thing. Whether you're educated in food per se, or Chinese medicine and Chinese cooking, or whether you're talking about Ayurvedic, it is always a balance of tastes. And there are different. In Western medicine, there's different places on the tongue that have different salty, sweet, bitter. And in Chinese medicine, you actually can do a tongue diagnosis. You can look at a person's tongue and say, okay, this person has a heart fire imbalance, for example. In fact, the tip of your tongue is where you look to see if you have a heart fire problem.

Genevieve Morgan:

And what does that tell you? You're under stress?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Sometimes it does. Sometimes it means that you're just not quite resonating with what you're meant to do in your life. Your heart is. It's sort of overacting, it's almost manic. But so we have getting back to sort of the grounding and the weaving. One of the reasons that I have taught myself to cook, that I blog about it, but I keep talking about food, even though I know that ultimately health ends up being emotional and spiritual, is that when I have Pat who come in, they maybe are ready to talk about emotional and spiritual health. Maybe they're not ready to talk about resonance with their lives. Maybe they just need to know how to cook carrots, feed themselves, feed themselves from a physical standpoint. And so one of the reasons I picked out all of these foods for today is that so you have Brussels sprouts. So those are those cruciferous vegetables. And we've talked about how to cook them before. You can slice them thinly and you can pan roast them with a little bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe just a little bit of maple syrup, which kind of cuts the bitter taste. You can also shred them very, very finely. And you can toast up some walnuts and you can mix them in with a little bit of honey and vinegar and make up a salad. That's something that we've seen in local restaurants. The butternut squash. I brought this in just to remind us that we can, you know, that they actually have pre cut versions. I've had patients in my cooking classes before who have said, I can't cut a squash, it's too hard on my hands. Well, there's one that's already cut for you so you don't have to and cleaned out and cleaned out, which is really good if you're in a hurry. So that's one of the reasons I brought this particular squash. So when you're talking about making your butternut squash soup or you're talking about trying to pan roast some vegetables, if you've got a gourd and you can't use it, it's not a good, not a helpful gourd. And finally, the reason that I brought in this particular variation of foods is that people who are in a hurry, they need something good, they need something green and they can't figure out how to. They don't have time to make a five vegetable course meal. I often will encourage them to create something called a green smoothie. And what I often use in my smoothies, I use as a base either carrot or apple juice. I'll add in some either carrots or app apples, depending upon what I've used as a base. I'll cook up some beets and have those readily available. I'll add in some spinach or some kale for that's the green part. It does end up looking a little off, but it's pretty tasty. I'll add in a little bit of maple syrup or honey for a sweetener and then also some ginger or nutmeg. So that's one of the reasons why. That is the reason why I brought in those particular foods is if you're looking for your sort of vegetable punch of the day, it's got great fiber and it's got.

Genevieve Morgan:

What are the greens you brought in? I see them in there for your smoothie.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Oh, these greens are just baby spinach. Pre washed baby spinach. They come in a tub. It's very easy. You just throw them in the blender. Throw them in the blender. Right. And I will often what I will do with my green smoothies is make up a blender's worth. I'll drink like half in one day and put it in the fridge and hope it doesn't spill and drink the half the next day. And actually bee pollen, we've talked about bees before, so I'll add in some bee pollen there because you can't, you can't actually.

Genevieve Morgan:

For energy?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yeah, for energy. It's very energizing. And it's not something that you can cook. You can't use bee pollen heated. So this is just an example of something very physical that I will do for myself, especially maybe after the Thanksgiving meal, you know, the day after you've had some heavy foods and you just need to kind of come back to balance just to sort of weave together things that you, that you have to keep yourself healthy.

Genevieve Morgan:

And they're all power packed with nutrients.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yes, they absolutely are. So we'll continue to bring forth some of this information and put it on our website and we'll continue to talk about this sort of thing.

Genevieve Morgan:

That'll be great.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

On this week's Wellness Innovation segment, which is sponsored by the University of New England. I'd like to talk a little bit about the neuroscience of gratitude. And I'd like to talk about something that was written by Ocean Robbins. This is from the Neuroscience of why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier. Negative attitudes are bad for you. And gratitude, it turns out, makes you happier and healthier. If you invest in a way of seeing the world that is mean and frustrated, you're going to get a world that is more mean and frustrating. But if you can find any authentic reason to give thanks, anything that is going right with the world or your life and put your attention there, then statistics say you're going to be better off. There's an old saying that if you've forgotten the language of gratitude, you'll never be on speaking terms with happiness. This isn't just happy talk. It turns out your brain knows the difference. Several studies have shown depression to be inversely correlated to gratitude. It seems that the more grateful a person is, the less depressed they are. Philip Watkins, a clinical psychologist at Eastern Washington University, found that clinically depressed individuals show significantly lower gratitude, nearly 50% less than non depressed controls. Thank you to Ocean Robbins from the Neuroscience of why Gratitude Makes Us Healthier. And thank you to the University of New England for sponsoring this wellness innovation segment. We have in the studio with us Jill McGowan, who is nationally and actually internationally known for the work that she has done in clothing design. I'm going to read just a little bit about her, although I don't think this is going to give you quite the scope of how truly interesting and amazing this story is. The first line of Clothing from Jill McGowan was a series of white shirts. This line was inspired by her work as a pattern maker in the men's shirt industry. After comparing her work on men's shirts to women's clothing of equal price, she realized the genuine need to improve the standard of women's clothing. Her shirts and seasonal collections are now available in over 300 specialty stores around the country. And her work has been featured in several publications including Women's Wear Daily, Harper's Bazaar, the New York Times, Victoria, Real Simple Rescue, and more magazines. And there's so much more. We'll put it on our website, but that's just a start. It's great to have you here today.

Jill McGowan:

Thanks for having me. And hi Jen. Hi Lisa.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Jill, tell us how you came to be doing what you were doing. So I see that you have this pattern maker. You are in the men's shirt industry. You saw something. Our theme today is weavings. You saw something that wasn't quite right and you wanted to create something new. Tell me how that set the stage for that.

Jill McGowan:

Well, it goes way back because my mother had four girls, one son, and she always sewed for us. And so it goes that far back into my childhood where I would watch my mother put these pieces together and take fabric and turn it into something three dimensional. And so I was really impressed with that process, but let it go and went to school, went to college and studied something completely outside of what this theme is. And then in my mid-20s decided to go back to school for design. And so I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology. And while there, it's a really Intense environment and, you know, I don't think I would have survived as an 18 year old there, but I'm really glad that I was there as a 29 year old. They were brutal. You know, they were just really hypercritical. And what they really do ultimately is help you develop a critical eye for what you're doing for apparel design, for construction. And so through that, my eye was a little more critical and jaded, I guess you could say. And every time that I would try to shop for women's clothing, I would never find what I wanted. And from throughout my internship, I worked in couture. And so you just saw designers working with the best fabrics in the world. And I wanted to do that, but I didn't want to do it at that price point, which was in the thousands of dollars. And so I decided to work with more affordable fabrics and use the construction, really hardy construction, and make a really durable product.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you ended up with this. I went on the website and I was looking at it with my 15 year old and I mean, it's a striking product that you've created. It's very simple and elegant. It's this white shirt against a black background and some pearls looped around the neck. I mean, it's striking and it's interesting that you were able to pull together something with such focus. You were able to identify this is the white shirt. Why was it the white shirt specifically that you decided that you wanted to work on first?

Jill McGowan:

That's a good question. I think it evolved and it came from my background in menswear. I worked at the Hathaway shirt company for three years, and they were known for their men's shirts and for, and particularly, you know, launched their brand in the 1800s. And when I started reading more about their history, I saw, you know, this person, C.F. hathaway, was able to develop a product in the 1800s in Maine. I wanted to do it in, you know, the 20th century in Maine. And white shirts, I just love, I've always loved white shirts. I love the way they wear. And I think they, you know, if you do need to look presentable, you know, you put that on with a jacket and you look, you know, people are going to believe that, you know, you're professional and take you seriously.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What challenges did you come across when you were first trying to do this?

Jill McGowan:

Oh, everyone you could imagine, you know, financial. I took my business plan to the bank and tried to get a term loan and line of credit, and they, they turned me down. And it was only because I didn't have any collateral. You know, it's, it didn't have to do with race or gender. It's just like, you know, you could, it just. They, you know, they needed collateral, they needed a guarantee. And, and, and you were in your

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

early 30s at this point?

Jill McGowan:

I was 34 at the time. Okay, started at 34. And so I just, was just step by step. I used my savings and I used credit cards and I worked 24 hours a day. You know, I just, it was, it was an incredible challenge. And another obstacle was being in Maine because I wasn't, I didn't have access to the resources that, you know, someone on 7th Avenue has access to on a day to day basis. So that was a bit of a challenge. I could go on and on.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, but it is interesting because I think that what oftentimes people will learn is that when they're trying to weave together authentic lives, they come across challenges, and it's very easy to just give up. So what kept you going? What kept you wanting to move the process forward?

Jill McGowan:

I think the one thing that kept me going was the customer feedback. And I really think that helped me through the worst times was when I would hear positive reinforcement from the customers. And there should have been many times that I should have quit or filed bankruptcy. There were some really lean, lean years. So I think it was customer feedback all the time. Just positive feedback about keep doing what you're doing and we love your product, and finally someone's getting it, gets what we want and what we need.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That must have been good to hear after all of the struggles and all the challenges. And how did your family feel about this? Tell me where you're from.

Jill McGowan:

Well, I grew up in Pittsfield, Maine, and my parents still live there. And they. My mother was. My mother wanted me to do what I wanted to do, but I was in. I worked at a newspaper at the time, and I had a pretty stable job. And she questioned why I would go back to school. But once they realized that I really was serious about this, they were, were behind me and really supportive. Very supportive.

Genevieve Morgan:

Jill, you have a workroom in downtown

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Portland, is that right?

Jill McGowan:

Yes, we're at Kaspa street now.

Genevieve Morgan:

When you were starting your business, how did you go from being a one woman show to having this workshop? What was your process and what do you need to do the work that you do?

Jill McGowan:

Well, it started in a bedroom of my house and then evolved into a smaller studio. And as I grew, I would add new spaces on. I was in the artist's studio on Congress street for years and really loved that space because I was surrounded by painters and photographers and it was really a nice atmosphere. But I, you know, I started in a room by myself and I. And I craved having other people around me. And so I built it. I built it to, you know, Now I have seven employees, 10 at high season and seven on average. And now I need to get back to being alone. It's like that. When I really am able to create, I'm in my studio alone and it's usually a Saturday where I can have some great music on and no distractions. The phone's not ringing and that's my process and I need space. And I love the space that I work in is really beautiful. It's an old brick building and my husband converted it into a nice, gorgeous studio for me. So I'm really loving where I'm working right now.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Would you say that's common among people who create the need to simultaneously have external connections but also have focused solitary time?

Jill McGowan:

I think so, yeah. I think that's not unusual to need the support system. And I need feedback. I really like critical feedback. It's hard sometimes, but I do need to hear it because I feel that I have this skill set, but I don't always have the perspective where to edit, you know, where we talked about earlier, you know, just where to narrow things down and where to stop, when to stop, you know, because once you get on this creative jag, you can just keep going, you know, and you just, you know, and it's a great feeling because time just dissolves, you know, you're in this space that's really wonderful. And it's probably like writing for you, Jen, you know, it's just like. And then you just need to know where to pull it in, you know, when and where, you know, and oftentimes for me, it's a deadline I'll have to meet, a trade show deadline. And so that's where I have have to stop. And sometimes not when I want to stop, but I just have to, I'm forced to stop.

Genevieve Morgan:

I have a personal question. When you were meeting with, when you were in New York and you were meeting, having those experiences on 7th Avenue, and also when you got your degree and you didn't get the support, how do you, how do you deal with rejection and criticism? What are your tools?

Jill McGowan:

I think humility is a good thing. I just, I so many rejections, you know, and I set my sights really high. I was making cold calls to Barney's and to, you know, Neiman's and to Louis in Boston. And I didn't have, you know, I didn't have a body of work really that they could buy and, you know, present. And it was just a riot. I was just like, I'm going to the top and that's where I want to be. And my customer now is more the independently owned specialty store. So the rejection part is, you know, people do me a favor when they say no, that's not working, you know, and I just, you know, through my experience at fit, I've developed thicker skin and I can separate it. You know, it is a product and I'm the person, you know, the criticism that I don't like hearing is just negative things that are beyond my control. You know, one is my price point. People say, I don't hurt stuff is so expensive. And it's like, it's expensive because I put a lot of money in it and there's a lot of fabric, you know, there's a lot of cost is the fabric and that's something the customer takes home. And I feel good about that. You know, they're taking that with them. I don't put a lot of dollars in advertising and I don't draw a huge salary and money is in the product. And so I'm really proud of that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Aside from sort of being around people who are creative, what do you do to inspire yourself on an ongoing basis?

Jill McGowan:

I love going to museums. I just went to fit, had an exhibit on Daphne Guinness work. And she's a socialite from, she's one of the Guinness eras and she had this amazing collection, probably a 20 year collection of couture. And it was in the Fit Museum and I just walked through it and it was awe inspiring. Just this body of work was just incredible. And she, people criticize her as being this dilettante of sorts. And she just really had an amazing eye and she knew what to collect and she had, she has a lot of Alexander McQueen's work who is now gone, you know, and so she has this great, you know, body of work that we won't ever see again. So that was really impressive. And I love, you know, I love to read and I'll go through magazines, I'll go through publications, and I love historical couture and I'll go back in history and try to get inspired by that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Are there other clothing or non clothing related things I should say that inspire you?

Jill McGowan:

Non clothing?

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you talked about, excuse me, food and you talked about furniture and somewhat architecture, I guess.

Jill McGowan:

Yeah, I love, you know, I just am really passionate about design in general. Landscape design, buildings. My husband, you know, when we go on vacation, we're constantly pulling over to the side of the road and he's taking a picture of a porch or, you know, skyline or whatever. But I, you know, design is what really inspires me and I, and I really connect with other people who are doing things outside of my field, but design related. And I just love that people keep trying to improve the world that way. I don't know if you've been to New York lately, but the High Line. I have been obsessing about this park. It's a vertical park. I think it's 20 blocks. And it is just amazing. It's just amazing what they've done to this part of New York that was a decrepit, you know, part that was, you know, they were going to tear it down and they've turned it into this amazing park. So.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it makes sense that you would sort of like the transformation of something not quite there to something there. Like as with the shirt that you saw that wasn't quite right. So let's make it better. What's in the future for you? What do you think's coming up in your life?

Jill McGowan:

Well, right now we were really set back from the 2008 recession, but we had this great opportunity to open a store. And so we have this store in Freeport, Maine, which I am loving. We opened it last November. So it's been a year, a full year now that we've been open and we're going into our second year, we decided to do it again. And I just am loving the fact that our product is in a store on a day to day basis and we can show the entire collection. And we have a little outlet corner too for the Porter shoppers who like finding bargains. We have a teeny outlet where we have left. It's more discontinued items, discontinued fabrics, but it's all first quality and so I'm nurturing that right now and I just want to nurture the customers that we have. We have a great base of customers across the country and I want to take care of them. So that's our goal right now, is just take care of what we have in front of us.

Alex Rheault:

Us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How can people find more, find out more about you and what you're doing, what your shirts are doing and your dresses are doing.

Jill McGowan:

Your stores are doing well. They can go to 56 Main street in Freeport and shop. We're open seven days a week. And you could also, if you're far away, you can go to our website, which is jillmgowan.com and we have a shopping, online shopping.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, thank you for coming in and talking to us today. This is a great and a very appropriate theme. Weavings, bringing together things, you know, what was and what will be.

Jill McGowan:

Well, thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Each week on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast we feature a segment we call Maine Magazine Minutes, which is hosted by our all the time co host, Genevieve Morgan, the wellness editor for Maine magazine.

Genevieve Morgan:

Thank you, Dr. Lisa. Today you and I are joined in the studio with Alex Rowe, who is an artist, independent curator and writer living in Portland, Maine since 2001. Ro serves as Chair of illustration and assistant professor at Mecca, that's the Maine College of art. She is the artistic director of Quimby Colony's fashion, costume and textile arts program and founder of the Drawing Room, a roving community focused art project. Hi Alex.

Alex Rheault:

Good morning everyone.

Genevieve Morgan:

Well, just in looking at your bio and reading everything that you've done, you are probably the ultimate weaver and so perfect for our show today. Can you tell us a little bit about the artist in Residency program at the Quimby Colony?

Alex Rheault:

Sure. I'd be happy to tell you we've just finished our second season. The location is right here in Portland, Maine, downtown, which is great. It creates an urban coastal setting for our artists who come from as far away as California, Chicago, Santa Fe most recently. And many artists. Artists are also graduates of Maine College of Art have come from Maine, from as far up as Bangor Vinyl Haven most recently and. Yeah. So.

Genevieve Morgan:

And what's your role there?

Alex Rheault:

My role as artistic director has been initially to create this incubator for the colony to see and experiment with what the artists need. How does it play a role in the community? How can the artists tap into the wonderful resources community wise that we have and how can the community be involved in some way as well? So there's a give back both ways And a reciprocal dialogue.

Genevieve Morgan:

Now, the Quimby Colony was founded by Roxanne Quimby, correct?

Alex Rheault:

Yes.

Genevieve Morgan:

And what is her vision?

Alex Rheault:

My understanding of Roxanne's intent behind this project was she sees Portland as a Renaissance city, much like Florence, within a abundance of resources, and perhaps underappreciated in some aspects. And she also wants to celebrate the legacy which has a lot of roots in textile and local farming, producing, making things right here. Whether we had blanket factories, shoe factories, textile factories. There are still 10 textile factories left. And her own interest as a designer. She has a new clothing, children's clothing line that she has been working on. So she actually designs herself and wanted to celebrate the arts of fashion, costume, and textile, because in some ways, they're underrepresented in a colony setting. So her idea was to bring artists from other places to come and enjoy Maine and work here and perhaps revitalize that those industries and bring to the forefront the idea of entrepreneurship, which I think is so important in Maine.

Genevieve Morgan:

Absolutely. Jill McGowan was just in and talking about the Hathaway shirt industry that started in Maine in the 1800s. Here we are 200 years later.

Alex Rheault:

Yeah.

Genevieve Morgan:

And you're participating in a renaissance.

Alex Rheault:

I think there was a shirt factory actually somewhere around this. Around on Middle street someplace that was located by some. Some USM professors who were doing women's work history.

Genevieve Morgan:

Well, the Quimby Colony is just one of the many things that you do.

Alex Rheault:

Yes, I wear many hats in this town.

Genevieve Morgan:

I think we can all relate in this room.

Alex Rheault:

Yeah. What's fortunate about that is that I was able to, when I met Roxanne, was able to offer some ideas, some community contacts that we could bring to the colony and have the artists meet. So we've had artists in residence who have given lectures at the main historical society on textiles or a tea at the colony around hats and women from the community brought hats and brought stories and ate tea and cookies. And it just creates a really warm and invigorating environment for dialogue and a feeling of community.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And you.

Genevieve Morgan:

You personally, since 2001, have chosen to bring your personal thread into this fabric. So describe a little bit about the other things that you're doing because they're equally fascinating.

Alex Rheault:

Well, thank you. The colony has given me an opportunity to bring all of those things together in one place. But I came here as a local artist and immersed myself pretty right away by taking some classes. I attended the Salt and Institute and then went on to do my graduate work, which allowed me to tap into the Mecca community And I worked with all my mentors, were Mecca professors. And then I started a little project because I noticed that artist studios here are fascinating and they're all over the place. And there are many hidden artists, which is the thing that also fascinates me. So I started.

Genevieve Morgan:

Wait, can I just interrupt for a second? When you say hidden artists, describe what a hidden artist.

Alex Rheault:

I think the hidden artists is the artist that works diligently, quietly and passionately in their studio and is often unrecognized, not for any reason, except that perhaps they could be shy or they're reticent to be part of the larger sort of machine, if you will, of the art world. And perhaps they seek alternative venues, but they don't know where they are. I feel often it's my calling to be an advocate and kind of an actor for artists. So I started looking up different artists and asking if I could come visit them in their studios. And that created a project called Drawing Conversations, which then became something larger with a space for a couple of years, which I call Drawing Room. And that has now become this roving community project which has extended itself its tentacles. Are now in Cambridge with a youth group that I'm working with.

Genevieve Morgan:

how have your choices as an artist coming up here to live in Maine? How have they impacted your life right now, your wellness, your sense of who you are and where you're going?

Alex Rheault:

I think as an artist, one of the things that I've learned is that it's really important to be true to self and to live in your truth and to remain open. More recently, I've done a lot of spiritual work, trying to deepen my own yoga practices, my own meditation practices, so that I could also expand my artistic practices. And that means sometimes taking yourself out of the visible public eye and going, retreating into your studio, filling the well, doing some research, and maybe being around a different demographic, such as children or elders, and having more of a reciprocal relationship with the work. I also teach at Maine College of Art, and I find that the students give me so much. I don't think they have any idea how much they teach me. So I find that sometimes making art is really about living your life and really improving on that and building that, experimenting with your life as a kind of material.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

What challenges have you had in trying to deepen this practice. What have you encountered that you've had to overcome or maybe are still trying to overcome?

Alex Rheault:

That's a great question. I think artists struggle with confidence. And even in searching for your truth and knowing what your truth is, there is a really critical eye. I was just having this conversation with my students yesterday about the hierarchies that are out there in the world. That we're judged good and bad and students are graded and art is approved or disapproved. And I think that we have to find other practices in our life that keep us grounded and balanced so that we don't focus too much on whether something is good or bad, but that it has a worthy value. That its process in and of itself is the thing that's most significant, not the outcome.

Genevieve Morgan:

How do you take what's found out there? I'm asking you, really, how to describe your work?

Alex Rheault:

To describe my work. Well, that's very interesting. My more recent work has been figurative and is featured on my blog. And I think I was really looking at how the body is in constant motion. And at the same time that change is such an important thing to notice and connect to. I think the disparate objects came from my love of collecting and gathering and amassing. And I think it's something that we all do. And I like the fact that there's so much diversity in the world. And one, one of the bodies of work I did was relating to this idea that birds carry contagion in their feet and they can transport it from one place to another. And I think in the same way, we can transport things that flourish, that grow, and we don't even know what they have as potential. So it's about finding our potential. For me.

Genevieve Morgan:

So, great. So now what's up for the Quimby Colony and for you?

Jill McGowan:

What's coming next?

Alex Rheault:

Quincy Quimby Colony is just closing its second season. We are seasonal at the moment. And if we were to be able to expand, perhaps we would run the season the whole year. But at the moment, we're. So we just had our final residence and we're going to regroup and look at the applicants. We have a bunch of applicants who have already been accepted. We have a very fine review committee who has been incredible, objective and supportive of the artists that we've had. And we also will continue to nurture and support our alums. We had an alumni who came to do a trunk show and is working with Swan's island, quite possibly. So we're looking forward to seeing what her designs produce and what kind of collaboration. And she's also going to be coming back and doing some consulting work locally.

Genevieve Morgan:

So terrific. How can people see more of the Fellow's work or your work?

Alex Rheault:

For the colony's work, we actually have to update our blog and our website. We just had a server crash so we're trying to work with that, so please be patient. But people could always contact me. I'm always open to have a cup of coffee or talk with people and I do that weekly. I'm always finding people are interested in the colony and my own work can be found on alexrow.com or head on a stick to.blogspot.com and hoping to update all those things too. It's hard to stay in touch with technology when you're in the community and for me that's more important.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And we'll make sure that we link through to your blog and your website on our Dr. Lisa website so people can easily find you.

Alex Rheault:

Thank you.

Genevieve Morgan:

Well Alex, I think you're a terrific example of a creative person living in Maine and doing so many different things and making it work. And I really thank you for coming and joining us today on the Maine Magazine Minutes.

Alex Rheault:

Thank you. It's been a privilege to speak with you. Thank you.

Genevieve Morgan:

Roxane Quimby and the Quimby Colony were profiled in an article by Peter A. Smith in the June 2010 issue of Maine Magazine. Read it online at the mainmag.com Maine Magazine is available monthly by subscription or for purchase at a local newsstand near you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Each week on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we read from a book titled Our Daily Tread. We created Our Daily Tread in honor of my late Bowdoin College classmate Hanley Denning to raise money for her organization Safe Passage. I was fortunate to have recently visited Safe Passage and more information about my travels to this organization in Guatemala City, Guatemala, are available on bountifulpath.com and also through our Facebook page. This week's quote is from Tao. Though we are different, we are born involved in one another. For more information about safe passage, visit safepassage.org to buy the book Our Daily Tread, go to islandportpress.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

each week on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we feature a segment we call Give Back in recognition of the notion that health is more than just about the individual, but is woven into the health of the family, the community and the world at large. This week on our Give Back segment, we have a special guest in our studio, Sarah Armentrout. Sarah, along with her husband Nick, co founded the equest therapeutic writing center in 1998, which led to the founding of Carlisle Writing Academy in May of 2011. Sarah served as executive director for all of eQuest's 12 years as head of school. In their new enterprise, Sarah combines her passion for horses with a desire to serve her community and today is involved in all aspects of managing Carlisle Academy, from organizational oversight to fiscal and strategic planning. Sarah has been in the field of equine assisted therapy since 1995, when she was first certified as an instructor by the Professional association of Therapeutic Horsemanship. Well, we've been talking with people about how they weave things together and how it is that you weave sort of your own health into the passion for what you do in your life. It sounds like this has been a real passion for you for a long time.

Sarah Armentrout:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How did this get to be your passion?

Sarah Armentrout:

Oh gosh. Well, I started riding as a six year old and I'm sure I never looked back after that with the first pony I wrote who bolted on me and ran up the hill and I got off and said wow, that was really fun, let's do that again. And my parents signed me up for riding lessons and then at age 10 I got my own horse who was just a love for me and probably really planted the seed early on of horses as inspiration, as, as solace, as just a touchstone for me in my life through just many phases of life and then off. I went to liberal arts college and didn't really give a thought to incorporating horses or riding as a career choice for me. I thought I would actually end up more in a world of activity, academia and coming out of that I realized that I needed to be very much in touch with what I was doing and I had a sense of service in my life. I looked at whether I was going to go into social work or some kind of human service industry. But as I went along and found my way I did some AmeriCorps type work and Just was trying to just figure out what I wanted to do with my life post college. And I discovered a therapeutic writing center that I volunteered for. I was a sidewalker early on in the 90s and I just fell in love with it. I said, this is kind of the thing that resonates with me as a way of giving back. I knew that in the work that I had done, in the social work, the volunteer work I had done, I really knew that in order to, to feel sustained in that work over the long haul, I had a sense that it would also have to resonate with who I was as a person and also fill my coffers, if you will, at the same time. And I just. So it's been this kind of constant feedback loop of something that I love to do, you know, riding for me, people have said, you know, what is the thing that brings you back to yourself? And you know, that's just such an easy. It's riding I can get on a horse. And the day looks very different for me at the end of that ride.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this is the intention that you have for the people that you bring in to help as part of the Carlisle Riding Academy and the therapeutic program. I see as your. There's a. In your brochure, it's interesting transformation as a part of three sided integrity, passion and efficacy. The cornerstones of our organization whose core reason for being is transformation for the individual, family and community. So you are weaving in your passion to create something new which will not just be helpful for the individual, but also for the people around this individual.

Sarah Armentrout:

Yes, absolutely. I think that, you know, everybody, or not everybody, but people who choose to make a difference have their kind of stamp on it or way of approaching it. And we just happen to love making a difference in people's lives. Definitely for transformative reasons. We have found that there have been often very profound changes that can happen in therapeutic riding. Hippotherapy, which I can talk more about. We have a program for elderly people called Silver Spurs. We've worked with veterans with PTSD returning from war. Really wonderful things can happen in this medium. And it's simply that we're using the medium of a horse. It's a four legged, live thousand pound animal that is very much in the moment, commands our presence kind of experience. And so that is our, I guess, stamp on giving back and offering a way to, to achieve wellness or overall health in somebody's life. It's not the be all, end all for everybody. It's really complementary to other therapies. They might be doing. And for some, it's really often the thing that might kick them over the plateau that they're currently on or just be that additional injection of whatever therapy it is that they need that they come for. It could be physical rehabilitation, it could be emotional wellness, it could be neurodevelopment in a small child.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how can people help you out in this mission of yours?

Sarah Armentrout:

Well, one thing is when we made the change in 2011, in the beginning of 2011, with Carlisle Academy becoming a full spectrum riding academy, rehabilitative all the way through, recreational. We also maintained the charitable legacy of the Equest Therapeutic Writing center, which became the Equestrian Foundation. So the foundation is the entity that is out there. Fundraising is asking for the support of community members who will give towards scholarship funding for families who could not otherwise afford the full tuition that hippotherapy is, or adaptive riding, which is a little less expensive, kind of all the way down through. And so the foundation is currently giving away thousands of dollars in scholarship. But it means that we can run the best quality that we can. We can employ excellent staff that are occupational therapists and physical therapists, wonderful certified instructors. And these people all have their credentialing, all have certifying certifications through American Hippotherapy association or the Path association that we talked about. And you really, if you want to do this right, you can't do it on a shoestring budget.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you need some cash flow.

Sarah Armentrout:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you need people to give.

Sarah Armentrout:

We need people to give. And the foundation is set up solely for that, to raise money for scholarship. In addition, I'll tell you, my personal crusade is that I am bound and determined to have the insurance world get behind what we're doing. And that's why I'm so excited that Harvard Pilgrim has gotten behind this as a full. You know, they're not just saying, we'll cover the time in the therapy room because our therapists will do 30 minutes in the therapy room. Harvard Pilgrim says, says we'll do also the 30 minutes on the horse because they get it, they understand the outcomes, they believe that it's effective. And we have been able to show over and over that there are effective outcomes that come from this type of therapy. And there's research, more and more research coming out to back this up.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is this available on your website?

Sarah Armentrout:

The Witch is available. The research assistance that we do, we can make research available. Anybody who asks us for some of that, it's all done third party. But I'm not sure actually how much is on our website.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But they could contact you?

Sarah Armentrout:

Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Give them some of this information so they could have a communication with their insurance company, should that be?

Sarah Armentrout:

Absolutely. And we will just continue to advocate for the aetnas and Anthems of the world to say yes, we want you to cover the time in the therapy room, but we, we also want you to cover the time on the horse. And so that's sort of my personal crusade for the next 10 years, however long it takes, because I believe in what we're doing and I know it works and I know families who know that it works and families who have given us testimonial that it's changed their children's life. And so, you know, we want to be there and keep going.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, you're doing a great job and I'm impressed with all the work that you're doing on media, social, many different levels.

Sarah Armentrout:

Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Tell people the website that they can go to to get more information.

Sarah Armentrout:

The Carlyle website is carlyleacademymain.com all spelled out and the Equest foundation website is equestfoundation.org I encourage people who are listening,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

who have an interest in hippotherapy or figuring out how to give to your organization or even want to work on this insurance issue to actually go and take a look at your website. Get in touch with if you get some information from you. You're doing a great job. Keep up the good work.

Sarah Armentrout:

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Thank you. Each week on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast we read from my Bountiful blog which is available on bountifulpath.com the Bountiful blog represents a weaving of sorts itself. It is the weaving of feeding myself oneself emotionally, physically and spiritually. The selection this week is A post from September 13, 2011 entitled Magic. Labor is so named because the process is just that laborious. Few women get through a delivery without some modicum of discomfort and hard work. Likewise, few people get through a significant life transition or purposeful decision to change without laboring. This labor may be physical, emotional, intellectual or spiritual. Typically, it is all of the above. And laboring in any of the above has the propensity to be difficult, which many of us do not expect or at the very least do not want. I have been doctoring since my medical school graduation in 1996. I have been coaching people through change for much of that time. I can tell you that lasting change does not happen quickly or easily. I can also tell you that many people give up before they have completed a change Transition. Most people would prefer to believe that there is a magical pill or potion that will cure their woes. They are always looking for the next big thing. When things do not happen quickly and without effort, they give up and move on. The magic is show up. Keep showing up. Engage in your life. Look at your patterns. Refuse to follow the ones that have gotten you to where you don't want to be. Create new patterns. Be uncomfortable in these new patterns. Engage in an energy building practice such as Qigong or Tai Chi that will help you maintain these patterns. Labor. Labor more. Keep showing up. Get help if you need to. Find someone who will help you look at your patterns and create new ones. Find someone who will help you with your discomfort. Find someone who will be with you while you labor. If you want to change, be willing to put in the time. Be willing to put in the effort. Be willing to labor. That is the magic this blog post and other posts like it are available on bountifulpath.com on this week's Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast, we have addressed the theme of weaving. We spoke with clothing designer Jill McGowan, Alex Rowe of the Maine College of Art and the Quimby foundation, and Sarah Armentrout of Equest and the Carlisle Riding Academy. Each of these individuals saw a need in the world and also equally found their own passionate desire to meet that need. They wove together what they knew of themselves and what they knew of the world around them to create something new and beautiful and amazing. And more importantly, they kept showing up to do so. Each of them encountered trials and tribulations. They found difficulties along the way, but they kept showing up. And as we said in the blog, that is the magic. That is the magic that creates the Weaver. We hope that you've enjoyed our theme on weavings this week on the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast and that you will join us again next week. Please do let us know what you think of our show. Send us a message. We want to know what you're thinking. Thank you for listening again this week. May you have a bountiful life.